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EX-GOV. L. U. HUMPHREY. 



HISTORY 

OF 

MONTGOMERY 
COUNTY, 

KANSAS. 



By Its Own People, 



ILLUSTRATED. 



Containing- Sketches of Our Pioneers — Revealing their Trials and Hardships in 

Planting Civilization in this County — Biographies of their Worthy 

Successors, and Containing Other information of a 

Character Valuable as Reference to the 

Citizens of the Countv. 



PUBLISHED BY 

L. WALLACE DUNCAN. 



lOLA. KANSAS: 

PRESS OF lOLA REGISTER, 
1903. 



TH6 ^SSABV CF I 
T<we Caeies Racaiv« • 

, ':CT ? 1903 , 

i EL.-3S cw sXi •>. 
\ '^ --■*■ '=f / i 
I ^^ ^ I 



Entered Mxordmij to Act of Congress, in the yesr 1903. by L. WiU^ce D\:n:a.n. 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, it W^sftmgton. D. C. 



ace 




The history of Moutgomcry county reveals this locality as the spot 
where the Osage Indian made his last stand befoi-e the white man's 
advance in sjiieadiug iivilization over the plains of Kansas. It was here 
that l;e was n-owded off of the. reserve traded him by the "Great Father"' In 
182.1. but which he had really occupied from the first years of the nine- 
teenth century. For at least fifty years he had been master of this domain 
and here much of the tangible history of the several bands of the tribe 
was made. 

From the era of "sqxiatter" settlement, the final treaty with the Red 
Man and the legitimate settlement by the white man. down through the 
organization and development of the county, the pages of this book are 
replete with events and incidents which mark the stages of advancement 
toward the sj)lendid civilization of the present day. 

The jiublisher of this volume and those who have rendered valuable 
assistance in the prejiaration of its descriptive part have realized the 
imjionance of the work and have, thei-efore. labored assiduously toward 
an accurate and reliable production, and one which shall not only be full 
and thorough as to substantial facts, but which shall serve as the basis 
of future ])ublications touching the history of Montgomery county. 

For the jirejiaration of valuable articles fctr this volume we acknowl- 
edge our obligation t<> the following citizens of the county and commend 
their efforts to the i-oufidence of the generations to come: Ex-Senator H. 
W. Young. Hon. William L>unkiu and Hon. W. T. Yoe. of Inde[)endence; 
T. F. Andress. M. I>.. of Liberty; Dr. T. C. Frazier. of Coffeyville; Hon. 
•T. K. Charlton, of Caney; and Miss Josie H. Carl, of Cherryvale. To the 
many citizens who have furnished infornmtion and extended other favors 
to the writers hereof we desire to expr-ess oxiv appi-eciaticm and hereby 
extend to them the i-omjiliments of the literary board. 

To John S. (lilmore. of Fredonia, are we indebted for an impiortant 
article for this work, properly placed to his credit, and we wish, publicly, 
to nuike acknowledgement of the same. 

•n the bio';ra]iliiial de]»artnient of tlie work are represented worthy 
citizens from everv honoralile walk of life. It was our wish that everv 



distiiij;iiisli('(l cili/.cn of the couiiTv jiairicipale in the .space alloted to this 
dej)arliiK'iit. and whik' liosts of Iheiu have done so, some of them have 
denied us not only their story, Imt their siil)stanliai co-ojieratiou ; yet the 
merits of tlie book have uot thus beeu impaired. Our accompauying 
illustrations represent pioneers, worthy people of a later day, and well 
known and historic objects of the county. These add interest and 
attraclivencss to the book, on the Avhole, making the biographical and 
pictorial depart nuMit by no means the least inijiortaiit features of the 
work 

it this volume shall meet the expectations of its patrons and shall, 
in some measure, render them an equivalent for the confidence bestowed 
ujjon the enteri)rise, then shall we feel that our efforts have uot been in 
vain. THE PUBLISHER. 



HISTORY 

OF 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

KANSAS 



CHAPTER I. 

Organization, Location and Land Titles 

During the earlier history of Kansas tlie territory which now consti- 
tutes Montgoniei'y county formed a part of Wilson county. The latter 
county was created by act of the territorial legislature in 1855, but it was 
not organized until Septeuiber 1864, at which time it extended from 
Woodson county to the south line of the state. Montgomery county was 
created by act of the legislature in 1867, a little more than half of the 
southern part of Wilson county being taken for the purpose. By the act 
of the legislature which created the county, its boundaries were fixed as 
follows: 

"Commencing at the southeast corner of Wilson county ; thence south 
with the west line of Labette county to the thirty-seventh parallel of 
north latitude; thence west with said parallel twenty-four miles; thence 
north to the southwest corner of Wilson county; thence east with the 
south line of Wilson county to the place of beginning." 

This description depended entirely on the bounding of W^ilson county, 
and, in 1870 the statute was changed to read as follows : 

''Commencing at the southeast corner of Wilson county; thence south 
to the south line of the state of Kansas; thence west along the south line 
of Kansas twenty-four miles; thence north to the sixth standard 
parallel; thence east along the said sixth standard parallel to the place 
of beginning." 

This description seems to have meant exactly the same thing as the 
other, and yet neither of them is accurate, as the width of the county east 
and west, owing to the botch work made in fitting together the surveys of 
the ceded lan<ls and Diminished Reserve, is considerably more than half a 
mile above the twenty-four mentioned. 

While all of the county except the three mile strip of ceded lands on 
the east side was still Indian land, and there was no treaty even pending 



6 HISTORY OP MONTGOJIERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

for their cession to tlie United States, saving the Stnrgis abomination, 
whicli was never ratified, tlie connty was organized by proclamation of 
Governor James M. Harvey, on Jnne ud. 18(il». It was claimed that at 
this lime the county had the requisite {lopulatiou of OiKt, and whether this 
was true or not, the progress of events soon made it an accurate 
statement. Verdigris City was designated as the temjiorary county seat, 
and a board of county commissioners was appointed. For further details 
as to the early history of the connty and the story of the struggle which 
resulted in the selection of Independence as the county seat, the reader is 
i-eferred to the chajtter on the political history of the county. 

Location 

Montgomery county now ranks as the seventh Kansas county in pop- 
ulation and, as shown by the United States census of lt(Ot», forms a part 
of tlR largest contiguous area west of the Jlississippi river, having a 
population in excess of forty-five to the square mile. It is between 
tweniy four and twenty-five miles in width east and west, and between 
twenty-seven and twenty-eight miles in length north and south. It is the 
third county west from the Missouri line, on the southern tier, and adjoins 
the Indian Territory on the south. Labette county forms its entire east- 
ern boundary and Wilson its northern, while on The west it adjoins 
Chautauqua and a jiortion of Elk. Neosho county corners with it on th(i 
uortiieast. 

Its physical features and soil are extremely varied. The Verdigris 
is the principal river, entering its northern boundary and meandering 
aeros-J to its southern. The I>lk enters the west line of the county and 
forn;S another winding valley, emptying into the ^'erdigris al»out four 
miles northeast of the center of the county. The Cauey cuts across the 
southwest corner of the county. Besides these rivers there are dozens 
of creeks and runs with much fine alluvial laud adjoining them, in 
addiiion to the bottom lands of the rivers. Between the streams there are 
liere and there rock-capped mounds and much high, thin, stony land, fit 
for little but pastui'e. Use is. however, now being found for the limestone 
that caps some of the mounds and outcrops along the streams in the man- 
ufacture of cement, while the shale that is abundant in the hills is 
extensively eni])loyed in the manufacture of vitrified brick. Taking her 
agricnltnral resources in connection with the abundant dei)osits of nat- 
ural gas and petroleum oil found in the earth hundreds of feet below the 
surface, and remembering that Montgomery is the only county on the 
south line of the state that lies wholly within the gas and oil belt, we are 
certainly justified in saying that n;iture has done more for lier than for 
any other equal area in the state. 

The section of which this county of such boundless resources and 
possiljilities forms a part, was first a portion of the French domain in 



HISTUKY OF .MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. ^ 

Anit'iira. luivinji- lii'cn taken possession of by the Canadians, who drifted 
down llie Mississiip[ii to tlie gulf in 1(;82. Eighty years later it was ceded 
to Hpain, by whom it was retained until 1800, when it was retroceded to 
France. In couinion with the entire area of Kansas, except a small frac- 
tion in the southwest corner, it formed a part of the Louisiana purchase 
made by Jetferson in 1803, and has ever since been American territory, 
thimgh little was known about it during the first half of the 18th century. 

The first legislation in regard to this section ajipears to have been 
enacted in 18o4, when all the territory west of the Mississippi and Arkan- 
sas was declared "Indian country," with the laws of the United States 
in force; and the country of the Osages was attached to Arkansas 
territory. In 1854 the territory of Kansas was organized and, in 1861, the 
territory became a state. 

The country from which the present county was to be made still re- 
mained Indian territory, however. The Osage Indians were first found 
on the Missouri river, and. later, were forced down to the Arkansas. In 
1808 they ceded their lands in ^Missouri and Arkansas to the United 
States government and went west. In 1825 they relinquished their lands 
in Kansas .except a strip fifty miles wide along the south line of the state, 
beginning twenty-five miles west of the Missouri line, near the present 
eastern boundary of Labette county, and reaching west to an indefinite 
line extended from the head waters of the Kansas river, southerly, through 
the Rock Saline. This was the Osage reservation, which comprised the 
largest body of good land in Kansas, remaining unsettled when the civil 
Tvar closed in 18(!5. 

Land Titles 

The white men wanted these lands and were bound to get them soon 
in any event, but the return of the soldiers of the Union to civil life in 
1865 no doubt hastened the movement to send the Indians westward again 
and make homes and farms out of these fertile Southern Kansas valleys 
to which they held title. At Canville trading post in Neosho county on 
Septend)er l"Jth, 1805, a treaty was negotiated which became operative 
January 21st, 1867, by whose terms the Osages sold a thirty-mile strip off 
from the east side of their lands for .fSOO,!)*)!). This strip embraced the 
counties of Neosho and Labette, and a fraction about three miles wide 
along the east sides of Wilson and ^Montgomery counties. The contest 
between the settlers and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the Leaven- 
worth. Lawrence & (ialveston railroad companies for the title to these 
lands forms one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Labette 
county. This contest also involved the three-mile strip on the east side 
of Montgomery county and interested a considei-able per centage of its 
population. It was finally decided in favor of the United States, under 
whons a jiortion of the settlers claimed title, leaving those who had bought 



8 HISTORY OF MOXTGOilERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

their lands from the railroad companies to seek to perfect their titles 
anew. 

These ceded lands were eventually entered under the preemption 
laws and paid for to the credit of the Osage fund in the government 
treasury. 

The same treaty which cut off these Osage lands on the east also 
sliced off a twenty-mile strip on the north, leaving the "Diminished Re- 
serve" but thirty miles in width, and as the territory narrowed the eager- 
ness to possess it became greater. The corporations had an eye upon it, as 
well as the settlers, and on May 27th, 18G8, a little more than a year 
before the rush of immigrants began to fill the county, there was negotiat- 
ed on Drum Creek a treaty which for downright infamy outranks any 
other transaction in the history of the opening of the west to settlement 
and civilization. This treaty was known as the "t^turgis Treaty," and is 
liberally treated under the head of "Drum Creek Treaty" in this volume. 

Owing to a discrepancy between the southern boundary line of the 
state of Kansas and the south line of the Osage Diminished Eeseiwe, there 
was a strip of land along the south line of Montgomery county, varying 
between two and three miles in width, which was claimed by the Cherokee 
Indians, and which was eventually sold for their benefit several years 
later. Actual settlers were given a preference in the purchase of these 
lands, but those which remained were disposed of in any desired quantity, 
and at a price somewhat higher than the settlers were asked to pay. 

land titles in the county were thus of four different kinds. The land- 
holder may find his chain running back to a government patent originat- 
ing in a jiurchase from the Cherdkees or the Osages, and if the latter, it 
may be either of "Ceded" or "Diminished Reserve" lands. Or he may hold 
by virtue of a purchase from the state school fund commissioners. It 
was fortunate for the settlers, though, that for all except a small fraction 
of the area of the county, the contest between the corporations and the 
people was fought out before the lands were entered. They were thus 
freed from' the long period of strife, the expense and the uncertainty which 
were the fate of their neighbors in Labette county and on the "Ceded" 
strip. The titles which they obtained when they paid the purchase price 
to the government and received their final I'eceipts from the land office of- 
ficials, have never been called in question, and the courts have been resort- 
ed to only to settle individual and isolated cases of i-ival claims to 
I)roprietorship. 

The original government surveys of the lands in the county, however, 
were made in a very careless manner, the section and quarter section 
coriieis often being many rods from where they should have been, and 
the surveys of the "Ceded" and "Diminished" hinds were so loosely con- 
nected that in niany cases there are (piarter secrions on the line between 
that Inive as much as forty acres more than the government deeds call for. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 



CHAPTER II. 

Important Events 
The Drum Creek Treat.v, The Elk Uiver Valley Floods, The Volcanic Up- 
heaval at Coffeyville in 1894, the Reed Family Tragedy, Why Did 
Pomeroy Trust York?, The County High School, and the Dalton Raid 
at Coffeyville. 

The Drum Creek Treaty 

BY JNO. S. GILMORE. 

On May 27th, 1868, a treaty with the Osages was concluded on Drum 
'Creek, Montgomery county, for the disposition of the Diminished Reserve, 
or thirty-mile strip. This was popularly called the Drum Creek treaty 
or the ''Sturgis treaty." Wm. Sturgis was the controlling spirit in its 
negotiation. By its terms the entire Diminished Reserve, comprising 
8,003,('00 acres was to he sold to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston 
Railroad Co. for 11,000,000, or a fraction under 20 cents per acre. It was 
understood that Sturgis would be the indirect beneficiary of this stupen- 
dous wrong. The treaty was a premeditated, thoroughly planned and 
successfully executed fraud from its incipiency up to the stage of its 
submission to the Ignited States Senate for ratification. It was even 
more — a brazen steal, so extensive as to be infamous — and the officials, 
politicians and leading men who approved or aided and abetted in the 
attempt to carry it out deserved to be l)uried so deep under popular 
obloquy that they would never again publically show their heads. The 
Indians were no doubt unduly intiuenced by the promoters and retainers 
of the L. L. & G. railroad company. Tlie treaty commission, with special 
interpreters. Indian agents, and advocates of the scheme had gone into 
the Indian country accompanied by a detatchment of the Seventh U. S. 
cavalry commanded by Capt. Geo. W. Yates. (Y'ates and his troop went 
down to death with General Custer on the Rosebud, June 2.jth, 1876.) 
The commission composed N. G. Taylor, President; Thos. Murphy, Geo. G. 
Snow. Albert G. Boone and A. N. Blacklidge, Secretary; with three inter- 
preters. Those signing the treaty by way of attesting the signatures (X 
marks) of the Osage chiefs and their adherents were Alex. R. Banks, 
special U. S. Indian agent; Geo. W. Yates, Captain Seventh cavalry; 
M. W. Reynolds, reporter for commission ; Charles Robinson, I. S. 
Kalloch, Jloses Xeal, W. P. Murphy, Wm. Babcock and the interpreters. 
Alex Beyett, Lewis P. Chouteau and Augustus Captain. The first Osage 
X mark was under the title of .Joseph I'aw ne nopashe. White Hair, prin- 
.cipal chief, followed by the Indian names of 106 other chiefs, councilors 



lO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

and l.iaves of the Big and Little Osage tribes. Of Indians signing the- 
document who were known by many Montgomery county jiioneers were 
Blaclc Dog, Little Beaver. Nopawalla. Strike Ax. Wyohake, Chetopah, 
Hard Robe. Watisanka and :Melotumuni (Twelve O'clock.) Little Bear 
was dead. 

By the time this treaty reached the Senate the settlers on the reserve 
were aroused and their friends throughout the Btate and many newspap- 
ers shared openly their feeling and espoused their cause. A determined 
fight was made against the ratification of the treaty, led by Hon. Sidney 
Clarke, Kansas" sole Congressman. Both Senators were silently for the 
rol)ber measure. Senator E. G. Boss, a year later, reported it to the Senate 
so amended as to divide up the lands with other railroad companies, 
without adding to the price or making any provision for the interests or 
rights of the settlers. But Congressman Clarke did not relax in his bitter 
opposition. He brought to light the objectionable and unjust features of 
the treaty, stood for the opening of the reserve to actual settlers as the 
Trust Lands had been opened, and as a result of his jirolests and efforts 
and at his recjuest General Grant, soon after becoming President, on 
March 4th, 1869, withdrew the treaty from the Senate. 

Sidney Clarke framed and offered in the House the section in the an- 
nual Indian appropriation bill, ujiproved July loth, 1870, which opened 
the diminished Reserve to actual settlers only at .11.25 per acre, excepting 
the Kith and ::i(!th sections, which were reserved to the State of Kansas for 
school purposes. After a two years' contest he had prevented the con- 
summation of the greatest swindle on Indians and settlers alike ever con- 
cocted in Kansas. The railroads, losing the rich prize which seemed 
almost securely within their grasp, combined in the campaign of 1870 
against Clarke and defeated him for renoiiiination for Congress. 

At a council held on Drum Creek in September. 187(». arrangements 
were effected for the final removal of the remaining Osages to their new 
home in the Indian Territory, just south of the Kansas line. By the act 
approved July 15th of that year the President had been directed to make 

such removal as soon as the Indians would agree thereto. They went. 

* * * * 

The Elk Valley Flood of 1885 

.Vfter the grasshopper plague of 1874-5 probably the worst calamity 
that has befallen Montgomery county since its settlement was the flood 
which swept down the valleys of the Elk and Verdigris on Friday, Sat- 
urday and Sunday. May loth, KUh. and 17th. 1885. Perhaps the most 
compiohensive accdunt of this disaster was the one jiublished by the Star 
and Kansan. at Independence, on the Friday following; and it is from 
this account that llie facts for this sketch are gleaned. 

That fateful Friday was noted at Independence as a day of clouds- 



HISTORY OF JIONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. It 

and showers with heavy banks of cloud along the western horizon 
Toward night news i-anie of a great storm in Elk county and that the 
railroad traik had been washed away in the neighborhood of Elk Falls. 
Xo more trains were able to get tlii-ongh on the Southern Kansas line of 
the Santa Fe railroad in either direction, and on Saturday morning a re- 
pair train loaded with material for bridge building had gone out to the 
neighborhood of the bridge over the Elk at Table Mound. About half 
past ten o'clock a telegram was received from this train stating that lives 
were in danger and help was needed. All the available boats in the city 
were taken to the dei)ot. and a little after noon the repair train, which had 
returned to Independence, started for the scene of danger with about a 
hundred and fifty men on board. A few minutes run brought the train to 
the locality of the flood, and at the southwest corner of Table Mound the 
boats were unloaded and started out over the waste of waters on their 
errand of mercy. Among those who risked their lives in the.se frail crafts, 
to rescue those in peril, were Eugene B. White, Milton Gregory, Lewis 
Bowman and Elisha Mills. 

During the morning the waters had risen so high as to touch the sills 
of the iron railroad lu'idge over the Elk, and a gang of men were at work 
on the bridge dislodging the mass of corn stalks which had lodged against 
it on the uiijier side. Beyond the bridge, to the west, the railroad track 
was out of water as far as the trestle over the slough, and this strip was 
the only bit of dry land visible in the entire valley from bluff to bluff. On 
it were gathered a few cattle and hogs which had fled to it for their lives, 
and to which the waters were bringing the scattered ears of corn they had 
gathered. To the left of the railroad, chickens were seen roosting in the 
trees near a deserted house, and still nearer a bunch of them had gath- 
ered on the ujijier ends of a pile of posts which projected a little above 
the surface of the water; and away to the north of the railroad were a 
number of horses which had been tied on the liighest ground in the vicin- 
ity, but were still nearly covered by the waters. 

It was not, however, until the writer clind)ed the slope of Table 
Mound and stood ui>on the ro(>ky ledge that marks its outlines that he 
realizeil the extent of the calamity which had befallen the residents of 
these fertile valley lands. Up and down the river basin, as far as the eye 
could reach, there was water everywhere. Only a small fragment of a 
single wheat field showed above the flood in this entire rich valley district. 
Still the waters were dotted with trees and groves, while a fringe of 
timber marked the windings of the channel of the Elk ; and houses and 
barns could be seen here and there, the highest of them with apparently 
not less than three feet of water on their first floors, and the lowest sub- 
merged to the eaves. Probably the watery area in sight from this point 
was not less than ten S(piare miles in extent; and at one jilace the width 
of the vallev is scarcelv less than Ave miles. 



12 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

In one instance a family refused to leave the house when the rescu- 
ing boat appeared, but when a second downpour came later in the after- 
noon they were fain to seek the shore. Some of the dwellers in the valley 
were landed on the west shore, having made one portage across the rail- 
road during the trip. There they were warmly welcomed by the neighbors 
gathered on the opposite mound, who could be seen from our side running 
across the grassy slope to meet them. And all this while the sullen roar 
of the angry waters rang in our ears and we had only to close our eyes to 
imagine we stood on the ocean's beach listening to its endless refrain. 
About us were the most lovely of our wild flowers, the graceful, nodding 
columbines and the crimson hued verbenas ; but above us the heavens were 
again gathering blackness and the inky pall of cloud along the western 
horizon was ever and anon illuminated by a vivid flash that left it blacker 
and more ominous than before ; while below, in dozens of swift currents, 
the thick and noisome waters rushed onward unresting to the sea. Prob- 
ably no one who gazed in fascinated awe upon those thousands of acres 
which at dawn had been covered with luxuriant fields of wheat, promising 
within a month a harvest of golden grain, and which were now buried 
from five to fifteen feet in depth beneath a swiftly flowing volume of water 
wider than the Mississippi, will ever forget the scene. 

Meanwhile the panorama was not without an exciting and, what 
threatened to be, a tragic interlude. One of the boats — Bowman's it was 
said — ventured into the swift current setting under the trestle west of 
the iron railroad bridge . In a flash it was sucked under and upset, one of 
its occupants clutching the timbers of the trestle and being drawn out 
from above, while the other appeared on the bottom of the upturned boat 
as it drifted down stream. Fortunately he reached the fringing grove of 
the river channel unharmed, and was able to halt the boat there until 
another came to its rescue. 

During the afternoon, the iron wagon bridge, two and a half miles 
north of Independence on the Neosho road, was swept down stream and, 
shortly after, the one on the Eadical City road, a coui)le of miles farther 
west; went to keep it company. Sunday morning the flood was at its 
height in the Verdigris in the neighborhood of Independence, and the 
water to the northeast of the city had backed up as far as Pennsylvania 
avenue, just south of the railroad trestle. Kock creek on the south was 
also full and almost impassable, while the entire valley from the bluflf at 
the east side of the city to the hills a mile away to the northeast, was one 
vast sheet of water. The railroad was washed away at a small trestle 
near the east side of the valley, and that afternoon the passengers coming 
in from the north were ferried over to the city by boat, among them being 
some returning visitors from the New Orleans exposition. 

Until Sunday no loss of life had been reported in the county, but dur- 
ing the forenoon came the melancholy tidings of a pathetic fatality at the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^. KANSAS. IJ 

mouth of Card creok in Rutland township. Saturday morning Dr. I. H. 
McCoy, of that neii^hborhood. who had recently been engaged in business 
in Independence, with Mr. Creer, a neighbor, had hastily constructed a 
square box boat which could have been little more than a raft, as the work 
on it is said to have taken them but forty minutes. With (his they rescued 
the family of a Mr. Wallace, living in the path of the Hood, in whose house 
the water Lad risen to the ceiling of the first story, and brought them safe- 
ly to land. Finding no more iie(ii)le in danger in their neighborhood, they 
next ferried a cow out of the flood, one of them holding her by the horns 
while the other paddled. About noon John E. Rice, an unmarried young 
man 23 years of age, took Mr. Greer's place, but Dr. McCoy, though a man 
of family, refused to permit anyone to become a substitute for him. 
Manned by McCoy and Rice, the boat put oflf to a knoll lying a little to the 
west of the mouth of Card creek and south of the river, where a number 
of people were to be seen. Here were found Mrs. Eliza Woods, a widow 
who had resided in the county from the date of its first settlement, and 
several other people, among whom were John McCarty and Maurice and 
George Heritage. The two latter were at work upon an old and heavy 
boat with which they had been engaged during the morning in rescuing 
those who were in danger, but which had sprung a-leak. The story of the 
fatal accident which followed is as told the writer by ISIaurice Heritage. 
When he went to the ^^'idow Woods" residence to take her av/ay, he found 
her nearly beside herself with fright and excitement, and engaged in con- 
structing a raft with which to start for the shore. When McCoy came to 
the knoll, she eagerly assented to his proposal to take her to the mainland, 
though the water had already fallen a foot and a half and all danger was 
past. 

With her j'oungest child. Tommy, a boy six or seven years of age, and 
another little boy about the same age, the son of Ira VanDuzen, a neigh- 
bor, Mrs. Woods got into the box boat with McCoy and Rice. It was only 
sixty rods to the shore, but they had not gone more than three before they 
were in a strong current, and their boat, which was evidently overloaded, 
became unmanageable and was sucked through an opening in a hedge 
wher; this current was setting most strongly, li^eeing their peril Mr. Her- 
itage and Mil. JlcCarty rushed toward them, thinking they could make a 
sort of living chain of themselves, and while one of them held to the 
hedge, the other holding fast to the first could reach the boat and swing 
it out of the current and into safety. Ry the time Heritage had got with- 
in twenty-five feet of the boat it went under and he was sucked in after it 
just where the boat had disappeared, the water being eight or nine feet 
deep. Here Heritage says he lost consciousness, until when he came to 
the surface ten yards away, he was recalled to a knowledge of his peril 
by McCarty calling to him. and swam out of the ciirrent. 

^Ir. Rice. though an expert swimmer, did not arise again, and it is 



14 HISTORY OF XIONTnOMERY COUNTV, KANSAS. 

thought that he was stiinued by a blow across the l)ri(lge of the nose 
whicli left a bruise perceptible when the body was recovered. The boat 
was afterward seen floating down stream with McCoy and Mrs. Woods 
both ilinging to it, bnt it kept rolling over in the waves so that they soon 
lost their hold. As McCoy was also a good swimmer, it is inferred that 
but tor an attempt to rescue Mrs. Woods he would have saved himself. 
The boat did not upset until its occupants attempted to jump from it as 
it was going down ; it simply foundered from overloading. The bodies 
were found about seven o'clock the next morning, from seventy-five to a 
hundred yards from where they disappeared, having lodged in a hedge, at 
right angles to the one through which they were passing when the boat 
sank. 

In this county no other fatalities were rei>orted. though the losses in 
the destruction of growing cr()i>s were almost beyond computation. On 
Sunday W. H. Linton's flouring mill, three miles southwest of Liberty, 
fell into the river, entailing a loss of .SIXOliO. McTaggart's mill, northwest 
of Liberty, and near the sight of the original town of that name, was 
flooded to a depth of thirty -three inches, which was sixteen more than had 
been obsei-ved there since its erection in the pioneer days. At Elk 
City the water was three feet deep in the depot, and many residences were 
damaged by the flood, but the business quarter was not inundated. Tiie 
railroad was overflowed three miles north of Coft'eyville at Kalloch 
station, and during the first of the week that city was cut oft" from mail 
communication with the outside world, except by hack to Independence. 

The "clomlliurst" which caused this flood originated in Chautauqua 
county, and in that county the loss of life was greater than in Montgom- 
ery, no less than eleven fatalities being reported. Two bodies were re- 
covered at Matanzas and three in the neighborhood of Caney; while six 
deaths occurred in the vicinity of Sedan. The following vivid and strik- 
ing story of the storm and its work in that county is from the columns Jf 
the Sedan (Jraphic of the next week : 

"Last Friday commenced like a balmy spring morning, with southerly 
winds, and it bade fair to be the most pleasant day of the week; but be- 
fore noon dark clouds had begun to rise in the north, and by half past 
eleven the northern part of the county was the center of one of the most 
disastrous rainstorms ever reciu'ded in the annals of the state. The rain 
and hail, accompanied at times by winds of a cyclonic nature, fell for 
eight consecutive hours. The water stood on the level prairie at times 
nearly two feet deep. The clouds from this place looked as if they were 
rising and moving off, Avhen other clouds, if anything of a more fearful 
character, would revolve around and take the place of the one which had 
just spent its fury. The northern sky all the afternoon was a dark mass 
of revolving clouds. The clouds would ajipear in the northeast, and fol- 
lowiiii;- tlie cii-cle, disappear in the northwest with terrible regulai'ity. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTYj KANSAS. 1 5 

At about live o'clock in the evening the first approach of tlie storm was 
annonuced here by the dark circling clouds overhead, accompanied by a 
deluge of rain, which converted our strets and water ways into boiling 
torrents. A few minutes after the rain had commenced to fall it was re- 
ported that the river was out of its banks, and in less than half an hour 
from the time of the tirst indications of the rise, the river was fifteen feet 
higher than it had ever been before since the first settlement of the county ,^ 
and our people, for the first time, began to realize that those farmers liv- 
ing in the low river bottoms had either escaped by marvelous exertion or 
been cam-ied to destrm-tion. Horses, cattle, hogs, wagons and farming im- 
plements were driven past by the mad torrents at a frightful rate. The 
water came down in walls four feet high, crushing and carrying away 
everything that opposed its forces; fences and farm improvements disap- 
peared in an instant, and great trees that had stood the test of ages were 
ujirooted and leveled to the earth : while the I'oar and swish of the waters 
made the bravest stand back and shudder as he contemplated the awful 
conse(|uences that must inevitably follow. Peojile began to move out og 
the lower part of town to the high jioints. Night coming on and the rain 
still falling, nothing could be done till morning to relieve the sutfei-ers 
on the bottoms. 

"Next morning the cries of the sufferers in tree toj)S were heard, and 
rafts and boats were speedily constructed to render assistance. One raft 
was made out of the side of a house and set afloat i)y William Harbert 
and others, and rescued Ben Adams, his wife and two children out of the 
tree tops, where they had taken refuge the night before. Their house 
started oft" about six o'clock. The woman caught in a tree top and lifted 
her two children on to the same limb, her husband going still farther and 
catching to another tree. The I'hn-ky little woman sheltering her children 
all night and fighting the drift wood and everything, to keep from being 
dragged off their only ho]te of safety. .Inst above them, and four miles 
fi'om t^edan. Mr. Witt, his wife and one child, also Jlr. Green, seeing the 
flood coming, tried to make their escape to the highlands in their wagon, 
but were carried down with the flood. Mr. Witt making his escape, and 
the child, woman, ;ind Mr. tlreen being drowned. Their bodies have all 
been recovered. Ed. ("hadbuin. a freighter from this city, was on the 
road to Jloline. and was drowned in :i small rivulet north of town. His 
body was discovered early t?aturday morning, and was brought home and 
interred Sunday evening. Two children of il.r. Rogers, on North Caney, 
east of Sedan, were drowned; their bodies were recovered. Air. and Mrs. 
Rogers escaped after a jierilous swim of a mile." 

The next great flood in lli(> ^'erdigris came in Septendier. ISO."), but 
was unaccompanied by loss ot life, and while it ruined most of the corn 
fields in the valley only injured wheat in the stack. 

In the latter part of May. l!l(i:!, the highest A\ater .siiu-e the settle- 



I6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ment of the county swept through both the Elk and Verdigris valleys, 
and at midnight on Friday, May 22d, it reached its nuiximum at Indepen- 
dence, three feet above the high water mark of 1895. The wheat crop in 
all of the valley lands of the county was ruined by this flood, but the only 
loss of life reported was in the upper jiart of Sycamore valley, where J. 
W, Burke was drowned by the upsetting of his Iniggy in the rapidly flow- 
ing stream, which was not more than three feet deep at the ford where 
he attempted to cross. His wife, who was in the carriage with him, was 
rescued. He was a pioneer and a well known citizen and had becu prom- 
inent for years in the councils of the Populist party. 

The Voleanic Upheaval of t894 at Coffeyville 

Viewed from the standpoint of the geologist and the student of physi- 
cal phenomena, in the entire history of the state of Kansas, from the days 
of Coronado to these opening years of the Twentieth century, there hfiS 
been no more interesting spectacle than was witnessed by tho.se who vis- 
ited IMajor Osborn's pasture adjoining the city of Coffeyville in the 
summer of 181)4. The location of the volcanic upheaval which occurred 
there on the night of Sunday, July 22d, was only about four blocks north 
of the Eldridge House and the business centre of the city, and not more 
than seventy-flve yards west of Ninth street, which there marks the west- 
ern limit of the town. Had the upheaval occurred fifteen hundred feet 
south of where it did, it would have made utter wreck of most of the 
business buildings of that city. 

As compared with the underground disturbance on that July night, 
the Dalton raid which brought Coffeyville so much unenviable notoriety, 
■was but a ripjile on the surface of events. That affair was transitory and 
left no such abiding scars on the earth's surface as did the elemental up- 
heaval that occurred two years later. Aside fr(uu events which are of 
interest because they affect those of our own race, there has been no other 
happening in the entire history of Kansas so far out of the usual order of 
things, nor so signiflcant in its suggestions. Elemental commotion above 
^he earth's surface we are accustomed to. and the violence and destruction 
wrought by cyclones and tornadoes do not excite our special wonder, as 
they would if they were new to our experience. But when the solid earth 
itself begins to rock and vomits forth stones by the ton from depths that 
have not seen the light for unnundjered aeons, people have reason to pause 
and nuestion whetlier there is anything stable, anything abiding in 
this old world of ours. 

The writer of this articl(> visited Coffeyville two days after the ex- 
plosion, and this is what he saw as he then recorded his observations: 

The main crater extends in a northwesterly and southeasterly di- 
rection al)out a hundred feet. It is oblong in shape and varies in width 
from thirty to fifty feet. The pile of stone and earth that surrounds it 



HISTORY OF MOXTGOJIERY COUXTY^ KANSAS. 17 

is ten or twelve feet lii<;li at tin* southeast coruer, but tlie crater is scarcely 
lower ou the inside of Ihis pile than the f;roun(l just south of it, so that 
the bowl-shaped or erater-liUe appearance is due in hirge measure to the 
piling up of earth and stone around the region of upheaval. Most of the 
central depression, as well as the surrounding elevation, is covered with 
jagged and irregular stones of various sizes, giving the scene a slight 
resemblance to some of the stone gardens among the Kocky mountains. 
These stones are jirincipaily fragments of sandstone, but among them is 
some bluish soapstone. The gas men who have drilled here say that the 
latter is not found nearer the surface than thirty or forty feet. And yet 
right in the center of the crater is a great mass of this stone, consisting of 
four or five layers, all tilted up on edge, about six feet in thickness and 
fifteen feet loiig. with their lower edges concealed by the debris about 
them. This is the mass which has been repeatedly described as "about 
the size of a wagon box." As a matter of fact there is stone enough in 
that mass to fill a good sized wagcni train and to weigh from fifty to one 
hundred tons. 

The force required to tear this stone loose from the horizontal strata 
in which it lay so (piietly imbedded a week ago, as it had been ever since 
it was mud and ooze in the bed of a great inland sea, to break up and lift 
all the layers of sandstone that lay above it, and to instantly raise the 
thousands on thousands of tons of rock and soil between it and the sur- 
face, is beyond all computation. It must have been something titanic 
— something compared with which the charges of dynamite used 
in shooting oil wells are as toy pistols to the great Krujip gun we saw at 
the Chicago Exposition. That an explosion of gas in a pocket scores of 
feet below the surface might have stirred the bosom of the sleeping earth 
:and opened a seam to ease the pressure would be credible ; but what kind 
of a force, how sudden the ex])losion, and how beyond measure the pres- 
sure, the force. re(|uired to produce so stupendous a result I 

Yet this one minature crater, where a bit of smooth, grass-grown 
Kansas prairie had been, in the twinkling of an eye, transformed into 
such a scene of stony desolation, by no means told all the story. Kunning 
thence southwest for nearly fifty yards were great cracks from six to eight 
feet deep and a foot or more in width. They terminated in another small- 
er crater where the eru])tion seemed to have been much less violent, the 
soil merely Ixiiling up from the etlects of the l)low-out by the pent-up forces 
below. Still farther to the southwest, traces of the exidosion and smaller 
fissures could be jterceived for a thousand feet or more out into the 
pasture. 

The main crater could have been little short of a full-rtedged volcano 
at the time of the exjdosion. Kye witnesses say that stones and earth 
were thrown to a vast height — som(> think as much as four hundred feet, 
which I am inclined to believe is more nearlv correct than the conservative 



1 8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

estimate of one hmulred and fifty feet. The ground from the center of the 
ci-ater east to Walnut street, a distance of seventy-five yards, is tliiclcly 
tstrewn with stones varying in size from the smallest particle up to broken 
pieces of rock weighing two hundred pounds or more; and there is hardly 
a bit of ground large enough to place your hand upon that is not covered 
with this crumbled stone. There are plenty of jjieees in the street, too; 
and so heavy were the rocks falling along its east side that a wooden 
sidewalk, not less than a hundred yards from the crater, built of plank 
two inches thick, was broken in several places by the falling fragments. 
For M block farther, more or less of the stony rain fell, some of the pieces 
of blue soapstone here being large enough for building slabs. In the lot 
directly east of the crater is a two-story residence probably twenty-five 
feet square. Here the window glass was all broken on the exposed side, 
and in one jdace the weather boarding had been crushed by the bombard- 
ment. Mr. R. I*. Kercheval occupied the upper story of this residence, 
and his bedroom window was shattered, and stones thrown over on to 
the bed, fortunately without injuring any one. 

At the northeast corner of this house is a small cistern about six feet 
dee]i and eight feet in diameter. It is of the shape of an inverted bowl, 
and the native rock formed the bottom and a portion of the east side. 
Here the effects of still another explosion were perceptible, the rock in 
the center of the floor being torn loose and thrown up with such force 
as to crush the arch at the toj). leaving a hole in the bottom where the 
firmest possible foundation had been before.. Of course the cistern was 
drained, the water disappearing down the hole. Why the only break in 
the s)irface observable east of the main crater should have been made 
right in the bottom of this cistern is one of the many curious and inex- 
plicable facts connected with this explosion. 

Looking for something to throw light fsn the causes of such an up- 
ui>lie;ival. I note that a gas well had been drilled just northeast of the 
crater in the jjasture and nut more than fifty yards distant. That this 
well had something to do with the explosion is an almost universal con- 
clusion. Indeed, Major Osborne, the owner of the property, is talking of 
suing the gas company which drilled the well, for damages. Again, two 
wells in the vicinity are reported to have behaved strangely before the 
exjilosion. One of them, only about a hundred yards to the southeast, is 
tliiriy feet deej) and usually has six or eight feet of water in it. Here, 
before the explosion, the water is said to have risen to within four feet 
of the surface, a fact difficult to explain at such a dry season as had been 
prevailing. The water lias subsided to the norinal level since the explo- 
sion. Another well, a block farther away, had been bubbling with gas for 
two or three weeks, but since has become (juiescent. The day after the 
explo.sion. while a hundred peojile were viewing the scene, one of those 
small boys who are never happy except when doing something unexpect- 



HISTORY OF MONT(;OMERY COl'NTY, KANSAS. I9 

ed tliut tliey have no business to, struck a match and ignited gas enough 
to cause an explosion and some trembling of the earth. 

All these facts fit in very nicely with the theory that the gas well 
had been leaking into some flssui'es com])aratively near the sui'face, and 
crowded them with gas until the jiressure became very great, when the 
stutl' exi>loded in some unucruuntalde way. In that case, though, it is 
naturally (juestioned why some of the force and effects of the explosion 
were not manifest in the well itself. That seems to be uninjured, and 
the gas escapes from it now with considerable roaring, burning at night 
with a great mass of llame and a noise that may be heard blocks away. 

Peojde who were awake at the time of the explosion say that it was 
preceded by a heavy rurabling and roaring that seemed to come from 
the southwest; that the earth rocked and then the dirt and stones were 
thrown high into the air. At the same time people living three miles to 
the northeast report that dislies were thrown from a table by the tremb- 
ling of the earth. 

The ex])losion occurred at two o'clock Monday morning. A few 
minutes before one o'clock Tuesday afternoon, the sound of a heavy ex- 
plosion was heard at Caney, twenty miles to the west; dishes rattled, 
buildings rocked, and there were all the phenomena of an earthquake 
shock. The same afternoon several people from the neighborhood of 
Indejiendence, who were attending a sale two miles '^ortli of -Jefferson 
and about twelve miles northwest of Coffeyville, rei)ort having heard a 
loud explosion. Threshers in Rutland townshii) observed the same thing, 
and I heir machine was shaken as if by a rolling of the earth's surface. 
Where this ex[)losion heard by so many people in such widely separated 
localities actually took place, no one ever learned; and it seems hardly 
])ossib1e that it could have all been the woi'k of the Coft'eyville boy with 
his little jtarlor match, as the noise he made could not have been heard 
at so great a distance. 

That the gas which exploded was far above the deep veins from 
which the gas wells draw their supply seems probable. That electrical 
or other conditions which accompany earthquakes could ignite subter- 
ranean gasses is well known. Why an upper vein should be ex])loded ond 
the lower ones remain undisturbed by the eft'ects of an earthquake, 
whose tremblings are supposed to originate hundreds or thousjinds of 
feet below the surface, is hard to understand on the theory suggested. 
That the gasses which filled the fissures comparatively near the surface 
could have been exploded by any other agemw than one originating deep 
in the bowels of the earth seems unreasonaljle — the more especially as 
there was no thunder or lightning on that eventful night. 

The years that have jiassed since the occurrence whose effects are 
detailed above have witnessed no other like phenomena anywhere in the 
gas belt; nor have they thrown any additional light on the cause which 



20 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

I)roduced thixt blow-out. And I am still inclined to believe tbat it could 
only have been the frirtional or electrical effects of a slight earthquake 
shock that could have exiiloded the gas in its underground chambers and 
lirodu(eil the resulting volcanic upheaval. 

The Reed Family Tragfedy 

Many terrible tragedies have darkened the annals of Montgomery 
county, but among them all there has been no other that has so profound- 
ly moved the people as that of the suffocation of the family of George W. 
Keed, at Independence, on the night of Saturday. December 31st, 1893. 
The calamity was due to the imperfect consumption of natural gas, on 
account of the entire stoppage of the flue of a chimney, resulting in the 
formation of that deadly product of combustion, carbonic oxide gas. This 
fact, however, was not learned until days after the tragedy, and 
meanwhile the mystery and the horror which surrounded the affair so 
impressed the public mind that the jieople of the city could neither think 
nor talk of anvthing else, and for a time Inisiness was almost at a stand- 
still. 

The Keed family at the tinse consisted of Mr. Reed, who was manager 
of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, his wife. Ella, who was a sister of 
E. P. Allen, president of the First National Bank, their son Allen, a boy 
of five years, and Miss Eda Scott, a young lady 22 years of age who had 
been in their employ for several months. On the night mentioned Mr. 
Reed had gone for a doctor for a neighbor's child, about nine o'clock in 
the evening, which was the last seen of him alive. On the Sunday follow- 
ing, at least six or seven times attempts were made to obtain entrance to 
the house, but every one who came found the doors locked and received 
no resjjonse to repeated knocks. Tom Foster, who was a step-son of a 
nmrried daughter of Mr. Reed, had been invited to take dinner there on 
that day, and not only came at the appointed time but when he found the 
door locked, the curtains drawn and everything still about the house, sat 
down on the ])orch in the warm sunshine of that New Year's day and 
waited for an hour before going away. J. A. Sparks, then turn-key at the 
jail, was the affianced husband of the girl. Eda. and he not only went 
there once but repeatedly, in fulfillment of an engagement to take her for 
a buggy ride that afternoon, without learning why it was that no re- 
sponse came to his knocking. 

I'^veryone of course concluded that the family had gone out and so 
no attem]>t was made to break into the house. When, however, the next 
morning came and Mr. Reed did not appear at the lumber yard, his 
friends, and Mr. Si>arks as well felt that it was time to make an investi- 
gation. Accordingly a party was formed, consisting of Allen Brown, 
whose first wife was Mr. Reed's daughter. Rev. J. E. Pershing, Charles 
Yoe, of the Tribune, Justice 0. E. tijlmore. J. A. Sparks, H. J. Fairleigb, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERV COIN'IY. KANSAS. 21' 

aud (ioo. L. Remington, whiili proceeded to the lesideuce and obtained 
entrauf-e tbrongli an iinfiistened kitchen window. Mr. Brown went first, 
followed by Mr. Yoe. The kitchen fire was burning brightly, but the air" 
was hot aud foul, and 5Ir. Yoe stojijied to turn off the gas. Passing on 
into the sitting room V>v. Brown was heard to exciaini "'Sly (Jod. what a 
sight!" Seated within two feet of the stove was the body of Mr. Keed, 
already so far decomposed in that over-heated atmosphere that long lines 
of blood and corrui)lion were stealing down his clothing to the floor 
forming a pool on the carpet aud soaking through into the pine floor be- 
neath. 

Haste was made to throw open doors aud windows and change the 
stifling and pestilential air which was charged with the odors of death 
and decay. Had not this been done, the cause of the calamity would 
have been sooner discovered in the asphyxiation of some of the party. 
Further search disclosed that the wife and child, Avho were in the bed- 
room most distant from the fire, were still alive, though unconscious. 
The girl upstairs had been stricken while at her toilet and had fallen to 
the floor and died many hours before, as was indicated by the stage of 
decomposition that had been reached. 

The efforts to resuscitate Mrs. Reed jiroved successful, but the child 
lingeied only until Monday evening, when his young life went out. Mrs. 
Reed could throw no light on the cause of the awful tragedy, though she 
remembered that Mr. Reed had complained of feeling chilly after re- 
tiring and had got up and lighted the fires, which had been turned out. 
It was later that he had resj)onded to the call to go for a doctor for the 
neighbor's child, after which, she said he had retired again. 

Autopsies of the victims of this tragedy were held, and it was an- 
nounced that nothing inhaled into the lungs was responsible for it, and 
that ni neither case was death due to asphyxia.tion. This was the dictum 
of a Kansas ( "ity expert who has never explained his blunder. The local 
physicians, Doctors McCulley, Masterman and Davis agreed that death 
was due to poisoning, and two of them said the symptoms were those of 
strychnine. From this, however, Masterman dissented. Xo people stood 
higher in the community than Jlr. and ilrs. Reed, and so far as was 
known they had not an enemy in the world. How or why they could have 
been poisoned was a mystery that baffled every attempt at solution. And 
yet, that they had been poisoned by something other than gas from the 
stove, every one was forced to believe. It was more than a nine days' 
wonder. It was a horror which was inexplicable. Speculation ran riot, 
and everything imaginable was surmised. To solve the prolilem, if pos- 
sible, it was decided to have a chemical analysis of tiie contents of the 
stomachs of the two adults and of Mr. Reed's brain as well. Dr. Davis 
accordingly took them up to Kansas City and the inquest was adjourned 
to await the result. When word came on Saturday, a week after the 



22 HISTORY OF 5I0XTG0MERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

fatal evening, that no trace of poison lonld be discovered the mystery 
seemed deeper than ever. Many people were demanding that a test be 
made by snl)je(tiug dogs to the .same conditions that prevailed in the honse 
when the victims were found. The idea was that in some way the heated 
air had proved fatal. Scouting this suggestion, one of the physicians 
had asserted that a dog would live for a month in just such an atmos- 
phere as those tires had produced. 

Unintentionally a test was made, however, in a way that set all 
doubt, as to the cahimity being due to the fires in the stove, completely 
at rest. Mr. Reeds' married daughters, 3Irs. E. L. Foster and Mrs. R. O. 
Barbee, had been summoned from New M^exico and Kentucky to attend 
the funeral. On the following Tuesday, Mr. E. P. Allen accompanied 
his wife and Mrs. Foster to the Reed house and lighted the fires to warm 
the rooms for them while they proceeded to look over the clothing in the 
bureaus and closets. Fortiinately the outer door was left open. Each 
noticed that her eyes were smarting, but as the articles they were 
handling had become saturated with foul odors, they remarked that it 
would not do to rub them. Mrs. Foster soon complained of a smarting 
sensation in her throat also. A moment more and thei'e was a strong 
twitching sensation in each side of her neck, and she felt her head drawn 
backward. She started for the open door and had barely reached it 
when she staggered, reeled and fell backward on the porch. Her head 
struck a post as she fell, and suffering from a terrible nausea she vomited 
profusely and became insensible where she fell. Subsequently there was 
observed frothing at the mouth and the same convulsive symjjtoms that 
had Ijeen manifested in Mrs. Reed's case, as she was being slowly lirought 
back to life. Not only that, l)Ut in her case her hands had remained 
clasped for twenty-four hours, and her jaws were set so that it was with 
the utmost difficulty they were forced apart to permit the administration 
of nourishment. 

There was of course no longer any doubt that, whatever had been 
the Cause of the tragedy, it was still potent and might easily jirove fatal 
to any one who should venture to enter that charnel house. One fact like 
this was worth a million theories in solving the problem of that awful 
calamity. The proposed experiment with living animals confined in the 
places in which the peoj>le had been found was now undertaken. On 
Wednesday, January 10th. Marshall Griffey got together three dogs and 
a cat. and under the superintendence of the sheriff and several physicians, 
they were locked up in the hou-se with the fires burning. The dogs were 
in crates or cages, and in addition to placing them where the bodies had 
been found, a cat was fastened at the foot of the stairway. 

An interested crowd lingered about the house all day watching the 
expei'iiiuMit. Some climbed to the roof of the kitchen from which the dog 
in the girl's room u]) stairs could be closely observed. It ivas noticed 



mSTOUY OK .M().\ rcoMKUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 2^. 

that the fire in the sitting room was acting (|ueerly. the bhize from the 
gas coming out of the door for several inches and showing a reversed 
draft. Step by step the mystery was being cleared up. On the roof it 
was finally noted that while a large volume of heated air was coming' 
from the kitchen chimney, the one from the sitting room remained cool, 
and no draft of any kind was jiencptible. The chimney had been choked 
up by the mortar which had fallen in when it was repaired and pieces 
had continued to fall until there was uo longer any vent. 

By half past two in the afternoon the dog iu the sitting I'oom was in 
convulsions and the one up stains had begun to show sigus of distress 
and was frothing at the mouth. From this time on the crowd of inter- 
ested sightseers increased, and there was a coustant concourse of bug- 
gies and wagons in the street. The dogs were not rendered suddenly un- 
conscious, as Mrs. Foster had been the day before, but suffered one spasm 
after another, each of them exceedingly severe. In the intervals between 
the convulsions the animals lay panting, the one near the stove with his 
tongue protruding and very rajiid respiration. At half past seven this 
dog died, and just befoi-e midnight the last signs of life were observed iu 
the one up stairs. \Vhen the animals were taken out on Thursday morn- 
ing, the dog in the bed room was still living, but it lay sprawled and 
stifl'ened with convulsions so that its recovery was deemed ini])Ossible 
and it was shot. The cat alone survived and with its proverbial hardi- 
hood ran away as soon as liberated and plunged its head rejieatedly into 
a vessel of water, as if to fi"ee itself from the poisonous effects of the air 
it had been breathing for twenty-fcuir hours. 

An autopsy of the dead animals was made by Doctors ilcCulley, 
Chauey and Davis, which i-esulted iu disclosing the cherry-red appearance 
of the blood that is noted as one of the marked indications of jioisouing 
by carbonic oxide, a gas that is formed in large quantity wherever there 
is imperfect condnistion of fuel in a stove. This gas is not immediately 
fatal and its evil effects consist chieffy in shutting out oxygen, though it 
has a positive deleterious cpiality also. 

The mystery was at last fully solved, and in the ten years since there 
has never been another fatality in the county from poisonous gasses de- 
veloped by natural gas stoves. Though learned at such a terrible cost, 
the lesson proved effective beyond expectation. 

A further demonstration of the deadly character of this carbonic 
oxide gas was made at the office of the Independence Gas Company the 
same week, which will prove both interesting and instructive in this con- 
nection. In the ])lund)ing shoj* stood a stove with no pi])e, the ju-oducts 
of combi^stion being allowed to ]iass off' into the air of the room. Placing 
a board over the hole for the l)ipe. at the toj) of the drum, the ju-oducts 
of combustion were confined in the dium. In a short tim(>. with the stove 
door open, the flames would (iroject two or three feet and burn with the 



24 HISTORY OF jMOXTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

reddish hue of inipeifect combustion. If then the stove door was rlosed, 
the fire would soon go out entirely, there being no oxygen to support 
combustion. Had the stove in Mr. Reed's sitting room been of this sort, 
the only result of the st()pi)age of the tlue would have been to jnit out 
the fire; but with the mica panels in its door broken, the flames came 
out as when the stove door at the shop was open, and the air grew more 
deadly every moment. 

Visitors at Mr. Reed's a day or two previous to the tragedy had no- 
ticed that the air was bad; but it did not become deadly until the vent in 
the chimney was entirely closed, and he was such a sufferer from catarrh 
that he did not detect the changed character of the air as the fatal gas 
began to poison it. 

Why Did Pomeroy Trust York? 

BY H. W. YOUNG. 

That ''truth is stranger than fiction" is among the most trite of prov- 
erbs. And yet, that it is the facts of human life rather than the wildest 
vagaries of the romancer that ajipeal to us more powerfully as weird, 
strange, wonderful, or inexplicable, is evidence of the infinite versatility 
of nalure. The materials that go to make the warp and woof of events 
are often the most nnexpected, and are ever blended in any way that 
sets at naught the greatest foresight and the wisest predictions. Indeed, 
the more one reads and studies the lore of the past and the fiction of the 
present, the more fully will he be convinced that all there is of interest 
or value in the creations of the novelist is the truth they contain. 

During the first five years of Montgomery county's history, the most 
striking events, seen with the clear perspective of almost a third of a cen- 
tury's distance are the Bender tragedy and the exposure by Senator A. M. 
York of the attempt made to purchase his vote by I'nited States Senator 
S. C. Pomeroy, who was a candidate for reelection. Another less im- 
portant, but still renuirkable event, was the location of the Osage District 
land office at Independence. That there could be any connection between 
events so entirely dissimilar, or that one of them should stand to another 
in the relation of cause and ettect, would seem to be especially unlikely. 
And yet not only was this the case, but we find one name — and that of a 
man who was unquestionably the foremost citizen of Montgomery county 
in those early days — coming to the front in all three of those events. It 
was only the fact that Dr. William York was the best known of the Ben- 
, ders' victims, and that it was his disappearance which led to the search 
that brought their crimes to light that connected Senator York with that 
tragedy iu 187."5. What an eventful period that was for our Senator be- 
tween .Tanuary 1872 and July 1S73. How mmh of thrilling personal 
experience was crowded into it. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 25 

AVhen in the early winter of 1872 the niavor and couucil of the city 
of Independence decided to leave no stone nnturned to secure the removal 
of the United States land office from Neodesha to their own town, they 
raisecl .|:!,(l(tO for the purjiose and sent Senator York to \\'ashinf;tou to 
engineer tlie deal. What he did there he shall tell in his own language, 
as it is I'ecorded in the report of a legislative investigating committee at 
Topeka, testifying before which on .lannary 31st, 1873, the Senator said: 

'■I was authorized as an attorney or agent of the town of Indepen- 
dence, by tlie mayor and council of that place to visit ^^'ashi^gton last 
winter and to do all I could to get the land office located at Indepen- 
dence. I think I left for Washington in January, 1872; anyhow I knew 
Mr. Caldwell was at home, being absent through the holiday recess. I 
took with me a letter of introduction from Mayor ^Mlson to General 
McEwen. I visited Messrs. Pomeroy and Lowe fretpiently with reference 
to the land office removal, and had consultations with the Kansas dele- 
gates in Congress separately and collectively, and could do nothing for .1 
long while. I also called on Secretary Delano and ascertained from him 
that Mr. Tomeroy had the control of such orders. I then saw Mr. Pome- 
roy again and wanted him to promise that the office should be removed 
when the "strip bill" passed, but he told me it could not be done, and 
advised me to return home. This conversation I think was in February. 
However, I have a record of all my conversations with the delegation and 
with every member thereof. I recorded the conversations immediately 
after the respective interviews occurred. Thereafter I called on General 
McEwen and presented my letter of introduction, and as our companion- 
ship grew he made me acquainted with the details of tlie Alice Caton 
scandal and showed me the original affidavits, similar in every respect to 
the jirinted aflidavits lirculated in this city recently. And now let me 
say here that I did not countenance the circulation of these affidavits 
during the late Senatorial canvass, but did remark to a friend that they 
were word for word of the original affidavits which I had then and have 
now in my trunk. After reading these affidavits in General ilc- 
Ewen's jiresence. T received permission to keep them, and the following 
evening called to see Senator Pomeroy at his jirivate residence in Wash- 
ington. I found him in the middle parlor. I think there were three 
parlors or reception rooms in his house, communicating with each other 
by folding doors. Senator Caldwell was there that evening and other 
gentlemen, and, I think, several ladies. Seeing Senator Pomeroy occu- 
pied, I recpiested the jirivilege of an interview at his committee room 
early the following n:orning. and the Senator said he guessed the com- 
pany would then excuse us. and he invited me into the back parlor. We 
went to the further side of the room and sat down close together, my 
chair facing him. I said: 'Senator, you have all this time failed to ap- 
preciate the earnestness of my demands for the removal of the land office 



^6 HISTORY OF MONTGOIIERY COUXTY, KAXSAS. 

to Infleiiendeiice. and uow I want to show you some documents that will, 
I think, apiteal very foreiblv to you.' And thereupon I took from my 
pocket the attidavits referred to and showed them to him. He commenced 
reading and s(M)n his face began to change color. I leaned forward and 
put the question direct to him: 'Did you go to Baltimore I naming the 
day) ; did you stop at Baruum's hotel?' He said he did. I then asked 
him if Alice Catou went to the same city the same day and stopped at 
the same hotel. He said she did go to Baltimore that day, and he 
thought she stopjied at Barnum's hotel. I asked him if he did not room 

in >vo. . He said he could not recollect. I asked him if there was not a 

door directly communicating between his and her room. He denied that 
there was, and said he slept with a young man that night whose name 
he did not remember. At length he agreed to have the land office re- 
moved on the tirst of April. i)referring that the scandal should not be 
revived as coming from a resjiectable source; and the land office was 
removed to Independence according to agreement." 

In reply to a question by a member of the investigating committee 
as to the means he employed. Colonel York said he thought "they were 
questionable, but the peojde of Indepjendence sent me to AYashington to get 
the land office and I got it." 

It has always been a wonder how so astute and experienced a pol- 
itician as Senator Pomeroy could i)ut hini.self so entirely in the power of 
a i)olitical enemy as he did when he placed those packages of bills in 
York's hands to buy his vote, especially in view of the fact that I'ork was 
made secretary of the anti-Pomeroy organization in the legislature, of 
wliicli W. A. Johnson, afterwards Justice of the Supreme Court, was 
chalnnan. The story told above by York throws a flood of light on this 
(piestion. York was not a stranger to Pomeroy. The latter naturally had 
concluded that the Montgomei-y county nuin was as unscrupulous as he 
was himself, and that he would employ any means, no matter how "ques- 
tionable" to accomplish the purposes he had in view. Y'ork had black- 
mailed him into locating the Osage land office at Independence, and he 
had evidently set him down as a bird of his own feather. That the man 
who would extort a favor for his town by a threat to expose Pomeroy's 
nuu-al corruption to his constituents, would be any too good to pocket 
f.s, ()()() MS the ]n-ice of a vote for the same reprobate in the joint convention 
never seems to have occured to that statesman. He would not have 
trusted a stranger in any such way, but a peddler of scandal! Why not 
count him safe? 

So it is that but for the removal of the land office to Independence 
it is entirely improbable that Y'ork would ever have been in a position to 
"expose'' Pomeroy's corruption. Thus strangely are events linked to- 
getlic! That York was an honest man is attested by his civil war record. 
He was made cajitain in a negro regiment and offered an opportunity to 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 2/ 

line his pockets br pvittino- fictitious names ou the pay roll, and defraud- 
ing the ignorant negroes of their \n\\. This he sternly refused to do. and 
he was in consequence promoted to be lieutenant colonel, whence his 
title. 

It was in the same year, 1873, and only three months later, that 
York was again brought into prominence in an entirely different way, 
by the discovery of his brother's body in that well-plowed garden of the 
Benders'. 

The Montgfomery County High School 

During the fall and early winter of 18,J(> there was some talk about 
the establishment of a county high school at Independence, and mention 
was made of the matter iu the newspapers, as one which might come be- 
fore the legislature. On the od of February, 18!>7, a lull was introduced 
in the Senate by Senator Young, providing That a high school for Mont- 
gomery county should be established at Independence, to be carried ou 
under the provisions of the general high school law of 1880. The same 
bill was introduced in the House by Representative Fulton, February 
4th, 1897, Immediately on the introduction of this bill in the Senate, 
the people of the county were notified of the tact through the columns of 
the Star and Kansan, and invited to express their o|iinion in regard to 
it in the following words, which will be found in "The Editor's Letter," 
written from Topeka by the Senator from this county, and published on 
February 5th, 1897 : 

A bill to establish a county high school at Independence was intro- 
duced in the Senate this morning. I should like to hear a general ex- 
pression from the people of the county as to the desirability of providing 
facilities for higher education at home, thus saving a portion of the large 
sums now paid to send young men and women of our county to distant 
institutions of learning. 

Both the Senator and Re])resentative from this county received a 
large number of letters urging ilie jiassage of this special act, and favor- 
ing the establishment of the school, while neither one of them received 
a communication oj^posing it. The bill was held uji for a time in the 
Senate committee, but when it became apparent that the people inter- 
ested were making no o]i])osition to the projiosed school, it received a fav- 
orable repoi't. It passed the Senate on February 2(ttli. 1897, without a 
dissenting voice, by a vote of '2'2 to 0. In the House there was some op- 
position to the bill in commilti'e of the whole. Hejiresentative \\'eilep, of 
Cherokee cotmty, speaking againsi it. Imt it was recommended for i)as- 
sage February 27th, 1897, and on .March I'd. 1S!»7, it passed that body by 
a vote of 97 to 1, the Senate bill in the meantime having been siibstituted 
foi- the House bill. It was signed 1a the governor .March ."illi, 1897, and 



28 HISTORY OF MONTUOJIEIti' COL'NTV^ KANSAS. 

beciuiie ;i law by puhlication iu tlie offirial stale paper ou Mtu'cli 12tb, of 
the same year. 

,Iiist as soou as tlie hill had been passed, however, considerable 
opposition lo the school was developed iu certain sections of the connty, 
notaLIy in Sycamore, Cherry, Drum Creek, Louisburg and Cherokee 
townsbijjs. Meetings were held to protest against the establishment of 
the school, and petitions were widely circulated requesting the county 




THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL 

comnussioners to appoint as trustees men known to be hostile to the 
school, and who would, it was thought, take no action to carry out the 
provisions of the law. 

When the cdiiiniissioners met in Ajiril, 1897, they took the matter 
up, and it was agreed among them that as there were six trustees to be 
selected, there should be two ai)i>ointed from each commissioner dis- 
trict. The board of commissioners at that time consisted of 1'. .S. Moore, 
of Independence; John Givens, of AVest Cherry; and David A. Cline, 
.of Parker township. The two latter felt that the vsentiment in their dis- 
itiicts was against tlie school, but were luiwilling to attempt to nullify 



lIISroUY OK MONTUOMKUV COCXTV. KANSAS. 29 

the law by making the apiioiiitnients petitioued for. From (he iiorfhern 
district Revilo Xewton, a banl;er of ("heiryvale. and il. L. Htepheus, a 
farmer of Louisburg townshiji. were named, neither of whom were 
thought to heartily favor the school at the time of their appointment. 
For the middle distri<-t William Knnkin. of Independence, a lawyer 
and cai>ltalist, and Thomas llaydcn, a farmer of Liberty township, were 
selected. From the southern district, J. A. Moore, a farmer of Caney 
township, and E. A. Osboru, a stockman, of Cott'eyville, were chosen. 
Both Dunkin and Hayden were enthusiastically in favor of the school, 
iloore also favored it, while Osborn was not only opposed to it, but took 
little interest in the matter, attended but a few of the meetings, and de- 
clined to be a candidate at the following election. 

So far as the six trustees were concerned, the Board was equally 
divided between the friends of the school and those who were less fav- 
orably disposed toward it, bnl the law making the county superinten- 
dent •! mendjer of the board cr-afficio and its chairman, prevented a dead- 
lock at any time. The board met for the first time on A])ril 22d, 1897, 
and organized by electing Kexilo Xewton secretary and Wm. Duukiu 
treasurer. 

Under the general high school law. a site for the building was re- 
quired to be furnished without exjiense to the county. On May 28th the 
board accepted the otter of the city of Independence to furnish a i)iece of 
ground 300 feet S(]uare, comprising a Iiloi-k of laud in the southwest 
corner of out-lot 3 for this purpose. It was also stipulated in the con- 
tract with the city, that a sewer connection should be furnished without 
expense to the county. On the following day it was voted to make to the 
county commissioners a certitied estimate of six mills on the dollar as the 
amount of tax needed to erect a suitable building. On this proposition 
the six trustees were tied, three of them, namely: Messrs. Osborne, New- 
ton and Stephens, being in favor of making the levy two mills a year for 
three years. The six-mill proposition was, however, adopted by the decid- 
ing vote of President Dollison. At this meeting H. M. Hadley," of Topeka, 
was elected architect of the board. 

On September 7th the (dans and specitications jtrepared by Mr. 
Iladley were accepted and Ihe board advertised for bids for the construc- 
tion of the building in accordance therewith. 

At a meeting held on October 28th, ten bids were submitted for the 
whole or part of the work, and on the following day the bid of M. P. T. 
Ecret to erect the building for .'i|!l!l..347 was accepted; also the bid of 
AA'. A. Myrick. to furnish the healing and ventilating ajijiratus and to do 
the plumbing for gas and water, fur .$:?.33(). This made the total contract 
price for the building $2:'>.()77. 

Meanwhile the opponents of the s(lio.>l had not been idle. They had 
employed Hon. T. .1. Hudson, of Fredonia, as their attorney, and oii Sep- 



30 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

teinber 14tli. 1807. they filed in the district court of the countj-, a petition 
aslciug for a restraining order to jn-event the levying or collection of the 
tax for the building, and to forbid the trustees from doing anything 
further looking toward its erection, or the establishment of the school. 
Lewis Billings, of Drum Creek, and seventeen others, were named as 
plaint ifts in this petition. 

The case came ou for hearing at the November term of court, and on 
the I'Oth day of that month Judge Skidmore granted the injunction 
prayed for, fortifying his action by an extended o]iinion. The ground 
on which this order was asked and granted was the claim that the special 
act establishing the school was unconstitutional, for the reason that a 
general law was ai»plicable. This point had been raised in the supreme 
court and overruled when the Labette county high school was established 
by a similar special law ; and two of the three judges who concurred in 
that ojiinion were still ou the bench, so that the chance of winning the 
case in the final outcome did not seem especially promising. Neverthe- 
less. Judge Skidmore reversed the sujireme court with a great deal of 
alacrity, and the work of the trustees came to a standstill, while the case 
was carried up to the supreme court. 

By the terms of the injunction, the county commissioners were for- 
bidden to make a levy of the tax for the building, the county clerk was 
forbidden to extend this levy on the tax books, and the county treasurer 
was forbidden to collect it. The original petition i*rr a restraining order 
had been made in the probate court ; but as it had been refused there, by 
the time the case was decided in the distrh-t court, the tax had been 
levied and extended on the books. J. K. Blair, who was county treas- 
urer, therefore refused to accept any jiortion of any tax nnlea.'i the county 
high school tax was paid, so that the collection of the money for the 
building fund went right on, in s[)ite of the injunction. Nor was any at- 
tempt made to jsunish Mr. Blair for contempt of court in doing what the 
law compelled him to do, in making the collection. 

^^'hile this case was pending, the opponents of the school hoped to 
elect a board of trustees at the November election who were opjiosed to 
the school. The Kei)ublican convention, which was held Se])teml)er LStli. 
renominated ^lessrs. ]»unkin. ILiyden and Moore who were friendly to 
the school, and three more candidates who were thought to be unfriendly. 
The Populists and Democratic conventions, held ^ejitember U9th, agreed 
in conference committee to nominate the old board with the exceji^ion of 
]\Lajor Osborne, who jiositively declined to permit his name to be used. 
In his ])lacc Adam licatty. of Cherokee towiishi]i. was named. The elec- 
tion of either the Hepnlilican or the fusion candidates would have insured 
a majority favorable to the schciol. So the i)lan adopted to defeat it was 
to vote for the three unfavorable candidates on the Republican ticket and 
the most lukewarm members of the old board. Circulars were distributed 



(■ 



HISTOKY or MONTOOJIERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 3 1 

at iiioi-t of the polling places advising that this be done. The result was 
the election of the ofd board, with Mr. Hoatty. by overwhelming major- 
ities. The totals ranging from 3,451) votes for Thomas Hayden to 2,'.»o(i 
for Revilo Newton while the largest vote cast for an avowedly opposing 
indidate was 2.02:2. This vote effectimlly settled the question as to the 
feeling of the jicoiile, and also as to the possibility of defeating the school 
by electing an unfriendly board. 

On January 11th. IS'J.S. the new l)oard organized by electing William 
Dunkiu secretary and Revilo Xewton treasurer. The question how long 
each trustee should serve was decided by lot, Hayden and Newton draw- 
ing the three-year term, Dunkin and Moore the two-year term and 
Ste\('iis and Heatty the one-year. 

Aftei' various jiostponements and delays the case in the supreme court 
was decided May 7th. and the judgment of the lower court reversed. This 
dissolved the injunction and left the trustees free to proceed with the 
erection of the building. On June 14th the contract with M. P. T. Ecret 
was changed so as to include H. A. Brewster & ("o. with him. W. A. My- 
rick at the same time transferred his contract for phnnbing to E. A. 
Chancy, of Tojieka. 

Ground was broken for the building Monday, June 20th, IS'JS; and 
on June 2f)th W. H. Hack was appointed superintendent of construction. 
From that time the work was ])ushed rapidly all through the summer and 
fall, so that by Thanksgiving the walls were uj) and the work of roofing 
Avas in progress. 

It was on Monday. November 2Sth. that a very pleasant impromptu 
affair occured at the building. The tower was already in place, and noth- 
ing remained to finish it excejtt to paint the tin of the roof. A portion of 
the Scaffolding the builders had used still s5urrounded this tower. Miss 
Mena Jones, a young lady of Sycamore township, and a daughter of 
N\illiam Jones, had expressed a willingness to raise the American flag 
upon a staff at one corner of this tower. She proved her grit and the 
steadiness of her nerves by climbing the tower, walking erect and unat- 
tended along a narrow plank near the top, at the same time waving her 
hands to acquaintances in the street a hundred feet below, as coolly as if 
she were stariding on the firm earth. She attached the Hag to the staff', 
and it was greeted with a ringing cheer from the gi'oup gathered on the 
roof, followed b\ another for the plucky girl who had performed the dar- 
ing feat. 

The work of jdastering and inside finishing j)roceeded through the 
winter of ]8!t8-!)n. and by the fir.>*t of April the building was practically 
completed, though some minor details prevented its formal accejitiince 
by the triislees at the hands of the contractors until June <>th, 18'J9. On 
August 1st, lS'.f,'<, the trustees made an estimate fixing 1% mills as the 
i'U'Cunt of tax levy !>< '■■'•-•I i'« raise a sum sufficient to furnish the build- 



HISTORT OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ins. V^y for «" ftirther improvements, and run the school until the close 

of 1 809 

At 'the November election of 1808. Adam P.eatty was re-elected trus- 
tee and P. H. Fox, of Fawn Creek tuwnshij.. was elected to take the place 
of M. L. Stephens. ^ , , , ^ 

March 20th. 1899. the board elected Samuel M. Nees, who had for nine 
years previous been at the head of the Independence city schools, as 
principal. 

A contract for furniture for the building was made with O. C. (Jark 
& Co., of Cleveland. Ohio, on April 11th. This included 500 opera chairs, 
300 single desks, 9 teachers" desks, and 1327 feet of solid rock slate for 
black-boards. The contract price was |1,721.82. and the next highest bid 
was about $1,200 more. 

1 1 was decided on April 2oth to elect three gentlemen and two ladies, 
who, with the principal, should constitute the faculty, at salaries of |750 
per annum each, for the former, and |(iOO for the latter. T. B. Henry, W. 
E. Ringle, Richard Allen, Georgia Cubine and Lura Bellamy were elected 
to these positions. 

At the meeting on June (Jth, after the building had -been received 
from the contractors, a course of study was agreed upon and a set of by- 
laws for the government of the school adopted. 

At the meeting on June 28th the tax levy for 1899 was fixed at 2 
mills. Rules and regulations were adopted and a list of text books 
agreed upon July 18th. 

On Monday, September 4th. 1899, the school was opened with very 
simple ceremonies. After prayer by Rev. S. K. Estey, short addresses 
were made by President Dollison of the board of trustees, Mr. Estey, 
Principal Nees, and other members of the faculty. The enrollment of 
pupils during the first week of school exceeded 200, and the school, 
which had been so long in preparation and so bitterly fought over, was 
fairlv launched among the institutions of the state devoted to the higher 
education. 

Classes in the following subjects were organized for the first term : 
Beginning Latin, Csesar, Cicero, Algebra, (ieometry. Psychology, Greek, 
Physics, Chemi.stry, Zoology. General History. Bookkepiug. Vocal Music, 
German, Rhetoric, English Literature, Arithmetic and I'hysical Geog- 
raphy. 

At this point it is fitting to bear testimony to the fidelity and de- 
votion with which the members of the original board of trustees per- 
formed their duties, and the intelligeiice and zeal with which they labored 
to ju-ovide a home for and build up a school which would be a credit not 
only to all connected with its establislimeiit, but to the c(ninty and the 
state as well. It mattered not at all that some of them had been at first 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMBRT COUNTY^ KANSAS. 35 

opposed to the undeitakiuo ; no sooner did they put their hands to the 
work tlian it began to jirow broader and liigher in their minds, and they 
became inspired with the ambition to make everytliinf; the best. The im- 
mense possibilities of good, not only for the young people of today, but 
for the generations to come, loomed up before them as they became inter- 
ested in the work, and they gave to.it time without stint, and their best 
energies. As a result they could rejoice in having been instrumental in 
providing for Montgomery county a High S^chool that admittedly ranks 
at the head of schools of its class in the state, both in its material equip- 
ment and in the character of the work it is doing. 

At the November election of 1899. E. P. Allen and Wilson Kincaid, 
both business men of Indepeudeuce, though candidates on opposing tick- 
ets, were elected trustees. At the meeting held January Sth, 1900, the 
new boai"d organized by electing Thomas Hayden, Yicel'resideut; P. H. 
Fox. Secretary; and Kevilo Newton, Treasurer. 

The Dalton Raid at Coffeyville 

In all the annals of crime in our country, few if any events have fur- 
nished more dramatic incidents or created more of a sensation than the 
raid tf the Daltons at Coffeyville, on the morning of Wednesday, October 
5th, 1902. There have been other bank robberies where larger amounts 
of money have been at stake, and some in which better known bandits 
and outlaws have participated, but in the sanguinary nature of the strug- 
gle, the number of shots fired, and the victims on both sides, the Coffey- 
ville affair must stand preeminent. 

The "Dalton fiaug." whose leaders organized a!nd perpetrated this 
raid had already acipiired an unenviable reputation as outlaws and train 
robbers, and were ready for any crime if the stakes wei'e large enough. 
Three of the Oalton brothers, with two ordinary criminals of the sort 
that could be picked up almost anywhere in the Indian Territory, con- 
stituted the ].arty. The l>alt(;n family originally consisted of Lewis Dal- 
ton and his wife, whose maiden name was Adaline Lee Younger, and who 
was born in Cass county, Missouri, in the neighborhood whence came 
other Youngers, who achieved notoriety as bank robbers. They were the 
I)arents of thirteen children, of whom two died in infancy. The family 
were not strangers at Coffeyville, liaving settled in that vicinity in 1882 
and remained there until the opening of Oklahoma in 1889. In fact, 
Lewis Dalton remained in this county until his death, at Dearing, in 
1S9(I. The lest of ihe f.nuily went to Oklahoma and took up claims. The 
old ])eople seem to have been jieaceable and law-abiding, but three of the 
boys became dejiuty United States marshals in the Indian Territory, one 
of tluni also serving for ;i sliorl time as chief of police of the Osage Na- 
tion. Familiarity with crin.e and acipiainfance with outlaws in these 



,^ HISTORY OK MONTOOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

positions seems to have developed a passion for criminal adventure, which 
mav have been also, to some extent, a matter of heredity on their mother's 
side. (Jratton, lOmmet and Robert were the I)alt(ms in the gang, and the 
two other niemhers of the quintette who raided the Cotfeyville banks were 
known as Kill Powers and I >ick Broadwell. Kobert, the leader of the 
"ang. was only 22 years of age, while Enmiet was a mere boy two years 
younger, (iratton was 31. 

The Daltons are credited with having stolen a herd of cattle in the 
territory about two years previous to the events to be here narrated, and 
so far as know n, they took the tirst degree in outlawry at that time. In 
the early part of 1891, Gratton, William and Emmet Daltou were arrest- 
ed for train robbery in Tulare county, California. Emmet escaped, Wil- 
liam was ac(piitted, and Gratton was convicted and sentenced to twenty 
years in the penitentiary. He escaped from the county jail l)efore being 
taken to Folsoui, and there was a standing reward of .f(J,0(lll ottered for 
(iratton and Emmet by tlie Stmthern Pacitic Railway at the time these 
men met their fate at Coffeyville. lu M,ay 1891 there was. a train robbery 
by masked men at Wharton, Indian Territory, on the Santa Fe Railroad; 
and in -Inly of the same year another at Adair, on the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas, both of which were credited to the Kaltons. 

On the morning of the Cotfeyville raid, the live men mentioned were 
seen. by several people riding toward that city, and they were taken, in 
every instance, for a United States Deputy Marshal and his j)osse. They 
<'auie in on the nuiin road from the west, turned south one block from the 
business part of town and hitched their horses in the alley running 
back from Slossen's drug store, which has since become famous as "the 
Alley of Death." They then started down the alley, (iratton, with Pow- 
<'rs and Broadwell in front, and Emmet and P.ob following. As they 
crossed the sidewalk, on emerging from the alley, they passed within 
five feet of a citizen who was ac(|uainted with them well enough to recog- 
nize them in spite of the disguises they had assunsed on coming into a 
locality where they were so well known. A moment later he saw the three 
men who were in front enter C. M. Condon & Co.'s bank and present a 
Winchester at the cashier's counter. He raised the alarm at once. 

Meantime the other two had crossed rnic'u street and entered the 
First Natioual bank. They were followed by some citizens who suspected 
their object and the alarm was sjieedily raised on the east side of the 
plaza, also. Immediately half a dozen men rushed to the hardware stores 
of Isham P.ros. & :Mansur and A. P. Boswell & C>.. on the east side of 
Fnion street, and jtroceeded to provide themselves with rifles and amnui- 
nition, determined that the bank robbers should not get away if it was 
possible to prevent it. 

In Cond<ui & Co.'s bank were C. T. Car]ienter. one of the jiroprietors, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 35 

Chas M. r.all. I lie cnshici, and T. ('. Eabb, the bookkeeper. The leader of 
the raiih'is, Cial. Daltoii. ordered the men behind the counter to throw 
up their hands; and on Jookiiiij;' up from his work at the desk, Mr. Car- 
penter saw three Wincliesters aimed at his head, and lieard such reassur- 
ing words as these : 

"We have i>ot von, (J d von! Hold up ,vour hands" 

As soon as I>alton had passed around into the inside of the enclosure 
at the liank, he ordered Mr. r.all to h(dd a grain sack he had brought with 
him, while ("ar]ienter wastold 1o put the money in the canvas sacks in the 
safe into it. There was |o,()(Hl in silver in the three sacks, and when he 
had got that Dalton ordered Mr. Ball to open the burglar proof chest in 
the vault. Ball replied: 

"It is not time for it to o]>en.'' 

"Wh;it tin.e does it open?" asked Gratton. 

"Half past nine," answered Hall, guessing what o'clock it might be, 
sparring for time. 

"What time is it now?" queried the bandit. 

"Twenty minutes past nine." glibly answered Ball, looking at his 
watch. 

As a matter of fact, it was Twenty minutes of ten, but Daltou did 
not know this and calmly jtroposed to wait until the chest could be 
opened. In a moment or two he began to suspect the truth and turned on 
]{all and cursed him and threatened to jmt a bullet through him. With 
the money from the counter the robben? now had .fi.OdO, but the tiring 
which had begun frcnn the (nitside was getting so hot that the robbers 
ordered the sack carried into the back room, where the currency was 
sorted out and the silver left. The bankers and two customers who hap- 
pened to be in when the raid was made, were lying on the tioor now to 
escajie llie rain of bullets that came crashing through the jdale glass. 
BroadwcJI had aiieady received a bullet in the arm that disabled him, 
and the robbers made haste to get out into the street whence they had 
come. 

Meanwhile, a good deal had been happening at the First Xatioual 
across the street, liob Dalton and Emmet entered here about the same 
time the other three men went into Condon's. They covered the cashier, 
Thomas G. Avers, and the teller, W. H. Shepard, with their guns and 
ordered everyone ])resent to hold u\> his hands. The men in the bank in 
front of the counter at The time were J. H. Bi'ewster, the well known con- 
tractor, wlio built the county court house, A. W. Knotts. who was after- 
ward deiiuty sheritf, and C L. Hollingsworth. Leaving Emmet on guard 
in front. Bob went around to the rear and entered the private room, where 
he founil Bert S. Ayres. the hookkeejier, and ordered him to go to the 
front and get the money on the counter. He then ordered the cashier 1o 



35 HISTORY (ir jioxtgomery cointy. Kansas. 

briiifi liiiii (lie money that was in tlic safe, and not satistied witli what lie 
got vpinl into tiie vanit liiniself and look two jiarkages of cnrreucy con- 
taining five thonsand dollars each, and added them to the collection in his 
sack, which now amounted to f20,0(l(). Ordering the bank force and cus- 
tomers out before them, the bandits started to go out the front door, but 
some sliots drove them back and they then retreated by a back door. 

Right at this time the murderous work began, t^o fai', only two men 
had been wounded, liroadwell. ou the inside of Condon's bank, and 
Charles T. Guuip, who had taken a position outside of the First National 
with a gun ready to shoot at the robbers when they started out. Bob 
talton tired a shot which sruck him in the hand and disabled him. 
When the two robl)eis emei-ged from the rear door of the First National, 
having the teller, ^\v. Shejiard with them, they came across Lucius M. 
Baldwin, a clei'k from Reed Brothers' store. He was holding a revolver 
at his side and coming forward as if to join the others. Both the Daltons 
leveled their ^A'inchesters at him and commanded him to sto]). For some 
reason he failed to obey and kept moving toward them. Bob remai'k(>d. 
"I'll have to get that man." and jiulled the trigger which sent a bullet 
through Baldwin's breast near the heart. He was only about fifty feet 
away at the time. He was picked -iip by friends and carried away but 
only survived for about three hours. 

The Daltons I'an north uj) the alley to Eighth street and turned west 
when they reached that street, ^^'hen they got as far as Union street on 
the east side of the IMawi. they looked down that street to the south and 
fired a couple of shots, apparently for the purpose of frightening their 
assailants away. By the time they had reached the middle of the street 
on their way across to the "Little block" in tlie center of the Plaza, they 
discerned (ieorge Cubine standing in the doorway of Rammel Brothers' 
drug store, which adjoined the First National bank building on the north. 
Be had a Winchester in his hand and was looki'ng the other way, toward 
the door of the bank from which he was expecting to see the outlaws 
emerge. They each fired twice at him, and as the four shots rang out, he 
fell to the pavement lifeless, with one bullet through his heart, another 
through his left thigh and a third through his ankle. The fourth ball 
■went astray and crashed through the plate glass window of the store 
behind him. Charles Brown, an old man whose place of business was 
next north of the drug store, rushed out to assist the fallen man : but see 
ing that he was dead, seized the Winchester Cubine had and tui'ned it 
on his slayers. Four more deadly shots rang out from the bandits' guns, 
and Brown fell bleeding and dying. He survived three houi-s in dreadful 
agony and then passed away. 

These three nuirders had been committed in less time than it has 
taken to tell it. By this time the r»altons caught sight of another man n 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 37 

who was watching the entrance of the bank, ready to fire when they 
slionld emerge. When (nrned ont of the hank at the time the otithvws 
started to come ont the front way. Cashier Ayre s ran into Isliam's liard- 
ware store, just to t]i(> sontli, and jirociired a Winciiester, with winch he 
took a position in tlie doorway, where he could command the entrance 
to the bank. As they were stepping up on to the sidewalk on the west 
side of Union street, and across the street from the Eldridge House, Bob 
took deliberate aim at Ayres, who was about seventy-five yards distant, 
and fired a bullet which si ruck him in the cheek, just 1k>1ow his left eye 
iiUid came out at 1h(> back of his head near the base of the skull. He fell 
bleeding and unconscious and for days hung between life and death, but 
finally recovered. 

Just at this time, (iratton and his companions had reached the alley 
adjoining Slosson's store, up which they had left their horses, and before 
the prostrate form of Mr. Ayres could be removed they fired nine shots 
into the front of the building where he lay. Bob and Emmet proceeded 
west on Eighth street and were not noticed again until they reappeared 
near the junction of the two alleys, having come down back of Wells 
Brothers' store. Their escape would have been comi)aratively easy, had 
they not returned to that spot, but made a break for the open country and 
taken the first horse they came across. 

As it was, the whole force of the bandit band was now gathered in 
what has since been known as "the Alley of Death," and there they all 
fell beneath the bullets of the volunteers for law and order, though not 
until another good citizen lost his life. For the facts thus far published 
we are indebted to the painstaking and carefully written work published 
by Colonel 1). Stewart Elliott, of the Coffeyville Journal, entitled : "Last 
Raid of the Daltons;" and for the story of the concluding scenes of that 
raid we can do no better than to reproduce the chapter of that work on 
"The Alley of Death" almost verbatim. 

When the alarm was first given that the banks were being robbed, 
Henry H. Isham, the senior member of the firm of Isham Brothers & 
Mansur, was busy with a customer, as were two clerks in the store, Lewis 
T. Dietz and T. Arthur Keynolds. This store not only adjoined the First 
National bank on the south, but from its front a clear view is to be had 
across the Plaza and up the alley at the west side to which the Daltons 
first came and to which they finally retreated. Mr. Isham dismissed his 
customer, closed his safe, and. grasping a Winchester, stationed himself 
near a steel range in the front of the store where he could see all that was 
going on in the front part of Condon's bank. Dietz snatched a revolver 
and stationed himself close to Isham, while Reynolds, having observed 
the robbers enter the banks, w.as so eager to prevent their escape that he 
seized a Winchester, ran out upon the sidewalk and commenced firing 



-g HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COLNTY. KANSAS. 

upon the i-obber who was stationed near the southeastern door of the 
Condon bank. A shot from the latter's rifle struck some intervening ob- 
ject and ghinced and hit Kevnolds on the right foot at the base of the 
little toe. coming out at the instep. He was the third man wounded in 
the store, and was now forced to leave the field. Indeed, with its blood- 
bespat teded floor, the store now began to look like a slaughter house or 
a section of a battle field. M. X. Anderson, a carpenter, who had been at 
work a couple of blocks away, now arrived and took the Winchester Rey- 
nolds had dropped and stationed himself beside Isham. where he per- 
formed valiant service until the close of the engagement. Charles K. 
Smith, a young man from a barber shop near Ishanrs store, also procured 
a ^^■inchester and joined the forces in the hardware store in time to help 
exterminate the gang. 

From five to nine shots were fired by each man who handled a Win- 
chester at this point. The principal credit, however, for the successful 
and fatal work done at the store was due to Mr. Isham. Cool and col- 
lected, he gave directions to his companions and at the same time kept his 
own gun at work. 

The moment that Grat. Dalton and his companions, Dick Broadwell 
and Kill Powers, left the Condon bank after looting it, they came under 
the guns of the men in Isham's store. Grat. Dalton and Bill Powers each 
recehed mortal wounds before they had gone twenty steps. The dust 
was teen to fly from their clothing, and Powers in his desperation at- 
tem])ted to take refuge in the doorway of an adjoining store, but the door 
was locked and no one answered his request to be let in. He kept his feet 
and clung to his Winchester until he reached his horse, when another ball 
struck him in the back and he fell dead at its feet. Grat. Dalton, getting 
under cover of an oil tank which had been driven into the alley just about 
the time the raid was made, managed to reach the side of a barn on the 
soutli side of the alley, about two hi.ladred feet from Walnut street. The 
point where he stopped was out of the range of the guns at Isham's on 
account of an intervening outside stairway. He stood here for a few 
minutes firing wild shots down the alley toward the Plaza. 

About this time John J. Kloehr. a liveryman. Carey Seaman, and the 
City Marshal, Charles T. Connelly, who were at the south end of th'3 
Plaza, near Reeds' store, started up Ninth street so as to intei'cept the 
gang before they could reach their horses. Connelly ran across a vacant 
lot to an ojiening in the fence at the alley, right at the corner of the barn 
where Grat. Dalton was still standing. There he sjtrang ilnto the alley, 
facing the west where the horses were hitched. This movement brought 
him with his back toward the murderous Dalton, who was seen to raise 
his Wincliester to his side and, without taking aim, fired a shot into the 
back of the brave oflicer, Connelly fell forward on his face, within 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS; 39 

twenly feet of wlioip his umrderer stood. He breatbed bis last just as the 
tight t'oded. 

Dick BroadwcU. in the iiu'auliiiie, bad reached cover in the Long- 
Kell Lumber <"oinpany"s yards, where be lay down for a few moments. 
He \\as wounded in the back. A lull occurred iu the tiring after (Jrat 
Daltop and Bill I'owers bad fallen. Broadwell food advantage of this 
and crawled out of his biding place, mounted bis horse and rode away. 
A ball from Kloebr's rifle, and a load of shot from a gun in the hands of 
Carey Seaman, overtook him Itefore lie bad ridden twenty feet. Bleeding 
and dying be clung to bis horse and passed out of the city over a portion 
of the road Iiy which the ])ai'ty entered it not more than twenty minutes 
I)efov\ His body was subsequently found by the roadside half a mile 
west of the city, and his horse with its trappings was captured near 
where he fell 

Almost at the same moment that ^Marshal Connelly went down be- 
fore tlie deadly rifle of (irat. DaHon, Bob and Emmet emerged from the 
alley by which they had left Eighth street in tbeir effort to rejoin the rest 
of the party where their horses had been left. They had not met with 
any resistence in ])assing from where they had shot Cubi>ne, Brown and 
Ayres. as the firing toward the south end of the Plaza had attracted gen- 
eral attention in another direction. The north and south alley through 
which they reached "the Alley of Death," has its terminus opposite the 
rear end of Slosson's store. When they reached the junction of the al- 
leys, they discovered F. D. Benson climbing through a rear window with 
a gun in his hand. Divining bis ol)ject. Bob tired at him point blank, at a 
distance of not over thirty feet. The shot missed. Bob then stepped into 
the alley and glanced up at the tops of the buildings as if he suspected 
the fusilade that was pouring into the alley came from that direction. 
As he did so. the men at Isham's took deliberate aim from their positions 
in the store and fired at him. The notorious leader of the Dalton gang 
evidently received a severe if not fatal wound at this time. He stagger- 
ed across the alley and sat down on a i)ile of dressed curbstones near the 
city jail. Still true to his desperate nature, he kept his rifle in action and 
tired sevei-al shots from where he was sitting. His aim, though, was un- 
steady and the bullets went wild. While sitting on the rocks he espied 
John Kloebr on the inside of the fence near Slosson's store. He tried to 
raise his Winchester to bis shoulder, but could not, and the shot intended 
for Kloebr struck the side of an outhouse and failed in its mission. Bob 
DaUon then made his supreme eftort. He aro.se to his feet and sought 
refuge alongside of an old barn west of the city jail, and, ler.lning against 
the southwest corner of the building be brought his rifle into action again 
and fired two shots in the direction of his pursuers. They were his last 
shots. A ball from Kloebi-'s rifle struck him full in the breast and he fell 



^O HISTORV Of MONTGOMERY COINTY. KANSAS. 

over backward among the stones which covered the ground there, and 
which were reddened with his life blood. 

After shooting Marshal Connelly, (irat. Dalton made another at- 
tempt to reach his horse. He iiassed" by his fallen victim, iihul had ad- 
vanced probably twenty feet from where he was standing when he fired 
the fatal shot; then turning his face to his pursuers he again at- 
tem])ted to use his Winchester. John Kloehr's rifle blazed out again 
now. and the oldest member of the band drojiped with a bullet in his 
throat and a broken neck. He fell within a few feet of the dying marshal. 

I'p to this time Emmet Dalton had managed to escajie untouched. 
He kept under shelter after he reached the alley until he attemjited to 
moui^t his horse. A half dozen rifles were then fired in his direction, as 
lie undertook to get into the saddle. The two intervening horses belong- 
ing to Rob Dalton and Bill Powers were killed by some of the shots in- 
tended for Kmmet; and the two horses attached to the oil tank-wagon 
being directly in range received fatal wounds. Emmet succeeded in get- 
ting into the saddle, but not until he had received a shot through the 
right arm and another through the left hip and groin. During all this 
time he had clung to the sack containing the money he had taken from 
the First National bank. And then, instead of riding off. as he might 
have done, Emmet boldly and courageously rode back to what he must 
have known was almost certain death and came up beside where Bob 
was lying and attemj)ted to lift his dying brother onto the horse with 
him. "It's no use," faintly whispered the fallen bandit, and just then 
Carey Seaman fired the contents of both barrels of his shot-gun into 
Emmet's back, as he was leaning over the jirostrate form of his leader 
and tutor in crime. The youthful desperado dropped from his horse and 
the last of the Dalton gang was helpless. In falling, the sack containing 
the tv.-enty thousand dollars he had perilled his soul and body to get went 
down with him, and he hlnded at the feet of his brother, P.ob, who breath- 
ed his last a moment later. 

Citizens who had followed close after the robbers, and some of whom 
were close at hand when they fell, immediately surrounded their bodies. 
Emmet responded to the command to hold u\) his hands by raising his 
uninjured arm and making a [jathetic appeal for mercy. Lynching was 
suggested, but better councils ])revailed and he was taken to the office of 
a surgeon, who dressed his wounds. He recovered with the (piick elasti- 
city of youth and was taken to the jail at liuleiiendeiice, where, in the 
following March, he pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and 
was sentenced to a ninety-nine years' term in the penitentiary, ten of 
which he has already served. His aged mother is untiring in her 
eft'orts to secure pardon and freedom for her wayward boy, but no 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 4I 

■governor has yet dared to brave the indignation of the friends of the vic- 
tims of the raid bv granting her prayer. 

Ijess than fifteen minutes had elapsed from the time the raiders en- 
tered the banks until four of them were dead and the others helpless with 
wounds. And it was only twelve minutes from the firing of the first shot 
until the last one sounded the knell of the Dalton gang. 

Summarizing the reports, it ajtpears that eighty bullet marks and 
numerous evidences of the impact of small shot were visible on the south 
front of Condon's bank when the battle ended. Not more than fifteen 
guns were actively engaged in the fight on both sides; and yet eight peo- 
ple were killed and three wounded. While all the citizens who were 
killed or wounded were armed. Geoi-ge Cubine was the only one of them 
who had tired a shot before being stnuk down. Amdng the scores of by- 
standers and onlookers about the IMaza, including many girls and little 
chidreu, not one was struck by a short or bullet. It was war, an^d very 
sanguinary war, while it lasted, the percentage of victims to combatants 
being greater than in v.niy battle that was not a massacre; but no wild 
shooting was done. 

\Miile the people of Coffeyville wi])ed out the outlaw gang at a terri- 
ble cost of valuable lives, they insured their city against any more such 
visitations during the lifetime of the present generation, and conferred a 
service ujjon the state and upon society by demonstratihig how risky and 
unprofitable smli raids are likely to prove. 

■ ■ ■ I 

CHAPTER III. 

The Press of Montgomery County 

i:\ II. w. vouxi;. 

There is a fascination about the pewspaper business which even 
those who have sjient their lives in the editor's chair would find it hard 
to explain. Certainly it must have been this fascination, rather than the 
jiecuniary rewards in sight, wliicli have induced three score and ten men 
to establish newspapers in nin.e ditlerent localities in Montgomery county. 
For of all the seventy or more publications which have been started in 
this county as local newsjjajiers, there is only one which has as yet placed 
its ])i()];rietors in iiideiiendent circumstances, given them any bank ac- 
count t(» s]ieak of, or enaliled them to become landowners on any but the 
most limited scale. Ami the success which has attended this exceptional 
venture, is without question, .ittributable to the public i)atronage it has 
enjoyi (1 rather than to i)rofits from the sources of income accessible to all 
news]ia]iers alike, as the rewards of industry, energy and perseverance. 

liefore atrem|itiiig even the briefest mention of the scores of news- 
papers which have been born and lixcd llieir short lives within our bor- 
ders, it is tilling to refer a little more in detail to the men and the pajjers 



jj.2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

which have kept their places longest on the slippery surface where fall* 
have been so frequent. 

The only newspaper in the county which has ever reached its ma- 
jority under the same ownershij) and inauaj;enient is the one referred ta 
above as the one instance of financial success. The South Kansas 
Tribune, of Independence, was established in March, 1871. W. T. Yoe. one 
of the present ijroprietors, being a half owner, and the other half being 
the property of the law firm of York & Humphrey ; though Humphrey's 
name alone api)eared as rei)resenting this interest and York was a silent 
partner. This partnership contiinued only about a year, when George W. 
Burchard purchased Y'ork & Humphrey's interest, and became editor of 
the paper, with AV. T. Y'oe as local or associate editor. At this time the 
Tribune was the best edited paper in the county, and perhaps in this sec- 
tion of the state. This arrangement continued until 1874. when Mr. Burch- 
ard's Ke])ublicanism became so attenuated that the only way to preserve 
the j)olitical integrity of the jjajier was to remove him from his position. 
Mr. Yoe accordingly boughl hini out, ahid his interest was transferred to 
Charles Y'oe who has ever since been associated in its publication. For 
the twenty-nine years since, this pa])er has kept the even tenor of its way, 
as a defender of the Republican faith; and its unwavering adherence to 
that organization has made it one of the landmarks of journalism in 
Soutlieastern Kansas. Its publishers have become comjiaratively weal 
thy; and while it has never reached the highest levels of journalism, it 
has r:ever sunk to the lowest depths. It has been careful and conserva- 
tive, and it is usually found on the po]mlar side of public questions. It 
has noi only enjoyed a lucrative income from the county printing almost 
uninlerru])tedly for the jiast twenty years, but its senior editor has held 
such i)aying official jiositions as mendier of the t>tate Board of Trustees 
of Charitable Institutions, and postmaster of the City of Independence, 
while the junior member was until recently secretary of the same board. 

Jvext to t^le Y'oes, the second oldest editor and ])ublisher. in the time 
spent on Montgomery county newsjiajiers, is H. AY. Young, now of the 
Kansas Populist, but heretofoi-e publisher of the Cotl'eyville Star, the In- 
dependence Star and the Star and Kansau. Mr. Y'oung rekons nineteen 
years devoted to editorial work in Montgomery county and has held the 
ofifiees of Receiver of the Tnited States Land Office at Independence and 
State Senator for the Montgomery county district. By his frequent 
changes and his im])ulsive — some would say erratic — methods of con- 
ducting a newspaper Mr. Y'oung has illustrated the old adage that "a roll- 
ing stone gathers no moss;" and while friends have often commended his 
newsi)aper as "the best in the county." he has never demonstrated any 
special ability as a money-getter. 

T. N. Sickels, (yf the Daily Reporter, of Independence, comes third 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 43 

in length of service, having become proprietor of that paper iln May, 
1885, and having published it uninterruptedly since, with the exception 
of three or four years spent in the pension office at Topeka during Tresi- 
dent Harrison's administration, when it was in charge of his son, Walter. 
Mr. Sickels is one of the few men who have been able to make a local 
daily self-supporting in towns like Independence, and now rejoices in a 
subscription and advertising patronage in keeping with the growth of a 
prosperous city in the gas and oil belt. 

C. E. Moore, of the ("lierryvale Rejiublican, has also been a long time 
in the harness, having become connected with the Globe of that city in 
1881, and having been engaged in the printing business there for nearly 
all the time since. 

Although Montgomery is a comparatively young county, hav- 
ing been organized in 180!), and is not in the first rank in i)opulation, 
there are only four counties in the state which can boast larger newspa- 
per graveyards. Untimely deaths of publications which have started out 
with bright hopes and boundless ambitions have occurred at the rate of 
about two a year during the thirty-four years of our county's existence, 
and we now have but twelve living. 

When a company of Oswego men in the summer of 1809 determined 
to locate a county seat on the ^'erdigris ;Jnd get in "on the ground tloor" 
in the new county to the west, one of the lirst things they did was to pro- 
vide for the publication of a newsj^aper; and so we find the first paper is- 
sued in IjVmtgomery county to have been the Independence IMoneer. The 
first number bore date of September .jth, of that year. It was published 
by E. R. Trask. of the Oswego Register, and jtrinted at that place until 
March, 1870, when it was provided with an outfit of its own, and David 
Steel became its editor. In Decendjer, 1870, it was sold to Thos. H. Can- 
field, who changed its name to the Republican. The paper remained at 
the county seat for about two years longer, changing jiroprietors every 
few months, and in the spring of 1873 again went west "to grow up" with 
some other county. 

The second paper established in the county was the Westralia 
Tidette. l)y McConnell & Mclntyre. in the sjiring of 1870. It lived only 
three months and two days, succumbing to lack of nourishment. Follow- 
ing it came the Record, founded by (4. D. Baker at the new town of Par- 
ker. It is said to have been an excellent pajter. but when Parker faded 
away it had to give up the ghost. 

The first pai)Or on record as being nxowcdly in oiijiosition to the dom- 
inant Re]iublii;ni ]>aity in the county was the Kansas Democrat, which 
tlie well known Martin \'anl'.ureu Bennett removed from Oswego to In- 
dependence in December, 1870. "Van" is su])posed to have intended to 
use this ]pnblirntion as a lever to boost him into congress; but his paper 



44 HISTORY OF SIONTGOMEUY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

was sensational and not as popnlar ;is he hoped, and in 1S12 he sold it to 
I'eacock & >^ons who, a year or two afterward, removed it to the state 
capital. 

In casting about for something to do. after the sands of his ofiScia! 
life had run out, ex-United States Senator E. (i. Koss concluded to try his 
fortunes in the new county just oiiened down on the south line of the 
state; and in the fall of 1871 established Koss' Paper at Coffey ville. Mis- 
foi'tune still pui'sued the man who had saved Andy Johnson from im- 
peachment, however, and in March, 1872, his ofiice was destroyed by a 
tornado. He did not re-establish it but removed to Lawrence. 

Following this came the Circular, by E. W. Perry; ahid in the 
spring of 1873, the Courier, by Chatham & Scurr. Jim Chatham was one 
of the best local itemizers who ever struck Montgomei'y county, but his 
abilities as a business man were not adequate to the strain, and bad luck 
comjtelled him to suspend in July 1875. His office was jiut on wheels 
and taken to Independence, whore he jiublished the lnde])endence Courier 
for a time, to be succeeded by the Daily Courier, and the Workingman's 
Courier, which was published by Frank C. Scott until 1879. 

The Independence Kaiisan was established in the fall of 1875 by W. 
H. Watkins. The pajier was Democratic, though Watkins was known to 
be a Kejiublican. While the Tribune, started in the spring of 1871, still 
lives under one of its original publishers, the Kansau has seen changes 
and vicissitudes without end. Will H. AVarner took it off of Watkins' 
hand in December 187fi, and ran it at high ])ressure for a little more 
than two years, vastly increasing its subscription list, getting the county 
printing, and filling it with live local news; giving, however, too much 
Bpaco to salacious gossip. Finding the income of the pajter insufficient to 
enable him to "sit in" on i>oker games at Kansas City as frequently as he 
wished, he sold it in January 187J), to George W. Burchard. the only ma'n 
in Montgomery county who has edited both the Kepublican and Demo- 
cratic organs of the county. In less than a year Burchard disposed of 
the paper to Frank C. Scott, of the Courier, who merged the two papei'S 
into one. Scott sold the Kansan to H. W. Young of the Star in February 
1882, but at the same time transferred the good will and business to A. 
A. Stewart, who published a new paper with the old name. Independence 
Kansan until January 1885, when he also sold out to Mr. Young, who 
has bought more Aloiitgomery county newsjiapers than any other man 
living. The Kansan and the Star were then consolidated as tfie Star and 
Kansan. The Star was originally established at Coft'eyville by Mr. Young 
iin Ai)ril 1881, as the Coffeyville Star, but was removed to Independence 
in October of the same year and jiublished as The Star until the merger 
just mentioned. The Star and Kansan was jiublished by Mr. Young until 
June 18!)(). when he removed to Colorado, leaving Charles T. Errett in 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 45 

charge of the paper. It was published in Mr. Youn<;'s name until Sep- 
tember 189L', when Errett became jiroprietor. In January 1893, Mr. 
Younj; returned and re-iiurchased the jtaper, ajjain becoming its editoi' 
and publisher. In November ISiKi, he sold a half interest to A. T. Cox, 
but the partnership was uncongenial and lasted not much over a year. 
Indeed, the ])artners were unable to even agree as to the method of get- 
tign unhitched, and the courts had to be resorted to to divorce them. 
Walter S. Sickles was apjKMuted receiver in January, 1808, and ran the 
paper until May 1st when it was sold by the sheritf and purchased by Mr. 
Cox, who has since ccmducted it. A couple of years later Mr. Cox began 
the issue of the Daily Evening Star, which he still publishes. 

In June 1898. Mr. Young, deciding to continue in the newspaper 
business in Independence, jiurchased the name and list of the Kansas 
Populist from Mr. Kitchie at Cherryvale. He has published the paper 
since that time, having recently associated his son, H. A. Young, with 
him in the business, under the hrni name of H. \V. Young & Son. 

The Daily Reporter was established at Independence in August, 1881, 
by Harjier & Wassam. They published it only a year or two. when it was 
taken in hand by t»"C«'nner & M.Cuilcy, who held claims ujjon the ma- 
terial. Subseiiuently. for a time, it was ]iublished by Charles H. Harper, 
a son of one of the foiniders. and then in 188.5 it was sold to T. N. Sickles, 
in whose ownership it still remains. 

Of short lived pajiers jtublished at Independence, mention may be 
made of the following : 

The Osage Chief, by Ed. Van <:nndv and A. ^l. Clark, in the spring 
of 1874. 

The Itemizer, tri-weekly, by J. E. Stinson. in 1879. 

The Living Age. by 1'. P.. Castle, in 1881. 

The .Montgomery Monitor by Vick Jennings, in December 188.5, and 
January lSS{i. Jennings was llie only newspajier jtublisher who has died 
in the harness in Indej)eiiden(e. 

The Independence News, dailv and weeklv, bv Cleveland J. Revnolds, 
in 1886. 

The M;ontgon;ery .\rgus. by Sullivan ^c Levan. in 1886-87. 

United Lalior. by A. J. .Miller, was an Alliance organ established in 
1892 and published until 1894. John Callahan, Avho was then deputy 
sheriH'. christened this sheet "The Dehorner," and it came to be much bet- 
ter known by that aiiiiellaticn Ihan by the name printed at its head. 

The Weekly Call and the Daily Evening Call, by Kev. J. A. Smith, 
in 1896. 

Turning again to < 'otleyville. we tind that Hon. \V. A. IVIier, who 
subseipulntly became United States Senator, established the Coffeyville 
Journal in the fall of 187."). After four or five yeai-s he removed to Topeka 



46 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and left tlie i);i{)er in the hands of his sou, W. A. Peffer, Jr.. better known 
as "Jjike," who continued its uianageuient until Capt. D. Stewart Elliott 
assumed control in 1885. Elliott was subsequently elected to the legis- 
lature, but owing to financial reverses was compelled to sell the paper in 
189C, when it went into the hands of a company, with W. G. Weaverling 
and I. R. Arbogast as editors. They have conducted it very successfully 
since that date, and have for several years been ]iublishiug a daily edition, 
which is the newsiest paper of the kind now i>ublished in the county. 

The Gate City Independent was established at Cotfeyville in the 
early nineties, and for the past ten years has been published by C. W. 
Kent. Sometimes it has been a weekly, but most of the time a twice-a- 
week ; and often, as now, it has had a daily edition. 

lu 1895 ()r 1890, .John Vedder established the Montgomery County 
Democrat, which he published for several years, to be succeeded by J. P. 
Easterly, t^till more recently the paper has had a number of editors and 
publishers; but about a year ago its name was changed to the Record, and 
it has been made a daily by the Cofifeyville Publishing Company, with 
Will Felker as editoi-. 

Another weekly published for about Ihe same length of time is the 
Coffeyville Gaslight, established in 1898. by Vs'. A. Bradford. It now car- 
ries the name of Fred R. Howard as editor. 

Cberryvale's first paper was the Herald, which was established in 
187.3, but ])ined away after a sickly existence of but six weeks. Following 
it came the Leader, which liourished for a while in 1877. The Cherryvale 
Globe was established in 1879, the Cherryvale News in 1881 and the Cher- 
ryvale Torch in 1881'. The Globe and News were consolidated in 1882 
and the Torch joined the same cond)ination in 1885. The Cherryvale 
Bulletin, the only Democratic newspaper Cherryvale has ever had, was 
established by Major E. W. Lyon in 1884 and continued until 1888. The 
Cherryvale Champion ran from 1887 until 1895. Other short lived Cherry- 
vale pajiers are the Southern Kansas Farmer and the Kansas Common- 
wealth, 1891; the Morning Telegram, 18912; the Cherryvale Rei)ublic and 
the Rejiublican-Plaindealer, 189:^). 

The Cherryvale Kejiublican was established in 188G and is still pub- 
lished by C. E. ]Moore. 

The Kansas Populist was started by -I. H. Ritchie in 1891 as a weekly. 
In connection with it he has published the Daily Xews, and since 1898 the 
weekly has also been known as the News. The publishers are J. H. Ritchie 
& Son. 

The ('heriy\ale Clarion, daily and weekly, was established in 1898, 
and is now published by L. I. I'urcell. 

Elk City has had the Times, established in the fall of 1880, which 
turned U]i its toes when only ten weeks old; the (ilobe. from 1882 to 1887; 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 47 

the Star in 1884-85; the Democrat, 1885-86; the Eagle, 1886-r890; and 
the Kiitcipi-ise from 1889 to the present time, with W. E. Wortman as edi- 
tor and jdiblisher. 

Cauey has the Chronicle, which was established in 1885, and is still 
published by Harry E. Brighton. 

Other ]iapers that have been published there are the Times and the 
Phnniix. The Times was established in 18S0 and ran until the later nine- 
ties, having had Cleveland -J. Keynolds, Hon. J. K. (.'harlton and A. M. 
Parsons as editors. 

Havana has been without a newspaper for the past ten years, but had 
at various times the Vidette. the Weekly Herald, the Recorder and the 
Press and Torch. n(tne nf which survived to reach the mature age of three 
years. 

Liberty has had the Light, published for a short time in 1880, and the 
Review from 1887 until 1892. 

All sorts of newsjiajiers have been published by all sorts of men in 
Montgomery cmmty ; but the local conditions have never been favorable 
for the building up of a great count\ newspaper of universal circulation. 
The railroads have not all centered at the county seat, but have run all 
around the edges of the county. This has resulted in the development of 
towns at the four corners of the county, two of which have come to be 
cities rivaling the county's capital, and all of which are newspaper 
towns. So instead of being con rent rated, the newspaper business has been 
si)lit nj). and no newspaper, no matter how well edited, nor how accu- 
rate and enterprising a purveyor of news, has yet been able to command 
the patronage that wouTd make it or give it a commanding position, [nor 
the three or four thousand circulation which is sometimes found in 
counties the size and pojiulation of ours. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Gas and Oil Devlopments in Montgomery County 

BY H. W. YOUNG. 

T'nlil the later eighties no one suspected the existence of natural gas 
in Montgomery county in suflficient quantities to be of any use. Indeed, 
during the early history of the comity, and up to 1885, or later, the exis- 
teiice of vast reservoirs of natural gas beneath us was nnsusjiected and 
Tindreamed of. People would have listened to i>rediclioiis of gold nnnes 
to be opened here on the prairies much more readily than to suggestions 
that the time would come when our fuel would flow out of the earth in 
iron pi]ies all ready to Inirn, and transport itself to our doors. It was 
diUerent. though, about jietrolenm. The pioneer settlers in ])lowing np 
the sod in some of the ravines near the Verdigris had noticed an oilv 



^8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

scum standing in the furrows if they were left undisturbed for a time. 
And as long ago as April 28tb, 1881, we find the following item in the 
local cohnnns of the Coffeyville Star: 

"Last Friday morning we found a group of men in eager consultation 
in front of Ishani's store. A coujile of old tin cans filled with water and 
-covered with a brownish coat, looking a little like varnish, were the centre 
of atti-action. Tested by the u()se, there was no doubt that the greasy 
scum on the water aind the coating of the cans was crude petroleum, of 
the heavy or lubricating grade. They had been tilled from the contents of 
a well that Mr. D. Davis was sinking at his residence on Ninth street ; and 
the incontestible evidence they afforded that there was a reservoir of kero- 
sene beneath us naturally caused considerable interest. It seems that Mr. 
Davis had struck a vein of fair water jireviously. but the quantity being 
deemed insufficient had gone down to the depth of twenty-five feet, 
■where, much to his disgust, he "struck oil." ^^'hether this developmesnt 
indicates the existence of oil in paying quantities in our section, we do 
not presume to say, though the matter is certainly worthy of further in- 
vestigation. We learn that oil has heretofore been observed on the surface 
of the water flowing from springs in this vicinity, and it is possible that 
Ave may yet be shipping petroleum, little as such a product would be ex- 
pected fi'om a country with the physical characteristics of ours." 

It was almost twenty-two years later before petroleum began to be 
shipped in any consideiable (juantities from the county, but the forecast 
was correct. Six years later, in the early spring of 1887, we began to 
hear about the curious phenomena to be observed in an abandoned shaft 
over at Liberty. It was on the farm of I'.enjamin Grubb. adjoining that 
place on the north. Finding indiiations of coal he had sunk a shaft six 
or eight feet square. Affcr getting down some distance a vein of gas was 
struck which came out of a crevice in the rock in such quantity that the 
men at work in the shaft lighted it to furnish illumination for their work. 
On quitting they unwisely fanned it out with their jackets. One day they 
went down and struck a inat<li with the most surprising results. The gas 
exploded, throwing off the cov(Mii;g at the surface and blazing up as high 
as the tallest trees in the neighborhood — fifty to one hundred feet. 
The diggers, who were below the cievice, escaped with their lives, 'though 
terribly burned. The vein of coal was found to be only S inches thick, 
but in connection with it was 32 indies of slate so thoroughly saturated 
with oil that it would blaze uj) on being thrown into the stove. So here 
were found together coal, gas ar.d oil. 

Prior to that time, Thomas (1. Ayres, in digging a \\ell at Coffeyville, 
had found a ])ocket of oil cchitaiuing several gallons. ('. IM. Ralstin, at 
his farm three miles southwest of Inde])endence, reported that in a well 
in his cellar (!.5 feet deep the gas kept bubbling up in such volume that it 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 49 

could be heard all through the house at night. And in drilling 
for coal, where the mineral hath is now, here in Independence, 
it was rei)orted that there had been an explosion of some 
kind which threw mud over the toj) of the derrick, and that the drill 
passed through l.~0 feet of gaslieaiiiig strata. By this time everyone was 
satistied that there was some natural gas here, but whether in paying 
quantities was a problem that renuiined to be solved. 

Gas was first found, in quantity to be worth utilizing, at Cherryvale, 
November L'Oth. 1S!»(), in a well drilled by .J. McSweeney. at a depth of 600 
feet. It thiew the water about fifty feet high, and was pronounced at once 
"the strongest flow in the state." Within a week this well was piped and 
tested and gave a blaze 25 feet high. By the next year the people of 
Cherryvale, or a portion of them, were enjoying natural gas fires, though 
the quantity available was small at first. 

CotlVyville came next, and her resources began to be developed in 1S91 
and 1802. Her first wells were sunk, like those of Cherryvale, right in 
town. By the winter of 1802-3 she not only had gas to burn but in such 
quantity that with the full i)ressure of the wells, there was talk of their 
being dangei- that the stoves would melt down. Aljout the same time 
William .Mills, wIk. had been the first to bring in an oil well at Xeodesha, 
found both gas and oil in the neighborhood of Elk City, but neither of 
them were utilized. 

At Indei)endence. the first well drilled for gas was j)ut do^^tn in the 
summer of 1802 by J. 1). Xickerson, with the assistence of th? people of 
the city. It was located down near Hock Creek, at Barnes' Garden, south- 
west of the city. A little gas was found — about enough to supply one 
stove. In the fall of the same year Mr. Nickerson drilled another well 
on the farm of Cai)t. L. ('. .Mason, just east of Independence. Although no 
gas was found here, there was such a body of gas sand that this inde- 
fatigable pi-ospector was convinced that he was on the right track. The 
next drilling he did was on the J. H. Brewster place five miles southeast 
of the city, in the early spring of 1893. April fith, at the depth of a thous- 
and feet a very strong flow was struck, and from this and other wells in 
this vicinity gas was piped i)ito Indejiendence late that year. By the 
time (old weather came in earnest, a year later, in the winter 1804, how- 
ev(>r. the siiiq)ly fi'om this field was fcnind entirely inadequate, and it was 
not u'ntil wells were develojied on the Barr and Greer jilaces. a couple of 
miles west of the city, that confidence in gas as a fuel was restored in the 
mind of the In(le]ieiidence citizen. 

Before gas was ]iiped into the city. Mr. Nickerson had associated with 
himself A. P. MclSride and C. L. Bloom, exprienced prospecfoi-s and drill- 
ers from Miami county, and from this partnership was evolved the Inde- 
pendence Gas Company, which has ever since .supplied the city with gas 



50 HISTORY OF MONTIJO.MERY COINTY. KANSAS. 

and wbich holds leases on most of the lands tributary to the city. A» 
drawn at first, these leases provided that if drilling was not begun within 
a limited period, the farmer should be paid a royalty of 25 cents per acre 
until develoimieut work was begun. Then he was to have a tenth of the 
oil, and a rental of .foO a year for a gas well, with gas for household pur- 
poses in addition. Since then the company has deemed it more econom- 
ical to furnish gas to all its lessors, in lieu of paying a cash royalty, in 
order to hold the lands on which it was not prepared to drill. To do this, 
it has laid pipe to some two hundred farm houses, at an expense of tens 
of thousands of dollars. The same plan has been adopted by the Coffey- 
ville Gas Company, and it is probable that nearly five hundred farm 
houses in the county are unw supplied with this ideal fuel. 

Although jietroleum was found in considerable (juantity in the first 
wells drilled on the Krewster place in 18!i:!. there was no market for oil 
and no attempt was made to develoj) that l)ranch of the mining industry 
in the county until nearly ten years later. It was in 18!J3, however, that 
Wm. H. Mills drilled a couple of wells at Neodesha, just over the line in 
Wilson county, and found oil in such quanty as to convince him that 
southern Kansas was going to become an oil field. The rumors that cir- 
culated in regard to his wells, and the stories about oil from them shoot- 
ing out over the top of the derrick and saturating the soil so that it was 
necessary to cover it with fresh earth to conceal the strike, v>t<>re listened 
to as fairy tales, and no credence given them. And yet Mr. Mills suc- 
ceeded in making such a showing as to induce James H. Guffey and John 
H. Galey, two wealthy and exjierienced oil operators in the Peiihisylvania 
and (Hiio fields, to come out liere and begin leasing land in this county, 
as well as '\\'ilson and others adjoining. During the summer of 1893 these 
gentlemen drilled 15 wells in the immediate vicinity of Neodesha, all of 
which were oil producers with the exception of two gas wells. In 1891; 
they were i)umping large quantities of oil and drilling new wells. In July 
of that year they had forty wells and n-if less than ?>,(t(IO barrels of oil 
were stored in the tanks in the field, and a ;>5.(i()0 barrel storage tank had 
just been completed by them. A year later it became evident that the 
Standard Oil Company would be able to freeze out any other operators 
in this field, and Guffey & Galey made the best possible terms with that 
monojioly, receiving, according to reports, all they had expended in the 
field and a bonus of Sl(t(),(l(t() in addition. At this time there were sixty- 
eight wells in the field controlled by them, and the "Standard" continued 
to drill more when it took charge, in the name of its western branch, the 
Forest Oil Company. A number of these new wells were in ^Montgomery 
county, in Sycamore township; some being as far south as the neighbor- 
hood of Table :Mounil. These ]iroved to be gas wells rather than oil wells 
and J. I). Nickerson pnr<ased the gas rights in the Kingle and Brown- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 5 1 

field wells for the Iiulepeinlence Gas Coniiiauv, in 1898, for $G,000. A 
week or two later tli(> ••Standard" lief;an to realize the value of such gas 
wells, and regretted their liarj;ain. Sime then that company has gone in- 
to the gas business, and is now furnishing gas piped from Wilson county 
to the city of Parsons. 

In -Tune. 1808, the '•Standard" people erected ain extensive refinery 
for oil at Neodesha, with a capacity of .">00 barrels per day, but still they 
bought no oil and there was no inducement for any independent oper- 
ator to drill for oil while there was no market. 

H.'eantime the Independence Gas Company continued to drill more or 
less wells each year for the city's supply ; the Cotfey ville company did the 
■same, and thei'e was a second or reoj)les' company organized there. At 
■Cherryvale, the Edgar Smelter was located, with its own gas field and 
gas wells. Vitrified lirick plants were located at Cotfeyville. Independence 
Cherryvale and Sycamore, and finally at Caney. At the latter place a 
conij)any organized by E. B. Skinner, then county treasurer, had found 
gas i<i such quantity in the spring of 1901 that, in July of that year, the 
towiii was ]ii])ed and the new fuel came into use. It was not until the fall 
of 1902 that Elk City was supjilied. but now Jefferson, Bolton and Syca- 
more are also supplied, and of all the cities and villages in the county, 
Liberty, Havana and Tyro. only, remain without gas. 

During the summer of l'.n\2. the ludpendence Gas Company drilled 
six wells within a mile and a half of the village of Bolton, all but one of 
them to the south and east of that i)lace. Of these six, five were gas wells, 
with daily cajtacities ranging from ten to fifteen million cubic feet per 
day. The fifth was an oil A\ell. The aggregate outj)ut of this field is 
estimated at Til million cubic feet of gas per day. aind during the fall of 
that year this supply was made available for the needs of Independence 
by a pipe line. With such a supply to draw from, the inducement to fac- 
tories in search of cheap fuel became so manifest that representatives 
of various industries in the Indiana field, where the gas was nearly ex- 
hausted, began to visit this section in considerable (numbers, seeking 
locations. 

In August 1902, the Standard Oil Company, for some reason, 
changed its policy and announi'ed an open market for oil in this 
territory. More than that, it i>roceeded to secui-e the right-of-way for a 
pipe line through the county from Bartlesville in the Indian Territory, 
by way of Caney and Bolton, to its refinery at Xeodesha. This has not 
yet been ci Instructed, but the indications are that it soon will be. The 
development of a considei'able oil field in Neosho county, to the northeast 
of us. and the market now made for oil led to new activity in this county. 
.\ large number of wells have been drilled in the vicinity of Cherryvale. 
anti a little to the north and west of that city, from which oil is being 
shipped in (|uanlity at this limc. Two of these wells are jiumjiing twenty 



52 HISTOEV OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

liai'1-els a day each. Meantime new oiieratois by the score have come 
into the field, the leasing industry has been prosecuted with great vigor, 
thirty rigs are now engaged in drilling in the county, the National 
Supply Company has established a branch house at Independence, the 
formation of new oil companies goes on apace, and it only needs the dis- 
covery of some pool of oil to set fire to the train that is already laid. As 
yet. however, no well has been drilled in the county that gives more than 
a moderate yield of oil. and it is probable that from forty to fifty barrels 
a day is the maximum. This is about the amount claimed for wells at 
Sycamore and Caney that have not yet been regularly pumped. AMth 
thirty or more companies doing business in the county, and all of them 
holding leases that re(|uire immediate development, the number of wells 
going down is greater than ever before and it is exjteeted that the record 
of wells drilled in the county during the year 1903 will not fall much 
short of two hundred, and that the amount of money spent in development 
work will aggiegate nearly a million dollars. Prior to l!t03 alx.mt two 
hundi-ed wells had Ix'en drilled in the county of which two-thirds were 
dry holes and the remaining sixty or seventy, gas and oil producers. 

With the advent of new oil and gas companies, the inevitable liti- 
gation over leases and oil rights has begun, and the Independence Gas 
Company is in court defending its claim to the Brewster j)lace, on which 
its first well was drilled. The jilace has been re-leased to the New York Oil 
and (ias Comiiany. which h;!s been granted a second franchise by the city 
of Independence. M'lien the New York jieople tried to go upon the place 
with a rig in March, the Independence Company met them with a show of 
force, and would have kejit them (tut but for the employment of a little 
strategy, a feint and a Hank movement. Ilotli companies are in po- 
session now. and under orders of the court each can go ahead and do 
all the drilling it pleases and sell all the oil produced, provided a strict 
account is kept. 

The new wells drilled this year to the north and west of Bolton have 
(not made such piienomenal showings as those opened there last year, and 
just now the (piestion Avhether Montgomery county is first-rate oil terri- 
tory is as unsettled as it was when the first well on the Brewster place 
made such a good showing of heavy black oil. The gas resources of the 
county, however, have been develojied to such an extent as to render it 
certain that the supply is sutticient for a generation to come, and that 
manufacturing enter] iri.--es will continue to be attracted to our towns by 
the fuel that nature has provided so lavishly in the bowels of the earth. 

The oldest prospectors will tell you that in this field there are no 
certain indications of the existence of either oil or gas beneath the sur- 
face, and that every well must be drilled at a venture. The depth of the 
wells \ai-ies from (illO to l..j(l() feet, but in most cases the gas or oil sand 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COfNTY, KANSAS. 53 

is sinick between !S0() and l.L'dO feet below the sui-face. No considerable 
quantity of gas has been found outside the Cherokee shales which overlies 
the bed rock of ilississi|i]ii limestone. No attenijit has been made in this 
county to go very much deejiei' with a view to tind whether anything 
worth while uudei-lies that limestone; but at Neodesha the Standard Oil 
Company went down twenty-two hundred feet without tinding anything 
that it deemed worth developing, or that encouraged it to make a second 
atteni])t to explore the nether regions. 

At present there is but little of the county that is not under lease for 
oil, gas and other mineral sultstances that may be found; liut the more 
recent leases only run for a short time and require development work to 
be begun in a few months to keep them alive. And the validity of the old 
leases, which were drawn to run indefinitely so long as an annual rental 
■was paid or gas was furnished the lessor for household jmrposes, is be- 
ginning to be gravely (|uesti(med. In most cases the leases jirovide that 
the party to whom the lease is made may droji it at any time, while the 
land owner is held indefinitely if the rental is jtaid. Lawyers are coming 
more and more to hold that the decisions in other and older gas and oil 
states that such leases are void or voidable for lack of mutuality, will be 
held to be good law here and that the attempt made to monojiolize large 
areas by leases un<lei- which no develo])nieut work is beg'nn. will fail. 

So far no gas has been ]ii]ied out of the county, and people generally 
are solicitous that it shall \not be. Indeed, three-fourths of the farmers 
who gave the Standard Oil Comi)any rights of way for its pipe line in- 
sisted that a clause be inserted forbidding the piping of gas and restrict- 
ing the use of the jdpes to the transjiortation of oil. And many of the 
leases for gas all over the county contain a i>rovisi(ni forbidding it to be 
pijjed outside the lioundaries of the county. There seems to be a general 
disi)osition, in fact, to keep the gas at home and economize it. The idea 
that it will not be permanent, but can be very readily exhausted, is very 
generally held, and the fate of the Indiana fields is constantly referred 
to as a warning against recklessness in handling this wonderful fuel. 

The growth of Montgomery county in ]iopulation during the last ten 
years, and her rise from the twelfth to the seventh in relative rank in the 
state are unquestionably attributable to the gas and oil resources that 
have been developed here, and the prediction that the same influences 
which have increased our jiopulatiiln ten thousand within the last ten 
years will continue to operate until we shall have fifty or sixty thousand 
I)eo])le in place of the 3;?, 44:5 our last censue showed, does not seem un- 
Avari'anted. 



J/}. HISTORY OF >IONT(;0-\IERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

rilAl'TER V. 
The Political History of Montgomery County 

r.Y II. W. YOUNG. 

All human actions are subject to the limitations of time and space. 
Subject only to those limitations, Kansas stands unrivaled in her politi- 
cal development. For her area and the time she has been doing busiiness 
as a commonwealth, she doesn't take a back seat for any state or any 
peojile. That her citizens have taken more interest in public affairs and 
studied matters of government more than those of other states and sect- 
tions is not to tiieir discredit. It testities to their intelligence, their public 
spirit, and their mental activity. If "eternal vigilence is the price of lib- 
erty,'" our iieoi)le will be the last on earth to be reduced to slavery. In a 
market where that sort of coin is current, they will be able to outbid all 
competitors. 

.i. Ithongh Kansas was eight years old when the bars were let down 
and the Osage Diminislied Reserve, of which Montgomery county forms a 
pai"t, was opened to white settlement, her citizens have been hustling ever 
since to make up for that lost time; and no one would now accuse the 
Montgomery county ])oliticiaus of lagging in the rear of the procession, 
or failing to furnish their share of representatives at the pie counter. Of 
men who have been f((r a longer or shorter time residents of this county, 
two have been United States Senators, one has been governor of the state, 
two have held the oflBce of lieutenant governor, one has been assistant 
secretary of the interior, and two have been judges of the district court. 
While no citizen of the county is on record as having been a represen- 
tative in Congress, or head of a dejiartnient at the state capital, there are 
certainly few counties which have .struck more of the high places in the 
political world than our own. And when it comes to the honorable po- 
sition of re]>resentative in Congress, it will be entirely safe to assert that 
no other counly wliicli lias never seen one of her sons answering the roll 
call at the south end of the national capital, has ever had more who indi- 
cated that they wanted to. 

In passing, it may be noted that of the Congressmen elected from 
within the boundaries of the i)resent Third CongTessional District, Cowley 
county has had two, Wilson two, Crawford two, Labette one; and none of 
the other five has been favored- -so that Montgomery does not stand .alone 
in being "whilewashed." 

The first i)olitical question that confronted the voters of ^loutgomery 
county was the same that has always proved such a bone of contention 
in every new slate and section — the location of a county seat. National 
political issues were f(n' the time allowed to fall into the background, 
while cities were being located on ]>aper, and every settler was interested 
either to lia\-e 1 he cMiinly's mpital as near his claim as possible, or at least 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 55 

to keep it on the same side of tlie Verdijii-is river, which bisects the county 
from north to sontli and which was, of course, iiiucli more of a barrier 
before any bridges Lad been built than it is now. 

Montgomery county was organized by iiroclaiiiafion of Governor 
Harvey on the 3d day of June. 180!). It was named for General Eichard 
jrontgoiiiery, the hero of (he battle of Quebec, wlio shed his heart's blood 
for his country on (he lleiuhts of Abraham. There has beeu some question 
whether (he person intended to be lioiiored when the coun(y was chris- 
tened was not ('olonel James Montgomery, of Linn county, rather than 
the "French and Iudian"warrior. In the Independence Kansan of July 
7th, 187(i. is i)ublished a very strong argument to show that it was the civil 
war soldier for whom the county was named, but an examination of the 
proceeding's of (he legislature at the (ime leaves no room for doubt on the 
question; the concurrent resolution stating distinctly and unecjuivocally 
that tieueral Richard Montgomery gave name to Montgomery county. 

In his proclamation Governor Harvey ap])ointed H. C. Crawford, H. 
A. Bethuran and R. L. Walker special commissioners, and E. C. Kimball 
special clerk, and designated Verdigris City as the temporary county seat. 
Verdigris City was located east of the Verdigris river, about one mile 
southeast of what is now known as "Brown's Ford," and on the west half 
of the northeast quarter of section 22. township 33 south, range 16 east. 
The land on which the town was laid out is now a part of the farm of 
Sena(or H. W. Conrad. Walker has since been prominent in state poli- 
tics, and died early in 11)03. 

On the 11th of June 1809, the board met at the county seat and 
qualified before Capt. W. S. McFeeters. notary public. The Captain was 
perhajis the first notary commissioned in the county. He was a lawyer 
by profession, and was the first to loca(e at the county seat, having his 
office in (he log court house. Not relying alone on the slow and precarious 
rewards of the legal profession in a new country, he was the following" 
winter convicted of horse stealing at (iirard. Kansas, and sentenced to a 
term in the penitentiary. 

The board organized by the election of H. C. Crawford as chairman. 
It divided the county into three townships, each about nine miles in 
width, extending across the county east and west. Beginning at the 
north (hey wei'e named Drum Creek. 'Wrdigris and Westralia. with vot- 
ing places at Fitch's Siore. ^'erdigris City and Westralia. At a meeting 
on August 27th, ('ap(ain Daniel .McTaggart was ajipointed county treas- 
urer, E. K. Kountz, probate judge; and S. B. Moorehouse. justice of the 
peace. 

From this (ime uulil the date of the election, on .\o\ember Tith, little 
was (alked of exce](( (he county seat (piestion. Verdigris City, the pro- 
visioii.-ii ca]ii(al. had a rival on (he east side in .Montgomery City, near 



^6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

the mouth of Drum creek, but as a division of the east side forces would 
be ruinous, they met midway on the hill above McTaggart's mill, and lo- 
cated the city of Liberty, across the street to the east of the McTaj^gart 
homestead. The west siders were a unit for Independence, though some- 
one tried to butt into the game with a city in the air called Samaria, 
which was supposed to be located somewhere in the neighborhood of 
Walker's mound. 

The story of how the Independence people started out to steal a 
march on the Liberty pai-tisans and get control of the election board at 
"\^rdigris City, has been often told. Notwithstanding their daylight 
start, they were discovered just after crossing the river and only suc- 
ceeded in getting Adam <'nm]> on as a matter of courtesy. He did his 
whole duty, though, challenging all voters from the east side of the 
coun ty. 

AVhen the commissioners came to count the votes they did the only 
possible thing that would give Lil)erty a majority, by throwing out the en- 
tire vote of Drum Creek, on the pretext that the returns were not the 
originals but a certified copy. This gave Liberty 1G2 votes to 103 for 
Independence. At the same time the whole east side ticket for county 
officers was elected as follows: Rejiresentative. John E. Adams; County 
Clerk. T. M. Noble: Sheriff, Daniel Kruner: Probate Judge, E. K. Kountz; 
Coroner, Sidney Allen; Register of Deeds, Ousso Chouteau, a half-breed 
Indian; County vSurveyor, Edwin Foster; District Clerk, Z. R. Overman; 
County Attorney, Goodell Foster; Superintendent of Schools, J.A.Helph- 
ingstine; Treasurer, J. A. Jones; Assessor, W. N. Cotton: Commissioners, 
T. J. JI(•^^'hinney, J. S. Garrett and W. Allen. 

Thirteen of the defeated candidates on the west side ticket at once 
instituted a contest in the probate court of \'\'ilson county, C. M. Ralstin, 
of Independence, the defeated candidate for county attorney, and F. A. 
Bettis, of Oswego, representing the constestors. Goodell Foster and 
John A. Heljiliingstine, of Liberty, ai)peared for the contestees. The 
prize of the seat of government of the new county hung in the balance, 
and so strenuous was the contest that L. T. Stephenson, of Independence, 
carried the Oswego attorney, Bettis, <ni horseback sixty-live miles to Fre- 
donia, arriving in a driving snow storm at 3 A. ^l.. on the day set for the 
trial, Decemlier 23d. 

The decision was tliat tbere had been no legal election — and so every- 
body was defeated. The old board of commissioners ai)pointed by the gov- 
ernor held over and moved the log court house and the county clerk's office 
from Verdigris City to Liberty. They also called a special election for 
the 3d of May to select county officers. Full tickets were placed in the 
field, and the historians of the early times tell us that the canvass was 
the most exciting ever held in the county. The candidates who were sue- 



HISTORY OF MONT(iOMEUY COUNTY;, KANSAS. 57 

cessful in this election never held office by virtue of the votes they re- 
ceived, though two of the couuuissioners and the county clerk got in by 
appointment. The vote for coinniissioner was as follows: T. J. MeWhin 
ney, 429; Thomas Brock. .']5(1 ; W. W. (iraham. 354; Thomas Hanson. 2T<J; 
John Klappel, L'lil! ; S. 1'.. Moorclionse. i.'47. Tlie first lluce comiirised the 
Independence ticket and the last three the Liberty ticket. J. M. Scudder 
got 401) votes for probate judge, to 2<i(j for L. O. Judson. J. A. Helphing- 
stine, in the language of the day "ran like a scared wolf" for county clerk, 
receiving 490 votes to 181 for E. C. Kimball, the incund)ent. A. J. liusby 
had il unanimously for treasurer with (!70 votes. A. A. Hillis had 4(il 
for clerk of the district courT, to l.'(t9 for J. K. Snyder. ('. H. Wycort' for 
county attorney had no opposition and received 005 votes. The same was 
true of J. C. Price with 050 for coroner, and John Russel with GG5 for 
register of deeds. Edwin Foster got 448 for county surveyor io 2l>4 for 
J. L. Scott. E. D. (Jrabill beat A. H. McCornuck for superintendent of 
schools, 390 to 280. 

A few days before this election the Independence party had sent 
Charles White to Topeka with a certified copy of the record in the contest 
case before the Wilson county pi-obate court. He returned on the evening 
of election day with the ai)iiointments of a new set of commissicmers by 
the governor, which also rendered the last election ineffective. Two of the 
successful candidates and one of the minority party had been appointed, 
the new board, which was the fourth in chronological order, but the sec- 
ond to serve, consisting of W. W. (iraham. Thomas Brock and S. H. More- 
house. Charles White and L. T. Stephenson lost no time in carting this 
board down to the site of ^'erdigris City, which really seems to have been 
entirely deserted, where, silting in a wagou on May 5th. 1870. it was 
organized by the election of Mr. Graham as chairman. The board then 
appointed John A. Heli)hings1ine county clerk. Samuel Van Cundy. coun- 
ty treasurer; B. R. Cunningham, speiintendent of schools; and J. K. Sny- 
der, register of deeds. Not only this, but they made thorough work of it 
while they had their hands in by naming the Independence I'ioneer as the 
official county paper, and ordering the district court which was to con- 
vene on May 9th, to meet at Indejjendence, to which place the county 
offices were also temjjorarily transferred, there being no accommodation 
for them at Verdigris City. On the 13th of May an action brought in 
the district court to compel the removal of the county offices to Liberty 
was dismissed at jjlaintiff's cost. This practically settled the county seat 
war. though it was not until the following November that the matter was 
formally I'atified by a vote which stood 839 for Indeitendence to 500 for 
Liberty. 

On ])etition. th(> conimissioners. on June 4th, 1870. divided the 
count.x into nine townships making the boundaries about as they are to- 



58 HISTORY OF JIONTGOMERV COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Uay, except that the three east side townships were, hiter, each split into 
two. The names of the townships, the voting places and the tir.st trustees, 
who were appointed at the same time are here given : 

Cherry, Cherrvvale, J. D. Hillis. 

Sycamore. Radical, Wm. Coniptou. 

Louisburg. Loiiisbnrg, James Kelley. 

Kntland. Thomas Young's, S. W. Mills. 

Independence, Independence, W. O. Sylvester. 

^'erdigris. Tjiberty. .Tohn Lee. 

\\estralia, Westralia, K. Brewer. 

Fawn Creek, Miller's Store, Frank P>. PoUey. 

Caney. Bellviers. .lasom Q Corbin. 

The trustees for (/berry. Verdigris and Caney never (|ualitied and W. 
1*. lirewer, .1. Nelson Harris and .lolin ^^'est were appointed to till the 
vacancies. 

Elections came Ihick and fast in those early days, and on -Inne I'lst, 
of th(> same year the (|uestion whether to issue -fl-'OO.tlOO to aid in the con- 
struction of the Leavenworth. Lawrence & (Jalveston railroad was sub- 
mitted to a vote, which resulted according to the returns, 1,340 for and 
826 against the iiroi)osition. On the 24th the vote was canvassed and the 
bonds issued. That the vote was fraudulent, and that the bonds ought 
never to have been issued was subsequently demonstrated beyond the 
shadow of a doubt, but after a long legal contest and the payment of 
some |;5(l.(ll)() in attorneys' fees and expen.ses, a compromise was finally 
made with the "iun(K'ent purchasers" of these bonds at about 65 cents 
on the dollar, and we are still i)aying this debt. 

At the election held in Xovendier 1870, W. W. Graham. H. D. Gi'ant 
irfnd John McDonald were chosen <-ommissioners, Setth M. Beardsley. 
clerk: Frank Willis, county attorney; Charles White, sheriff; Samuel 
VanGundy, treasurer; W. H. Watkins, probate judge; L. T. Stephenson, 
district clerk; W. S. Mills, register of deeds; Nathan Bass, superinten- 
dent of schools; and M. L. Ashmore, coroner. Thos. L. Bond and W. A. 
Allison were elected representatives. 

The commissioners got in a wrangle with Willis and employed E. W. 
Fay. an attorney located in I'eru. in Howard county, to attend to all the 
county business. They also came to a disagreement with Stephenson, the 
district clerk, and on his refusal to furnish the additional bond they re- 
(juired, they declared his office vacant. Not to be outdone in that sort of 
business, Stephenson issued liis proclamation, which he published in the 
official county paper over the seal of the court, declaring the commission- 
ers' offices vacant. Stejihenson was a man of tall and commanding ap- 
pearance, and prominent in public affairs for many years. He at one time 
owned a large tract of land adjoining and near Independence on the 



HISTORY OV MOXTliOMEUY COUNTY. KANSAS. 59 

soutlioiist, but his speculations did nut always -pan out." and in the early 
nineties he was convicted of cattle stealing in the district court and sen- 
tenced to a term in the penitentiary. There was always some doubt as 
to his guilt, however, and when his application for pardon was pending, 
he ap]iea.red before (Tovernor Morrill and the Board of Pardons and made 
a convincing argument in his own behalf, they meanwhile supjxising him 
to be an attorney for the convict, and having no suspicion that he was 
arguing his own case. 

The year 1871 found the people of Montgomery county in the full 
tide of prosperity, due to the rush of settlers and the rapid apprecia- 
tion of land values, and the county having gotten over the teething stage 
of its county seat figlit. settled down to a contest for the offices on straight 
political lines. The results of the election, however, were a good deal 
mixed. In general the Repuljlican ticket was successful, but both the 
Democratic candidates for represeiitative were elected. L. U. Humphrey, 
who must be counted the most successful politician Montgomery county 
has ever had. made his maiden race as a candidate for the lower house, 
and v/as defeated by I>. F. Devore by a majority of 48. In the southern 
district, ('apt. W. J. Hinr.xl. the Republican candidate, fared even worse. 
Dr. Duuwell receiving 5;]!l votes to his 3(H. The commissioners, as elected, 
were J. C. Frazier, William J. May and W. S<. Rentfro. For sheritf, Capt. 
J.E.Stone was elected, receiving !U1 votes to G8G for his Democratic coiu- 
jietitor. ("aj)t. J. B.Rowley. A\ho snbseijuently became editor of iheKausan. 
Chailcs >Miite made the nice for the same office on an independent ticket 
and fared abotit as well as independents usually do, getting only 28;t 
votes. Dr. A. J. Busby led J. B. Craig just one vote as a candidate for 
treasurer; Helphingstine got in again, as clerk with 105 to the good over 
Cavanaugh; Norman Ives, afterward postmaster at Independence, beat 
Ashbaugh 185. Of these <-andidates Devore, as well as Ives, afterward 
became jiostmaster at Inde]!endence, and ('apt. -7. E. Stone is now serv- 
ing in the same ca])acity at (_'aney. The office-holding habit, once con- 
tracted, is apt to retain a strong grip on its victims. 

The following year, 1872. was the one of the Grant-Greeley campaign, 
and rhe Republicans regained all they had lo.st in the county. Devore 
and Dunv.-ell both went down to defeat. M. S. Bell and Maj. T. B. Eldridge 
carrying off the honors in the rejiresentative contests. A. B. Clark, who 
had iicen Cotfeyville's first mayor, became county attorney: E. Herring 
began his long incnmheiuy of the office of probate judge; and Xathan 
Bass was elected superintendent of schools. The Democratic candidates 
for these offices were C. J. Beckham for probate judge ; J. D. Gamble for 
county attorney and Daniel Woods<in for superintendent. A fight was 
made on ^^'. J. H'arrod. the Rei)Hblican <aiididati' for district clerk, on 
account of his connection with the railroad, which was (hen becoming 
vei*y unpopular because of the bond business, and he was defeated by 



!6o HISTORV OF MONTGOMERY COrXTY, KANSAS. 

his Deuiotratio competitor, T. O. Ford, wlio. lilce Peckhaiu, was uaiiied as 
a liberal or Greeley Republican. The candidates for state Senator were 
A. M. York, who was destined to achieve a wide notoriety in the near fu- 
ture, in connection with his exposure of I'onieroy's attempt to bribe him 
in the senatorial election the succeeding January, and Frank 
^^'illis. the former county attorney. as his Democratic com- 
petitor. J. D. McCue made his debut in the politics of Montgomery coun- 
ty at this time as an unsuccessful aspirant for the Democratic nomi- 
nation for county attorney. 

[nquestionably the ]><)litical sensatitni of the year 1873, so far as our 
state was concerned, was furnished by Senator York, of Montgomery 
county. When Kansas was admitted to the I'nitra in 1861, Samuel O. 
Pomeroy was named as one of her first I'nited States Senators. Six years 
later he was reelected ; and now after twelve years service in the Ameri- 
can "House of Lords," he was back at Tojieka determined to secure a third 
term, if money witliout stint would do it. He had made the Seu'ator bus- 
iness so ])roti1able tinancially that it was understood that he could and 
would sjiend .^lOO.dOO rather than be defeated. He had, of course, ac- 
quired the reputation of a boodler and a purchaser of legislative goods 
that were in a damaged condition, and there was a strong sentiment 
against him when the legislature met. An organization of the Anti- 
Pomei-oy mend)ers was formed and of this our senator York was made 
secretary. To make sure of I'omeroy's defeat it was determined to entrap 
him into giving a bribe to some mend)er who would afterward expose 
him on the floor of the joint convention. James Simpson, afterward 
secretary of state under Governor Humphrey's administration, and a 
prominent ])olitii'al wire-])uller in the Keitultlican ranks for many years, 
is credited with devising this scheme. York had had some previous deal- 
ings with Pomeroy wlien he was sent to Washington the previous winter 
to get the land oftice removed to Independence, and he was hit upchi as 
the most available man to touch Pomeroy for his roll. 

Everything worked as planned. Y'ork not only got Pomeroy to prom- 
ise him $8, ()()() for his vote and a speech stating that after investigation 
he was convinced that the Charges against Pomeroy were groundless, but 
he secured |7,000 in advance. Tlie legislature being almost unanimously 
Republican, no caucus was held. On Tuesday, January 2Sth, the two 
houses balloted in separate session, and I'omeroy received 50 votes, the 
rest being scattering. It was reported and believed that he had 70 mem- 
bers pledged, r>7 being sufficient to elect. Only 60 were standing out 
against him, and his election seemed inevitable. And yet after the ^lont- 
gomery county senator had made his talk in the joint convention the next 
day Pomeroy did not receive a single vote. 

There have been many dramatic incidents in the legislative annals of 
Ji^ansas, but no othej- ever equalled in intensity of interest and unexpect- 



inSTulIV or .MONT(;OMKKV COtNTY, KANSAS. 6l 

cdiiess I hat iliinax of Col. Yoik's speech when he advanced to the clerk's 
desk and laid down the two ])ackages, one of them ojien and containing 
f2,(l(»0, and the other, a hrowu ]>ajier ])arcel, tied with twine, which, 
when opened, was fonnd to contain i?."),()l)l) more. Pomeroj''s friends sug- 
gested an adjournment tliat he might have an opjiortu'nity to be heard in 
his own defence, hut the mine had heen spi'ung and the legislators were 
in no mood for teni];oi'i/.ing'. \\'hen the roll was called John J. Ingalls 
had received ll.~) votes — all hut 12 — and was de<'lared elected, although 
in the two houses on the jtrevious day he had hut a single vote. Of tlie 12 
scattering, two were cast for Alexander JI. York, and in view of the way 
he had upset all the calculations of the politicians it seems a wonder that 
he did not fall heir to Poir.eroy's seat. 

For a time after York had thus exposed Pomeroy and secured the 
overthrow of that rotton old rascal it seemed as if the sun rose and set 
about the Montgomery county senator, and there was nothing in the way 
of political preferment he might not seek and find. The press of the state 
and nation rung with laudations of his course. His speech on the floor 
of the joint convention was pidn()unced unequalled since Cicero uttered 
that awful ]ihilii>iiic against Cataline. A magnificent reception was 
tenilered h.im when he returned t^i his home at Indejiendence, and men of 
all ])arties united to do him honmge. The name of York became a house- 
hold word, and he would have been deemed a ititiable croaker who would 
have even suggested the posil>ility that higher honors would 
not, in the future, be bestowed upon the incorruptable statesman from the 
banks of the ^'erdigris by an admiring and grateful people. After some 
time was ]iast. however, the etfervescence of hysterical sentiment passed 
oft', and York dropped into such oliscurity as has fallen to the lot of but 
few other men in public life anywhere — certainly to (none in Kansas. 

When it became known that Y(Mk had not only solicited a bribe, but 
that he had done it as the culmination of a plot laid by Pomeroy's ene- 
mies to insui'e his downfall ; when York's own testimony convicted him of 
being a blackmailer, in the interest of his town though it was, the Mont- 
gomery county martyr found how fickle was public favor and his fall was 
as sudden and unpitied as his rise had been unexpected and meteoric. To- 
day there can lie no (juestion, that if York had put that f7,()0(l in his 
jiocket and walked off with it, instead of laying it on the table at the 
capito!, the people of Kansas would have more respect for him than they 
n<)w do. For say what you will, it does not jiiiy to fight the devil with 
fire, and of those who do evil that good may come, it shall be said forever 
and aye that "their danniation is just." 

Although 1873 was an "oft' year" politically, •J,?>9rt votes were cast, 
which was doing very well for a county that Inul been an Indian reserva 
tion only f(nir years jirevious. At this time the entire board of commis- 
sioners was cho.^en, and there was a new deal all around, George Hurst, 



62 HISTORY OF MONTtiOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

W. J. Wilkius aud I. H. Kiidd lieiug elected. B. W. Perkins appears uu 
the see*ne as a candidate for district judge — perliaps, even then hoping 
the he would be Congressman and Senator hereafter. He carried the 
county by I.IOS votes to l.(!07 for J. M. Scudder, his Democratic oppo- 
nent. The candidates for representative in the <i.5th district were A. A. 
Stewart and •!. S. Riissuin. Stewart was elected by (iS majority. He 
served another term later, pulilisheil the Kansan. deserted his wife and 
left the county to settle iu AA'ashington state where he has since died. 
Russum has been leasing lands here for gas and oil for some years past. 
In the 6.5th district the returns show that John Royd received 570 votes 
to C. S. Brown's .5(iT. but Brown got the office. J. E. Stone was re-elected 
sheriff and John A. Helphirigstine. clerk. Cary Oakes got the treasury 
and George S. Beard, the lone Democrat elected, became register of deeds. 
Edwin Foster again became county surveyor aud J. H. Kington, coroner. 

In 1874, the Eepublicaus bagged most of the game. L. A. Walker, 
one of the most far-sighted men Montgomery county has ever numbered 
among her citizens, was elected rejnesentative in the Indejiendence dis- 
trict, over Ben M. Armstrong, the i;e])ublican candidate, and Ex-ilayor 
James DeLong. T. O. Ford secured a re-election as district clerk, leading 
C.T. Beach 4-i votes. The old party had the rest; \Vm. Huston, that un- 
compromising Scotch-Irish prohibitionist, as representative from the 
eastern district: E. Herring, again for i>robate judge, defeating J. W. 
Hodges, of Caney; B. R. Cunningham again for sujierintendent of schools; 
and A. B. ("lark for county attorney, his Democratic competitor being 
ATm. I>unkin. B. W. Perkins again carried the county for district judge, 
J. D. McCue being his Democratic competitor this time. 

Results were somewhat mixed in 187."). The Democrats got the of- 
fices of sheritf and register of deeds — the former for the lirst time — J. T. 
Brock securing that position ar.d (;e(nge S. lieard being reelected in the 
latter . Brock has been in evidence in Montgomery county politics almost 
ever since, in one way or another, and is now doing business at ( "herryvale 
as a real estate and insurance agent. Beard was, later, \>n the drug busi- 
ness with Thomas Calk in the 0])era House I'harmacy, but went to Texas 
and located at San Antonio. The Republicans got E. T. iSIears in as 
county clerk, re-elected Cary Oakes as tre;isurer, and made B. K. Cunning- 
ham county surveyor and A\'. M. Robinson, coroner. Clears is still doing 
an abstract and real estate business in Independence, but has be\n, for 
years, allied, politically, with the Prohibitionists. In the district, Wm. 
Stewart was elected rejiresentative over Geo. W. Burchard, by a majority 
of one vote. Burchard began his jiublic career in the county as the editor 
of the Tribune, but got out when he had to be dum])ed to keeji it from 
straying from the straight and narrow jialli of Re]iublicanism. He. later, 
became the editor and jxiblisher of the Kansan. hi th(» Colfeyville dis- 
trict the Rejinblicans were likewise successful. J. M. Ileddens being sent 



HISTOKY or MONTOOMEKY COUXTY. KANSAS. 63 

to ToiK'kii over W. H. Hell. The three (■(uniuissionei-i* elected were J. E. 
Cole, over 1). ('. Krone; W. H. Harter. over J. S. Cutlou; and T. R. Pitt- 
inan, over .1. F. Ontl. This made a I >eiiiocnitie hoard, Ilarter heing the 
only Republican elected. It divided the county printing, giving it half 
and half to the Tribune and Kansaii. 

The Hayes-Tilden contest was on in lyTti. and not a solitary oppo- 
sition candidate was allowed to slip in, the Reimblicans cleaning up the 
])latter, as they have almost always done in I'resideutial years, ('olonel 
Daniel Grass, whose ])reaching al(»ng some lines was so much better than 
his practice, and who did yeoman service on the stump for the Prohibitioji 
amendment foui- years later, was elected to the state Senate over B. F. 
Devore, the Democratic candi<late. For this oltice there was also another 
Richmond in the field in the jierscin of ex-Senator A. il. York, who had, by 
this lime, severed his connection with the Republican party and was mak- 
ing his canvass on the (Jreenback ticket. As this was his farewell ap- 
pearance in Montgomery county politics, and he had up to this time 
played the most conspicuous part of any citizen of the county iu the 
drama of stale ])olitics. it must be noted that he polled 619 votes out of a 
total of o.:il.*!>. and led his ticket a long way. For Representative O. F. 
("arson defeated ("apt. J. I'. Rowley, of the Kansan, i.n the first district. 
In the second L. I'. Humphrey was again a candidate, and this time won 
over Dr. ]\Ic('ulley. against whom he was later to be pitted as a candidate 
for the Senate, and made his entrance into the field of state politics. In 
the lower district, W. (". Martin beat Levi flladfelter. who, in aft:er years, 
became jiostmaster at ("aney, and J. P. Rood, who was later a successful 
candidate for the same legislative office. H. H. Dodd got the district 
clerkshiii; .John D. Ilinkle. who is now judge of the city court of Spokauf, 
Washington, beiame county attorney; Herring went in again as probate 
judge; and ("has. T. Beach was made superinte<ndent of schools. This 
year the (Jreenback jtarty had a full ticket in the field and polled an 
average of nearly four hundred votes. That well-known citizen, George 
T. Anthony, was being voted for as a candidate for governor, and M. J. 
Salter, who subserpiently be<ame a resident of Indeitendence, as Register 
of the r. S. Land Office there, was elected lieutenant governor. 

In February, 1877, considerable excitement was occasioned when 
it was learned that County Treasurer Oakes had |39,.34.3 of the county 
funds, wliich were by law re(piired to be kejit in the safe in his office, on 
de];osit in Turner & Otis' bank, and the board of county c(unmissioners 
t(i(ik action on the IHth of that month, censuring him for that act and de- 
manding that hi' replace the funds in the safe in compliance with the law. 

This year a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor was occa- 
sioned by V.i: Salter's accei)tance of the land office a])])ointment, and L. 
T'. nunijihrey became the republican candidate for that oftice and was 
•electe;!. ITe cairied ^lontgcmery county by a majority of 27S. Itut at thi' 



64 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

same time A. H. H<5i'toD. who was also running to fill a vacancy, on ac- 
count of the resignation of Chief Justice Kingman, lost the county bv 
■Ml. 

(_)n the county ticket in 1877 tlie Democrats came nearer making a 
clean sweep than on any other occasion in its history. J. T. Brock was 
re-elected sheriff; John McCullagh got the county clerk's place over 
Mears, who was a candidate for re-election ; Joseph IJarricklow, an old 
Indian trader at Coffeyville, beat E. E. Wilson 33 votes for treasurer; and 
E. r. Allen hecaiiie register of deeds. The same party got all the com- 
missioners. Henry Mounger in the tirst. General ^^'. R. Brown, in the sec- 
ond and A. P. Boswell in the third. It only lost the coroner's and sur- 
veyor's places, which went to W. !M. Kcibinson and A. G. Savage. 

Over the result of this election the Kansan. the Democratic organ of 
the county, made nierry with all the ])ictures at its command, and har- 
rowed up the feelings of the Kejiublicaus by ridicule and sarcasm to such 
an extent that when the next year rolled around they were all lined u\> for 
the straight partey ticket. The only county ottice that got away was that 
of commissioner in the first district, where "that sly old fox." as Henry 
Alounger was termed, easily won out again. For governor. John P. St. 
John, whose name, later, became so much of a household word in the state 
and the nation, carried the county by 233; while Humjihrey had nearly 
twice that majority for re-electimi as lieutenant governor. For the dis- 
trict judgeship. J. T. liniadhead. of Indejiendence. was ])itted against 
Judge Perkins, but the latter was in the heyday of his poj)ularity, and 
had a plurality of 1.G49 in the county. Harry Dodd was re-elecetd as dis- 
trict clerk; Judge Herring to the probate office; John D. Hinkle as county 
attorney; and (". T. Beach as school sujierintendent. In the represtmtative 
districts the opposition got two of the three; C J. Corbin winning in the 
47th and J. P. Rood in the 40th. The 4Sth was carried by A. n. Clark 
over three well known citizens, Abe Canary, M. S. Stahl. so long the land- 
lord at the Main Street hotel, and ex-Mayor James DeLong. This year 
was high water mark for the Greenback party, which polled more votes 
than the Democrats did for some of the offices, John S. Cotton receiving 
],0.5(i for probate judge and (ieo. W. Clemmer 8S7 for district clerk on 
That ticket. This was Clemmer's second race in the county, and he soon 
afterward went back to Indiana where he succeeded better as a candidate 
for county office. 

^^■hen the smoke cleared away aftei' the jiolitical battle of 1879. the 
Re])ublican organ rejoiced that Montgomery county had lH»en "redeemed" 
again. For sheriff. Lafayette Shadley had 148 majority over his Demo- 
ci'atic 0]i]i(inent. Ellis. The third man in the race was the (irecnbacker, 
S. B. Squires, who was to be a siiccessful asjiirant for the same office 
eighteen years later, and hold it longer than any other incumbent ever 
has or ever will again unless our constitution is changed. Shadlev. after 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 65 

two tei-iii.s as slieiitf iu the nineties, tecanie a member of tlie l'. S. Indian 
police down in the Osage Nation, and was killed in a fight with oulhiws 
there — it being' snpposed that the notorious I'.ill Dalton fired tiie fatal 
shot. Tliere were three comiilete tickets in the fiehl this year, and the 
(ireenb;i(k jtart.v proved a formidalile coiiijietitor to the old parties, ])oll- 
ing abont 75(1 votes to the Kepnblicans l,:j(MI and the Democrats l.L'UO. 
I->ai-rickh)W w;is defeated for re-election as treasurer, Col. F. S. Palmer 
winning that jirize. The same fate befell John McCullagh, the clerk's 
ottice gt)ing to Ernest A. Way, a bright young school teacher whose undo- 
ing it jnoved. E. ]'. Allen was the only one of the old set to pull through, 
aside from the commissit)ner, as he was also one of the few ottice holders 
wlio were able to save money from their incomes. He subsequently went 
into the loan business and became president of t^ie First National Hank, 
a position he still holds. G. B. I^slie was elected surveyor and Josiah 
Coleman, coroner. For commissioner. Gen. W. R. Brown, of the second 
district, i>ulled through by the fnai'row margain of two votes, beating P. S. 
Moore, who was subsecpiently to hold that office for three terms. "If at 
first you don't succeed, try, try again," seen)s to have been the hitter's 
motto. 

The year 1880 will forever remain memorable in the history of Kan- 
sas as the one in wliich the prohibition amendment was adopted. Mont- 
gomery county gave it a good niajority, every precinct contributing to it 
with the single exception of West Cherry, where the vote stood 59 for to 
60 against. On the jiresidential ticket, the Rei)ublicans carried the coun- 
ty, but they lacked a good deal of having a majority over both the oppos- 
ing parties. Garfield had 1,774 votes, Haniock 1,295, and Weaver 694, No 
wonder fusion should be resorted to by the members of op])osing parties 
in later years! Indeed, this year, the Keimblicans lost only the two 
]>]aces where the oi)i>onents had united on one candidate. This 
let A. P. Boswell in again as commissioner in the third dis- 
trict and helped J. P. Rood to knock Senator Peffer out as 
a candidate for Rejtresentative in the same southern district. 
For I'effer this was the "unkindest cut of all," and he soon shook 
the dust of Montgomery county from his feet, to return no more, as he 
later, deserted the state when the Po])ulists refused to i-eelect him as 
I'nited States Seiialor in 1897. Harry H. l>odd was elected for the tliird 
time as clerk of the district court, getting a longer incumbency of this 
office than any other clerk. Ebenee/.er Herring won his fifth and last 
race for the probate judgeshij). Ed. A'anfiundy, a young lawyer, who had 
been a in-inter and ncwspajx-r ]iublisher in the early days, was made 
county att< I'ney. and given the tirst (iiipdrtunity to run n]i against that 
)iitfall for i-v.fh dfficials — the ]ii('hiltition law. C. T. Beach also won a 
third lace for school superintendent, the "unwritten law" which forbids 
a Rejinblican official in Montgomery county to be a candidate for a third 



66 HISTORY OF )MOXTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

term not li;iviiij> been enacted nntil (ilick defeated St. John in 1882. For 
the Senate A. 1>. ("lark made a successful rai'e — his last one in the county 
— though he tried to get into the game time and again afterward. The Re- 
j)ublican legislative candidates, J. H. Morris and Alexander Moore, were 
successful in the two northern districts. 

Though 1he opposition united on candidates for every office except 
sheriir and commissioner in 1881. they failed to score and the Republi- 
cans swejtt the platter of everything in sight. Tom ^litchell, marshal 
of Independence, thought he was running for sheriff against Lafe Shad- 
ley until the returns came in. ^^'ylie, on the Greenback ticket, knew he 
had never been in it. The Democratic campaign was managed by Judge 
McCue. and he made the mistake of supposing that the fewer Democratic 
candidates there were on the ticket the more chance there would be of 
electing those. So when, on the eve of election, J. !M. Nevins withdrew as 
a candidate for clerk, he was sure Tom, on whom his ho])es had been set, 
would win. Shadiey had .^OG majority, however. E. E. Wilson, who had 
been deputy trea.surer for two terms, was promoted to the head place by 
a vote of 2,257 against U42 for his Greenback opponent, Gill)ert Dominey. 
Ed. L. Foster got there as register of deeds. Ernest Way was re-elected 
clerk, and (i. P.. Leslie surveyor, while Dr. B. F. Masterman, the pepub- 
lican chaii'man. won whatever honor there was in the coroner's place. 
That hitherto successful politician, Henry Mounger, at hist went to the 
wall as a candidate for re-election as commissioner, and Will S. Hays, 
the most fearless and independent commissioner the county has ever had. 
took his place. 

When 1882 came around the I'rohiliition law was in working order in 
Kansas, and a good many people did not tind it all they had hoped. The 
result was that George W. Glick. the first Democratic governor Kansas 
has ever had, was elected over John P. St. John, who was the third term 
Republican candidate. And yet, today, you will tind Glick and St. John 
lying ha])j>ily in the same political bed. Montgomery county went back 
on her Republican record and gave Glick 310 majority. George Chandler, 
of Independence, received the entire vote of the county, 3553, as a candi- 
date for judge of the district court, and was elected. For the county 
offices the race was very close, only two of the candidates receiving over 
a hundred majority. Nelson F. Acres, the Democratic candidate for Con- 
gress, carried the <ounty by ten votes over the poj)ular Dudley C. Haskell. 
For probate judge, Thomas Harrison, one of the oldest settlers, beat 
Thos. G. Ayres, a Coffeyville attorney, only 15 votes. J. D. Hinkle got 
into the race again as a candidate for county attorney, but was beaten 
out of sight by J. D. MeCue, who got the largest majority given in the 
county that year, 354. S. V. Matthews lauded for district clerk by 49. 
and G. B. Leslie, for re-election as county superintendent, by 28. Honois 
were easy in the representative districts, A. A. Stewart, of the Kansaii, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 67 

being elected iu the western, and Daniel ^NfcTaggart in the eastern. This 
was the beginning of the latter's protracted legislative career, which in- 
cluded three terms in the Ilonse and two in the Senate, and gave him a 
long lead over any other Montgonierv county lawmaker. In the Indepen- 
dence district, (ien. lirown was kn(i<ked off the perch as commissioner by 
Wilson Kincaid, which gave the Kcpiililicans the cctntrol of the board for 
the first time since the pioneer days. The county printing went to the 
Star another year, but at ruinously low rates. And that was the last 
year in which an opposition newspaper has ever had it in the county. 

The proposition to build a new court house, submitted to the voters at 
this election, was defeated liy 2(t;> votes. Only 29 votes wei-e cast against 
it in the city of Independence, and only 9 in its favor in Parker township, 
which inchided the city of Coffeyville. At Cherryvale. and in Cherry 
township only about half the voters took the trouble to express them- 
selves on the projiosition. but those who did voted four to one against it. 
Only four of the townshiits — Caney. Rutland. Drum Creek, and Indepen- 
dence, gave majorities for the proposition. 

Although 1883 was another "off year" in politics, the opposition to 
the Republican party profited little by that fact, all they succeeded in do- 
ing being to re-elect A. P. Boswell, from the southern district, for a 
third term as commissioner. Boswell was a thorough-going business 
man. and it was during his incumbency that county warrants were ])aid 
on presentation, for the only lime in the history of the county, though as 
much credit must be given to '\\'ill S. Hays, the Republican commissioner 
from the first district from 1881 to 1883, as to any one for that result. 
J. T. Brock made his third race for sheriff this year and was beaten ou>i; 
of sight by Josejih ^IcCreary. a ]io)inlar but peculiarly excitable citizen of 
Coffeyville. who later continued the enjoyment of office-holding by be- 
coming postmaster at Coffeyville. E. E. Wilson, one of the pioneer 
settlers, and perhaps the first historian of ^Montgomery county, was 
again elected county treasurer. Thomas R. Pittman, of Havana, a former 
county commissioner, and for years one of the Democratic wheelhorses 
of the county, had the pleasure of making the race against Wilson. H. 
W. Conrad, who is now. at the expiration of his term in the state Senate, 
serving as (^ejuity in that otlice. was elected county clerk. J. F. Xolte, 
then a Rutland township farmer, hut now a rice planter in Texas, got the 
position of register of deeds. ^^'. P>. Rushmore was elected surveyor aind 
E. A. Osborn, coroner. This year the (ireenback party again had a 
ticket in the field, but it mustered only a corporal's guard of voters. H. 
Pieslon leading the ticket with 39 votes for surveyor. Owing to irreg- 
ularities in the office. Ernest Way had resigned the jiosition of county 
cleik this year, and for the short term of three mouths his father, J. S. 
A\'ay. was elected to fill the vacancy. 

Ill the Presidential vear. ISSl. the Democrats won iu the nation, but 



68 HISTORY 01<^ MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

in ouv cmiuty the Kepublioans not only elected every candidate on Iheir 
ticket, but rolled n]> a gi'eater average majority than ever before. Blaine, 
for president, had SCO to the good, and Perkins, for Congress. 85C, the 
latter being then at the /.enith of his popularity. Ilninjihrey was again 
pitted against Dr. ilcCulley, this time for the state Senate, which i)rovei 
for him the stepping stone to the governorship. J. A. Bnrdick and Daniel 
MJcTaggart were elected Kepresentatives. the latter for his second term in 
the House. Samuel (\ Elliott defeated J. D. ]\Ic('ue as a candidate for 
county attdrney, his majority of 14S being the smallest for any candi- 
date. Ellictt is credited witli having enforced th(> iJrohibiTion law more 
vigorously and fa\ored the liijnor sellers less than any other county at- 
torney since the law went into effect. He lost his health in the early 
nineties, and died in the insa ne asylum at Osawatomie. Matthews was 
re-elected district clerk over A. A. Stewart, of the Kansan; and (i. 1>. 
Leslie beat .Mrs. 10. C. Xevins, the DcMuocratic candidate for superinten- 
dent of schools, and the tirst woman to run for ollice on the county ticket 
of any jiarty. -lohn ("astillo. a Kepulilican, who afterward became iden- 
titied with the Populist party, was chosen commissioner fr<nii the tirst 
district. The (juestion of issuing bonds for the building of a court house 
was again submitted to the voters, and this time the proposition carried 
by a majority of 31. The ojtjKJsition appealed to the courts and delayed 
the building for a year or more, but the corner stone was laid Noveni 
ber :!Oth, ISSd. 

After the defeat of St. John as the Republican candidate for govern- 
or in 1882 — that defeat being erroneously attributed to the fact that he 
was then a candidate for the third term — it became the unwritten law 
that no Kejjnblican candidate in ^Montgomery county should be exposed 
to deteat by a thiid nomination, and the only exception made to the 
rule since that time was in the case of S. L. Hibbard. who was named as 
a catndidate for surveyor, in 1885, and duly elected, as were all the Re- 
publican candidates that year, and who has held the office ever since, be- 
ing re-nominated and re-elected as often as his term drew to a close. 
That year was not an exciting one politically. Mcfreary and Conrad 
got their second terms. Millard F. Wood was chosen county treasurer, 
and John I^. (iriffln, register of deeds. ]>r. MicCulley. who never refused 
to lead a forlorn hope, was defeated by 1. 1!. M'allace as a candidate for 
coroner. T. M. Railey was chosen commissioner from the Independence 
district. Altogether it was a Republican crowd, the opposition being 
completely "whitewashed." 

In November, 188(), although there were a governor and slate olliceis 
to elect, it was a foregone conclusion that the Republicans would wi:i ; 
and Colonel Tom Moonlight's campaign for governor against Colonel 
John A. Martin, who was out for a second term, was rather a ])erfnnctory 
one. This year the Rejmblican majority in the county was 440. In tht> 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 69 

fiijht over the local offices, the battle waged fiercest about the probate 
jiidges^hij). For this jdace (Jeueral W. R. I'rown, who had not only com- 
nianded President Haves' regiment in the civil war, but who liiid beou 
county coinniissioner tor two terms here, was the Democ-ratic candidate 
for that ottice and ('(donel A. P. Forsylhe. who had at one time been 
elected to congress by a Greenback-Uepublicau combination, in Illinois, 
was his op])onent. Brown won by 223 votes. The rest of the ticket the 
Republicans elected, J. B. Ziegler and Oa|)tain Daniel JIcTaggart going 
to the Legislature; J. W. Siin])son being made district clerk; D. W. 
Kingsley, suiterintendent of schools; and Sam Elliott getting a second 
term as county attorney, (ieorge Foster was elected commissioner from 
the Colfeyville district, A. P. I'.oswell at last going down in defeat. It 
was thought that he would he re-elected as long as he lived, but having 
been nsade one of the appraisers for the right of way for the D. M. & A. 
Railroad across the south side of the county, he failed to please all the 
men who wanted big damages and lost his popularity to a degree that 
insured his defeat. 

This year (ieorge (^handler, of Indei)endence. was the Republican 
candidate for re-election to the office of district judge and there was no 
organized opposition to his candidacy in the district. In fact, as in 1882, 
he received the entire vote of the electors of Montgomery county for that 
liigli office. 4.705 of them recording their ballots in his favor and none 
against. Chandler made a tine rcjiutation as an upright judge, but was 
noted for l)eiiig especially haisb and severe with applicants for divorce, 
having no patience with men and women who had found their matrimon- 
ial bonds irksome, and were endeavoring to sever them. His incisive 
questions going down to the most sacred privacies of the marriage re- 
lation and his bullying manner came to be dreaded by all such unfortun- 
ates, and the procuring of divorces grew unpopular. Probably there 
were far fewer divorces in the district during his term on the bench ou 
account of this idiosyncracy of his. \\'hen Harrison became President 
in March, 18^1*. Judge Chandler was tendered the position of Assistant 
Secretary of the Interior, which he accepted, resigning the judgship to 
do so. After some years in Washington his family returned to Indejien- 
dence, but he still remained there, having formed a law [larltnership with 
Ex-Senator Perkins, when the hitter's term expired. Subsecpiently, in the 
year lS!t."), Mr. Chandler became the defendant in a suit for divorce 
brought by the mother of his children. He did not contest this suit and 
consented to a decree by which his property in this county was settled 
upon his wife. Subsequently came the news that he had niarried a woman 
who had been a stenographer or typewriter in his office while he was still 
living with his family at the national cajtital. In view of these occur- 
rences many ]ieo]iIe thought it a great pity that he could not himself ha\e 



70 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

profited by the lectures on conjugal constancy that he had been so free 
to give those who came to his court asking for divorces. 

The fall of 1887 witnessed another perfunctory political canvass in 
which the Republican ticket was elected by default, the only contest 
worth the name being over the shei'itf's office, where .John C. Hester, of 
Fawn ("reek, beat John -J. Anderson, the best known auctioneer ilont- 
gomery county has ever had. by 240 votes, ^^'o()d. (Iriffin, Hibbard and 
Wallace were re-elected by majorities between 7(H) and 1.000. and George 
W. Tulmer became county clerk. Noah E. Bouton got the commissiener's 
place in the first district. 

Republican pluralities in this cuunty reached another high water 
mark in 1888 when Benjamin Harrison led ( Jrover Cleveland l.Oo-t votes, 
and B. W. Perkins, for Congress, had 1,584 better than his Democratic 
(■omi)etitor, John A. Eaton. There were three tickets in the field, so far 
as state and national candidates were concerned, but the opposition to 
the Kepublicans united on several of the county candidates, and we saw 
the first beginnings of the fusion that was going to play such havoc with 
Republican hopes a few years later. For state Senator there was a tri- 
angular contest of great bitterness. Daniel JIcTaggart was the Repub- 
lican nominee, Wm. Dunkin, the Democratic, and Adam Beatty, the Union 
Laboi'. A good deal of opposition to ilcTaggart developed in the Repub- 
lican ranks, so much, in fact, that he ran more than :!00 votes behind his 
ticket, but in the three-cornered fight he pulled Ilirough by the safe plu- 
rality of 347 over his Democratic opi)onent. J. B. Zeigler was re-elected 
Representative in the western district, and Captain D. Stewart Elliott 
was successful in the eastern. Such a contingency as the latter's death 
from a rhilii)pine bullet in the isla nd of Luzon was then as remote from 
his tliouglits as anythitng in the future can possibly be from the readers 
today. For ]irobate judge (General Brown was defeated for re-election by 
Charles H. Hogan, a Republican then, but since a I'ojmlist. who made one 
of the most efficient officials the county ever had in that position. Simp- 
son and Kingsley got their second terms, and O. I'. Ergenbright was 
elected county attorney. P. S. ^NFoore, who had been defeated in 1870 as 
a candidate for county commissioner, won out this time and began his 
nine years' term in that position. 

When the office of judge of the district coui-t for the eleventh district 
became vacant by the resignation of (^ieorge Chandler, the governor ap- 
pointed John N. Ritter, of Cherokee county, to fill the vacancy until an 
election could be held. Against Jiulge Ritter as a candidate on the Re- 
publican ticket in November. 1880, the Democrats ran J. D. Mct'ue, of 
Independence, in many respects one of the finest jurists the state has 
produced. Although Ritter carried Montgomery county by l.jO, Mc('ue 
was elected for the remaining year of the Chandler term. 

For the county offices at stake that fall the Republicans did not 



HISTORY 01" MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 71 

make an entirely elean sweep, T. F. Callahan getting the sheriff's oflQce 
away from John C. Hester, who was a candidate for re-election, but who 
had proved an nn])0])nlar otficial. The I'nion Labor party had a full tick- 
et in the tield this fall, and so did the Democrats, except for the office of 
county clerk. For this position George W. Fnhner was re-elected by a 
majority of 1,681, which is the largest tJnis far recorded in the county 
where tliere was any contest at all. Thomas H. Earnest, now postmaster 
at Cherryvale, was successful by only 74 over his Democratic competitor, 
George B. Thompson, for register of deeds. Mark Tulley got the prize of 
the county treasury, which then paid a salary of .f4,000 a year; and S. 
Tillman, a colored barber at Independence, was made coroner. W. N. 
Smith was the new commissioner chosen in the southern district this fall. 
He is now a member of the city council of Independence. 

The "Alliance year" is what 1890 has come to be termed in the iwlit- 
ical annals of Kansas, and the wave swept over Montgomery engulfing 
the entire Republican ticket, with two exceptions. The r>emocratic and 
Peojiles' jiarties did not unite on the state ticket, and with two candi- 
dates to divide the opposition vote Humphrey got through with a plu- 
rality of 411 for governor in the county. On the local ticket, however, 
there was complete fusion. For district .iudge, McCue ran against 
A. B. Clark, a popular Rei)ublicf tn, and led him by 736. Ben. Clover beat 
the hitherto invincible Perkins for Congress and left him over three 
hundred votes in the shade. Samuel Henry and A. L. Scott, the fusion 
candidates, were elected to the legislature. Daniel Cline became probate 
judge; J. II. Norris, district clerk; and J. R. Charlton, county attorney. 
The successful Republicans were Alexander Nash for superintendent of 
schools, and Noah Bouton, who got through for re-election as commis- 
sioner by the narrow niargain of four votes, over John Hook. For a sec- 
ond time the opposition to the Republican party had broken over the 
fence and got into the pasture. Although a popular favorite, Mr. Nash, 
one of the Republicans referred to, long afterward made a i-ecord that 
is unenviable by deserting his wife at Coffeyville while their child lay 
dead in the house. Since that time his whereabouts have been known to 
none of his friends in Montgomery county. 

It took the Rejtublicans but a short time to get their "second wind" 
in the county and make a successful fight against the condiination that 
had downed them. In 18!)1 they were confronted by a united opposition, 
but easily elected their entire ticket, with the exception of the candidate 
for sheriff. In this office Tom Callahan had rendered himself very popu- 
lar, and was besides an excellent politician and a good campaigner. Still 
he pulled through with the beggarly nmjority of 26, only. George H. 
Evans, jr., became county clerk; and Tulley, Earnest, Hibbard, Tillman 
and Moore were re-elected. The "Alliance" wave had evidently spent its 
force. 



J2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

In 1802 the Democrats of Kansas suj>i)orted General Weaver and the 
Poiiulist electoi's for Olevehind's sake, hut this county gave the Harrison 
electors VXi majority, and two more for Exduvernor Anthony fov Con- 
gressman-at-Large. Humphrey made his last political race as a candidate 
for Rei)resentative in Congress from the Third district, and while he was 
defeated and retired to private life at the expiration of his termasgovern- 
or in the following January, he ran about a hundred votes ahead of his 
ticket in his home county. McTaggart was re-elected as state Senator by 
the straight party vote. The county had been unjustly dejirived of half its 
rei)resentation in the House, and A. L. Scott was the fusion ca ndidate. 
Against him was pitted F. M. Beneflel. of Cotteyville, a man who played 
a conspicious part in the politics of the county for several years, and 
who was capable of making a very taking stump speech. The old member 
fared worse than most of the other candidates. Nash was re-elected sup- 
erintendent of schools by an overwhelming vote, and Korris was defeated 
for re-election as district clerk by W. C. Foreman. W. E. Ziegler won the 
prize of the county attorney's office, and W. N. Smith was re-elected 
as commissioner from the southern district. In fact the only thing the 
opposition to the Rei>ublican party saved out of the wreck was the pro- 
bate judgeship, which went to Daniel Cline, a Populist, by the narrow 
margin of eleven votes. 

The fall of 1893 witnessed another triangular fight for the offices, 
the Democrats and Populists running separate tickets. The latter polled 
about twice as many votes as the former, but their combined vote barely 
equalled the Republican strength. The pendulum had swung clear over 
again a nd the o])position did not elect a man. Frank C. Moses became 
sheriff, and served the full limit of four years. The office-holding habit 
still cinng to him, however, and he is just finishing his second term vM 
mayor of Indi)endence. J. R. Blair came uj> from Caney to become treas- 
ui-er, defeating two Confederate veterans, E. T. Lewis and J. M. Altaffer. 
John W. Glass, of Coffeyville, was made county clerk; J. T. Stewart, of 
Sycamore, got the position of register of deeds; Dr. R. F. O'Rear replaced 
the colored barber as coroner; and N. F. Veeder, of Cherryvale, the most 
oori-upt. ])robably, of all Montgomery county's corrupt politicians, got 
into the board of county commissioners. 

Low water mark for the Democrats of Montgomery county came 
with the election of 1894, when their candidate for governor, the brilliant, 
but shifty, Overmeyer, received but 429 votes to 2,064 cast for L. D. 
Lewelling as a candidate for re-election. And there was no single attri- 
bute of manhood in which Overmeyer, wilh all his faults, real and al- 
leged, (lid not tower high above the first Pojiulist g ivernor of Kansas. 
Morrill, the Reitublican candidate, had a clear majority of 142 over both. 
Many Democrats undoubtedly voted for Lewelling as the only way to 
heal the coriimcm enemy: and the Pojtulist never had such a lead as the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 73 

fijfiires above given would indicate. Mc(^ue was again a candidate for 
district judge, but failing to get the opjiosition parties to unite on his 
candidacy, ran as an independent, his name appearing in a column all by 
itself. He was opposed by A. R. Skidmore, of ('olund)ns, a man hitherto 
unknown in politics outside of his own county. To tell the whole story 
of the lighl made against Judge .McCue by ex-Commissioner Will S. Hays, 
who went over the district charging him with venality and with sidiser- 
viency to corporations, and convincing the voters that he was lacking in 
integrity, would require a volume in itself. 80 confident was McCue of 
election during the early days of the canvas that he used to introduce his 
opponent to voters, and then egotistically remark to his frieinds what a 
poor show the Cherokee county man made beside him. Hkidmore, how- 
ever, beat him 8.")(l in this county and some thousands in the district, and 
McCue's political career was ended. 

Benefiel was elected again as Representative over S. Mi, Dixon, an- 
other good talker, who soon found he preferred other fields when office 
was denied him here. And Renefiel was the man, who, during the next 
session of the legislature, was credited with having killed the bill to re- 
duce charges at the stock yards, for a consideratidn. N. B. Ronton, the 
outgoing commissioner, became probate judge, defeating H. T). Farrel, 
who was subse(iuently to till the office for two terms, and J. J. Mull. It 
was a three-cornered contest all the way through o;n the county ticket, 
excei)t the county superintendency, and there Miss Anna Keller, the first 
woman ever elected to office in the county, defeated il. C. Handley by 26.1 
votes. W. E. Ziegler was elected county attorney over two leading at- 
torneys at the Indejiendeuce bar at this time — Thos. H. Stanford and 
F. J.Fritch. W. (\ Foreman beat John T. Caldwell and Tom Harrison 
for district clerk. James Thomjjson, an utterly illiterate Coffeyville ne- 
gro, became coroner. V. S. Mooi'e was re-elected conunissioner from the 
first district. It was again a Re[)ublican year. 

M this election the woman's suH'rage amendment to the constitution 
was voted on and there was a majority of 25(j against it in the county. 
Cherryvale, Louisburg, Rutland and Parker, alone gave majorities for the 
pro])osition. A jirojjosition to make an appropriation if fS.OOO to buy a 
county |joor farm carried by a vote of 2.708 to 1,:{21. 

The l;!st triangular contest that has occurred in the county took 
[ilace in ISD.j. Frank Mo.ses was re-elected as sheriff over Revilo Newton 
and J. R. Sewell. J. R. Rlair got a second term as treasurer, distancing 
Ben. Ernest and Daniel Cline. John W. Glass came up from Coffeyville 
to take the county clerkship, lunnirg in between R. F. Devore and Jos- 
'eph H. \orris. .1. T. Stewart became register of deeds, defeating E. B. 
■Skinner and J. \V. Reeves, llibliard, of course, succeeded hin^self as 
surveyor, and so did Thom])son as coroner. D. .\. Cline, one of tVe most 
forceful of our county c<uiimissioners, made his apjiearance on the fi(»ld 



74 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

of comity politics as the new member from the Coffeyville district, de- 
featiug J. 1'. Etcheu and Joseph Leuhart. 

After so long a series of unbroken successes, the Republicans nat- 
urally and reasonably expected to elect their entire ticket in the presi- 
dential year, 1896. The promulgation of the gold-standard platform at 
the St. Loiiis convention was a solar plexus blow to those hoj)es, however. 
So general aind so earnest was the protest against this change of base on 
the jiart of the Mo'ntgomery county Republicans, that it is a conservative 
estimate to say that a thousand of them, or one-third of the total strength 
of the party in the county, were outside of the breastworks when the 
June roses were blooming. Every device known to the most astute poli- 
ticians was employed to bring them back into the party ranks during that 
summer and fall, however, and day by day the recalcitrants were being 
whip]jed into line. When election came in November, probably not more 
than 250 of those June bolters were still bolting. But that was enough. 
The decisive day approached with each side confident of victory. When the 
votes had been canvassed it was found that the fusion ticket nominated 
by the Pojmlists, Democrats a.nd Silver Republicans, and supported by 
all the Bryan men, had been elected from top to bottom. It was the most 
sweej.ing ]iolitical victory ever won in the county, extending to the town- 
sliij) oftices, as well as those higher \\\). Indeed it was facetiously said 
that only a single road overseer had been saved out of the wreck. This 
was a slight exaggeration, but the usual dominant i)arty had failed to 
carry a single township, though having a majority in all the cities, and 
had but one township trustee to its credit — the Cherry township candi- 
date having scratched through. 

Bryan led INIcKinley 4.34, while the Gold Democrats counted 27 votes 
and the middle-of-the-road Populists, 29. Ridgley had .398 over Kirkpat- 
rick for congress; H. W. Young, a Populist editor, was elected state Sen- 
ator over George W. Fulnier, who made that record-breaking race for 
county clerk in 1889, by 340; Isaac B. Fulton, an old Greenback war- 
horse, was made Re])resentative by a majority of 332 over the Rejuiblican 
candidate. J. F. Guilkey; H. D. Ferrell turned the tables on Noah E. 
Bouton, and got the jirobate judgeship by 209; H. M. Levan. the first 
Silver Re])u1)lican to be elected in the county — and the only one — had 
359 over A. R. Slocum ; John Callahan, for county attorney, "led" the 
ticket with a majority of 548 over W. N. Banks; J. N. Dollison, for 
county superintendent, came next with 437 more votes than Miss Keller; 
i'n the first district John Givens got in over Veeder by the narrow mar- 
gain of 10 votes. It was the first clean sweep the op])Osition to the Re- 
])ublican ])arty had ever made in the county, and to the present writing 
they have never made another. 

According to precedent, a reaction from the free silver victory of 
1890. and a swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction, was to have 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 75 

been expected in 1897. It was raily partially realized, though, and the 
fusionists succeeded in bagging the best of the game. The ropulist Leg- 
islature had passed an act at the Legislative session of that year estab- 
lishing a county high school at Independence. This act had caused a 
great deal of criticism in some portions of the county. Notably, this fire 
burned brightly wherever there was an aspirant for Legislative honors, 
who had failed of noniinatic'n or election in the recent past. The Popu- 
list members of the Legislature were denounced without stint for their 
share in the passage of the measure, and many Republican politicians 
seemed to be of the opinion that the anti-high school sentiment alone 
needed to be appealed to in order to insure the success of their ticket. 
Accordingly Indepeindence Republicans were turned down hard when the 
nominating cclnventions were held, and a ticket, that was, on the whole, 
a weak one. was [ilaced in the field. The fusionists were afraid of the 
same issue and also tabooed Independence aspirants, except for commis- 
sioner, where Henry Baden was induced to accept a nomination in order 
to prevent both Populist and Democratic candidates from going on the 
ballot. The contest was a close one, and it required the official count to 
decide who had been elected treasurer. E. B. Skinner, a Democrat, of 
Caney, won the place by only (ifteen votes, over J. A. Palmer. S. B. 
Squires, the defeated Greenback candidate of '79 got his iinning at last, 
with a majority of 237 over T. C Harbourt. D. S. .James, another Pop- 
ulist, got in as county clerk by GO votes over R. B. Handley. And the 
same figure told T. F. Burke's Rejiublican majority for register of deeds, 
M. D. Wright being his '"Silver Republican" opponent. Dr. Rader was 
re-elec(ed coroner, and Hil)bard jinlled through once more for surveyor, 
with, for him. the meagre majority of 127. F. E. Taylor left Baden just 
51 votes liehind in the race for commissioner, thus obtaining a Rclnibli- 
cain majority in the board. 

This year the first election of a board of county high school trustees 
occurred, and the o](ponents of the school made a strong effort to secure 
the elei'tion of the candidules known tolieo])]Kised to the school. The coun- 
seat took cai'e of its own in this matter, and the three candidates who 
were fought because friendly to the school won by over 900 majority. 
The board as elected consisted of Wm. Dunkin, Thomas Hayden, .J. A. 
Moore, M. L. Stephe'ns, Revilo Newton and Adam Beatty. Excei)t the 
last named, Ihey were the same as the appointees by the commissioners 
the ]irevious sjjring. Mr. Beatty was chosen in place of E. A. Osborne, 
who had declined a nomination. 

In 1S9S the Rei)ublican reaction, which was so pronounced in the 
state, barely gave thai ]iai'ty a lead in the county, which Stanley carried 
over Leedy for governor hy 27. For Congress the fusioin candidate, 
Ridgley, won by 40. Fnv the county offices the fusion candidates who 
had been elected in 1S!)(> were all again candidates and were everv one re- 



76 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

elected. Uy virtue of his ofilce Comity ^^uperiuteudent Dullisou was 
president of the board of trustees of the county high school, and as bit- 
terly as he was fought on that accou'ut in some of the townships, no less 
ardently was he supported by his townsmen regardless of i)arty. But 
for the fight made on Independence and Independence candidates by the 
anti-high school party, it is hardly prdbable the fusion ticket would have 
been again elected. As it was the Republican candidates for Rejiresenr 
tative, H. W. Conrad, in the western district and F. M. lienefiel in the 
eastern, were both successfiil, as was also D. A. Cline for re-election as 
commissioner in the Coffeyville district. Skidmore carried the county 
again for judge by a majority of 593 over Thos. H. Stanford, of Indepen- 
dence, the fusion candidate. 

The incund)ents of the county offices were all candidates for a second 
term in 1899, with the exception of Commissioner Givens, and they were 
all successful. Squires had only 57 for sheriff and James but 55 for 
county clerk. The former ran against Paxton, who is now a deputy in 
the office, and the latter against MoMurtry who won the clerkship at 
the next election for that office. Perseverance in office-seeking, as in 
everylhing else, counts in the long run. Skinner had Palmer for an op- 
ponent again for the treasury, but it didn't require the official count this 
time to settle the matter, his nuijority being 242. Burke, the only Repub- 
lican in the crowd, ran against P. S. P.runk and had the largest majority 
— 353. For commissionei- in the northern district. X. F. ^'eeder made his 
third race and won his second elettioii, defeating M. L. McCollum by 150. 
AVilson Kincaid, on the Republican ticket, and E. I*. .Vllen. on the fusidn, 
were elected high school trustees, both being Independence men. At 
this time there can be uo question that the county had a normal Repub- 
lican majority, but the attempt of the Republicans to make political cap- 
ital against the fusiouists over the high school issue was still resented, 
and the small vote the Republican candidates received at the county seat 
was I'esjjonsible for their defeat. The conimissionei's submitted at this 
election a projiosition to appro])riate Ij^o.diMl for the erection of addition- 
al buildings at the county poor farm, which was overwhelmingly defeat- 
ed, receiving but 1,294 votes to 2,109 cast against it. 

By the time the Presidential election of 1900 rolled around, the Re- 
])ublicans had regained their hold on ^Montgomery county, and elected 
their full ticket for the first time since 1895. The majorities were not 
large, but ample. lIcKiuley had 218 over Bryan ; \^'ooley, the Prohi- 
bition candidate, received 31 votes; the Socialists appeared for the first 
time in the county returns, Eugene V. Debs getting 19. votes; while Whar- 
ton Barker, as a middle-of-1 he-road Po])ulist, had one lone supporter, 
Henry W. Conrad, one of the jiioneer settlers, who came to the county in 
18(;s, was elected state Senator by 297 votes over -T. II. Wilcox, the fusion 
candidate. H. C. Dooley was elected representative in the eastern dis- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY;, KANSAS. 77 

trict, gi'ttiuji 1,802 votes to 1,G98 cast for G. W. AMngate. In the west- 
ern district J. O. Whistler won, with 1,511 to 1,431 for T. W. Truskett. 
M. B. t^oule, a Cherryvale attorney, was elected probate judge bv 180, 
over E. T. Lewis. L.'l). AYinters beat V,. E. Cole 326 votes for district 
clerk. J. N. Dollison ran for the third time as the fusion candidate for 
superintendent of schools aliid was beaten 130 votes by Sullivan Loniax. 
J. H. I>ana and Mayo Thomas were pitted against each other for county 
attorney, and ]>ana got tlO votes the most. Henry Norton, the fusion can- 
didate fo rconiniissioner, came within four votes of landing, but F. E. 
Taylor was re-elected. J. 51. Courtney and E. D. Leasure were elected 
high school trustees. 

The co'nstitutional amendment inci-easing the number of judges of 
the supreme court from three to seven received a majority of l.'ud in the 
county. 

The year 1901 saw less jiolitics in the county than any other iln its 
entire history. The legislature had enacted a law doing away with 
elections for county oflicers, as far as jiossible, in the odd-numbered 
years, and there were only two county high school trustees and a com- 
missioner in the southern district to elect. A very light vote was east, 
but Abner Green and P. H. Fox, the Kepublican candidates, were elected 
high school trustees, and I>. A. Cline was made commissioner for the third 
time. 

When 1902 came around there was, of course, a full romi)lemeut of 
county officials to elect. Meanwhile the sheriff, treasurer, county clerk 
and register of deeds had held over for an additional year, making a live- 
year term for each of them. This year Kepublican majorities begaiu to ap- 
proach high water mai'k again, the influx of po]>ulation resulting from the 
establishiiient of many manufacturing industries in the cities, having 
very evidently inured to rhe benefit of that jiarly. W. J. P.ailey. the Re- 
publican candidate for governor, came out 580 votes ahead. For con- 
gressman, r. 1'. Campbell, the candidate of that party, led Jackson, the 
Democratic incumbent, (t()5 votes. The majority for judge was even 
greater. For this office T. J. Flannelly, who had been serving by ap])oint- 
ment since the creation of a new district composed of Jlontgomery and 
Labelte couneies. was the Kejiublican candidate. Against him was i)it- 
ted Cajiiain Howard A. Scoii. a veteii; n of the Twentieth Kansas, who 
had served in the I'liilijipines. Flannelly"s majority was (iUO. Soule was 
re-elected probate judge by a majority of 013 votes over G. R. Snelling, 
the fusion candidate. Winters succeeded himself as district clerk, beat- 
ing Roy Haker 810 votes and leading the ticket. Tvomax for county sup- 
erinten(!ent. got a second tern>, running (J!)0 ahead of J. O. Ferguson, his 
Democratic comjietitor. For sheriff. Andy I'ruitl beat S(piire's deputy, 
A. \\". Knotts. 272. -I. W. Howe was elected treasurer over Charles Todd 
by 40!) majority. S. .McM.nrrry ran again for county clerk and led Arley 



^8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Riggs, liis Dpiiiopnitic competitor, 701 votes. For register of deeds an- 
other Philippine soldier. T. J. Stnuib, and the first to get office in the 
county, won over George Hill, his l>emocratic conii>etitor, by a majority 
of 374. Hibbard and Rader, for surveyor and coroner, went in along with 
the rest. For representative in the western district, J. O. Whistler was 
re-elected by 228 over J. A. Wylie. In the eastern district, J. H. Kejth, 
a Cofleyville Democrat, won by 2<» over Dr. T. F. Audress. his Republican 
opponent. The hardest tight was over the office of county attorney, for 
which Dana and Thomas, the candidates of two years previous, were both 
in the race again. Dama had failed so utterly to enforce the prohibition 
law, or to even malve any attempt to do so, and it was so generally under- 
stood that he was in the pay of the violaters of the law. that he ran some 
hundreds behind his ticket, and lost out by just eight votes. For com- 
missioner in the first district, Veeder was a candidate for the fouth time 
and foi- a thii'd term, but he lost by 1»! votes to .John (iivens, who had 
defeated him by a still smaller majority in 1806. This could hardly be 
counted a Republican defeat, however, as there were localities in the dis- 
trict where more Republicans voted for Givens than for Veeder, whose 
record as a bridge builder and a friend of the contractors who had bribes 
to distribute, had tui'ned many of the best nicln in his own party against 
him. 

Such in l)rief is the record of the political history of Montgomery 
county. The catalogue of the men who have held office or been candidates 
in the covJnty is a long one. but the list of men who have been enriched 
fluancially or laid the foundations of a comfortable competency from 
savings out of official salaries is so small that it can be checked off on the 
fingers of one hand. The time, the money and the energy that have been 
devoted to office-sw^king here in the jiast third of a century would cer- 
tainly have told for niore in almost ainv other line of business. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Towns of Montg-omery County 

BY H. w. YorxG. 

Lost Towns 

Among the historic towns of Montgomery county which no longer 
have an abiding jilace on the earth, nor a location on the map, the first 
to be mentioned must be Verdigris t'ity, which was laid out by Captain 
Daniel McTaggart, aind others, in May, 18(>!). Its location was about 
two and a half miles west find half a mile north of the present town of 
Liberty. The farm of Senator H. W. ('onrad now occupies the site of this 
city that was to be, which was the first rounty seat of Montgomery coun- 
ty. It hiid, iicrliaiis. a dozen houses and fortv or fiftv inhabitants in the 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 79 

heyday of its jtiosperity, but it was greater iu expectations tiiau in any- 
tliins else. 

ilontgoinery City comes next in order. It was fonnded near the 
niontli of I>runi Creelc by K. W. Ihinlap, who was an Indian trader there 
and the first ii.)stinaster coniniissidned in tlie connty. It was iu this 
neighliorhood tliat tlie treaty for the cession of tlie Osage lands, which 
opened the coti^nty to white settlement, was ratified on tlie 10th of Sep- 
tember. 1870. This embryo city also had connty seat aspirations; but it 
early became evident to the founders of the towns east of the river that 
to divide their forces was to lose the fight. So the two cities which have 
been mentioned were abandoned while too young to shift for themselves, 
and the jtartisans of both united in locating "Old Liberty" on the hill 
about a quarter of a mile to the east of ^IcTaggart's dam and mill on the 
Verdigris, and just across the road to the east of the residence so long 
occupied by Senator McTaggart, and on whose porch he breathed his last. 

The contest for the location of the county seat was a short one, and 
when Indejiendence won in the district court in ]May. 1870, Goodell Fos- 
ter, who had been he wheel horse in the tight ftn- Liberty, accepted the sit- 
uation among the first and moved to Independence. A few months later 
he traded his corner lots in what was to have been the metropolis of 
Montgomery county, to a Liberty merchant, for four hats of medium 
quality. AVhen the railroad was built down the east side of the county, 
Liberty was moved, houses, uame and everything, to the railroad three 
miles to the southeast, where the jiresent city of Liberty is located. 

As mentioned elsewhere in this volume, when the founders of I nde- 
pendence reached that place they fouud the town of Colfax already laid 
out by George A. Brown, a mile and a half to the northwest. That site 
was at once abandoned in favor of Indejiendence. The only other com- 
petitor Iiide]n(nden<-e ever had on the west side of the river was the 
wholly mythical town of Samaria. which was snjiposed to be somewhere 
in the neighborhood of ^^'alker Mound, and which received the honor of 
a vote at one of the elections as a candidate for county seat. 

Then there was the city of Morgantown. located two and a half miles 
northeast of Independence, about where the school house now stands 
Jn district No. ;'>(i. which is known as the "ilorgantown" school house. 
Here .Morgan P.rothers had a very extensive general store in which they 
had almost everything for sale that could be needed in a pioneer com- 
munity, and there was a blacksmith shop and several houses. Charles 
Morgan, who has been so long since a prominent character at Indepen- 
dence, and who is now city marshal there, was one of the firm That gave 
name to this embryo city. Competition with Indejieudeiice pi'oved too 
strong for the young town. howe\er. and its business was gradually ab- 
sorbed by its rival across the ^■erdigris. 

As a coTinecting link lietween the dead and the lixing towns of the 



80 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

county Radical City, six miles northwest of ludepenileine aii<l half a 
mile north of VAk river, must he mentioned. It was founded in IStiij by 
Colonel Samuel Young, hut it never flourished, and at the best made but 
a rural hamlet, ^^'llen the Missouri Pacific railroad was built in 188(5, 
the station of Larimer was established a little more than a mile to the 
'northeast, across Sycamore creek, and the i)Ostoffice removed to that 
point. Since then Radical City has been fading away. 

ViIIag:es and Postoffices of the County 

Tyro 

Among the villages of the county. Tyro occui)ies a front rank, with a 
bundled buildings of all kinds and about two hundred iieojde. It was 
laid out iln the fall of 1SS((, when the I>enver. Meiniihis & Atlantic rail- 
road was built through the south part of the county, and has been a sta- 
tion on that line ever since. Joseph Lenhart was the founder of the 
town and laid it out. He and William Chambers moved in the spring 
of 1887 on the town site from a quarter of a mile south, Lenhart estab- 
lishing a general store near the depot, and Chambers locating his hotel 
in the same vicinity. Lenhart's store has ever since been the largest mer- 
cantile establishment of the jilace. There are now four other stores, a 
lumber yard, meat nuirket, barber shop, restaurant, feed mill, livery 
stable and three blacksmith shops. There are also two physicians, three 
or four grain buyers. cari)enters, ])ainters and other mechanics. 

The (juestion of a hall for public entertainments and religious meet- 
ings early agitated the people and it was solved by the donation of a site 
by Ml', and Mrs. Leidiai't in the following unique document: 
To all whom it m;iy concern : 

Know all men by these presents that we, Joseph Lenhart and S. D. 
lenhart, husband and wife, do covenant and agree with the people of 
Tyro and vicinity, in the county of Montgomery, and state of Kansas, that 
lots Nos. 2:2, 28 and 24. in block 42 in the village of Tyro, county and state 
aforesaid, as jier rec(n-de<l jdat thereof, shall forever (or S(t long as it may 
be used for such jiurposes) be for the use and services of the said people 
of Tyi'o and vicinity; together with the buildings thereon; for the pur- 
pose of holding public meetings, either moral, social, religious, scien- 
tific or political; we only reserving control and alloting to each a time of 
service; i)ledging ourselves to maintain ecpuil and exact justice to all re- 
gar<lless of creeds or beliefs, in accordance with our best judgment. 

Signed: — Tosi:i'n r^ExiiAur, S. D. Lenhart. 

The funds for a buihling were raised by public subscri])tions, and 
among the novel methods employed was a quilt scheme which brought i'n 
flic for natnes worked on it. and |18G more when it was sold. Tlie cor- 
ner stone was laid June 27th, 18!)4, and the dedicatory services were con- 
ducted by the Miisonic lodge of Canev, Kansas. This hall is used bv all 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 81 

file n'li<>ious societies jiiiil otiier oi-gniiizat ions of llu' villiijio. to ilie num- 
ber of seven. 

Tyro is principally famous for its excellent soft water, its supply 
bei'ng thought superior to that of any other locality in Kansas. This 
water is found in abundance at a depth of from six to ten feet in the high- 
er part of town, and from twenty to twenty-flve feet in the lower. 

Jefferson 

Jefferson on the Missiuii Pacific railroad midway between Indepeii- 
dence and Coffeyville, has a population of sixty-five. It was laid out 
when llie Vei-digris Valley. Indepeindence & Western railway was built 
in 1SS(!, on ground owned liy Ailiert Jefferson I'.roadbent, who cbmated the 
right of way to the railway on condition that a station lie maintained 
there. The place was named Jefferson in honor of Mr. Broadbent. The 
land o'n which the town is built was originally a part of a claim settled 
on by I']. M, Wheeler in ISC!). He built a hewed log house on it, and had 
lumber for fencing sixty acres of land i)iled near the house and on March 
1st following the survey, he m<ived in and began to make a home. That 
night a rival claimant, who had been sui-veyed in the same section, set fire 
to Wheeler's log cabin, tlii'iiking to get jiossession of the tract in that 
way. It happened that Mr. ^^■lleeler and his brother, (ieorge R.. were in 
the house at the time, though the incendiary did not know it. They es- 
caped with only one jiair of trousers for the two. and the former went 
across the ])rairie with no clothing but a shirt, falling into a mud hole 
by the way. Wheeler later traded the land to ('. ('. Wheeler, of Troy, Kan- 
sas, who, in ISS:?, .sold it to Mr. Broadbent. 

The town was surveyed j.'nd platted by B. W. DeCourcey. The first 
store was opened by Fletcher & Stent'/,. The first churi'h was built by 
the Methodists in ISSo, and is now credited with a membership of 113. 
The (Miristian church was built in 1S04 and has a membership of 40. The 
school house was built in 1!)(I0, at a cost of |2,.50fl, and is a modern "build- 
ing heated with gas and cajiable of accomodating 100 pupils. Two teach- 
ers are employed. The M. ]■]. ])arsonage for the -Teft'erson circuit is located 
here. 

There are two general stores, a hotel, a blacksmith, a resident physi- 
cian, a grain buyer i.'nd a stock ship])er. There is neither saloon nor drug 
store. The railroad station was burned in 100:2. and a new and well 
equi|>])ed one has just been completed in its place, with telegraph opera- 
tor for the first time in the history of the village. 

Mr. Wheeler, who is mentioned above as the jiioneer .settler, now lives 
across the railroad to the east of the village where he is growing the finest 
and biggest red strawberries to be found i-n the county. 

Bolton 
l!olt<iii is a ]ilace of some twenty dwellings and abint a hundred in 
habitants, located on the Independence & Southwestern line of the Santa 



82 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Fe railroad, eifjht miles southwest of tUe county seat. It was laid out 
when the railroad was built in 188(i. by the Arka'nsas Valley Land and 
Town (/onipauy. There are two churches, three stores, a blacksmith shop, 
a wagon shop, and a resident physician. Bolton is central to the great- 
est oil and gas field yet discovered in Montgomery county, and the work 
of drilling is being prosecuted mure vigorously there than at any other 
point in tlie county. Six gas wells, not one of them of less than ten mill- 
ion cubic feet daily cai)acity. were ojiened there in 1!)(I2 and 11)03. and 
all of them give indications of oil as well as gas. 

Sycamore 
Sycamore is another raidroad town located when the Missouri Pa- 
cific, or Verdigris Valley. Independence & Western railroad, as it was 
then named, was built through the county. It is just seven miles directly 
north of Ilndependence. and is a growing place with good stores. Two 
vitrified brick jilants located in its immediate vicinity afford a founda- 
tion on which to build hojies of future greatness, (ias is abundant in the 
towiishi]). and it is claimed that veins of coal from three to eleven feet 
dee]i have been found wherever the drill has gone down in the surrouUid- 
ing townshij) of the same name. Oil wells have also been found in the 
vicinity, though no oil is yet shipped. Indeed it is claimed that one such 
well is a forty barrel producer. 

Wayside, Bearing and Crane 
A^'ayside is a station and iiostottice between Bolton and Havana on 
the Southwestern. Dearing is a station and hamlet five miles west of 
Poffeyville on the Denver. ^Ieni]>his i^t Atlantic division of the Missouri 
I'aciflc. and the jioint of junction wilh the main line runining north. It 
has a )K)stoftice and store, ("rane is a station on the Southern Kansas 
division of the Santa Fe. five miles northwest of Independence. It has a 
postoffice and coiitntry store. 

Havana 

Havana was founded in the summer of ISTO, when Lines & Cauffmau 
established a general store there. They were preceded by Callow & Myers 
who went into business in the fall of 18(>9. in the same neighborhood, on 
whiit afterward became the David Dalby farm. Lines & Cauffmau con- 
tinued in bnsiiness until the sjjring of 1S74 when they sold to W. T. 
Bishop. He disposed of the business in IST.'J to .1. T. Share. Havana con- 
tinued to thrive as a country trading jiost. without a railroad until 1886, 
when the Southwestern extension of the Southern Kansas line of the San- 
ta Fe was built through there. It now has a population of 180 and is 
the ship])ing point for a large amount of grain and live stock from the 
surrounding country. The fertile valley <>f Bee creek adjoins the town, 
and forms one of the best wheat sections of the county. 

Havana has three church organizations, the Methodist and T''nited 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 83 

Bi'ethren with a hundred iiienibei-s each, and the Primitive Baptists with 
about twenty members. There is a g;raded school, with two departments. 
The Indeiiendent Order of Odd Felhiws has a strong;' oiganization with 83 
mend)ers. Tliis order l)uilt ;uid owns a substantial l)rick store building, 
with l()d<j;e rcMinis and hall en the second floor. The Kebekah lodge has 
SO members; the Modern Woodmen of America, sixty; and the Ilonie 
Builders, thirty; the Royal Neijihbors, forty-three; and the Anti-IIorse 
Thief Association, fifty. 

The oldest merchant is T. R. Pittman. the postmaster, who conducts 
a hardware and im]ilement and boot and shoe store. He has been in bus- 
iness here for eighteen years. Other business men are: P.H.Lindley, drug 
store; J. A. Nollsch, barber and harness shoj); S. A. Evans, restaurant; 
C. E. Campbell, hotel; C. X. Harrison, lumber; M> H. Ross, livery stable; 
P. H. Dalby and D. W. Howell, ])liysicians; and .J. 8. Reyburu and John 
Rharpless, blacksmith shojis. 

Independence and Its History 

lu all southeastern Kansas there is no other city whose location pos- 
sesses so many advantages as does that of Independence. Built at a 
jjoint where the bluffs come close to the Verdigris, and have a solid foun- 
dation in the "Independence limestone." which outcrops forty feet thick 
at the river bridge just east of the city, the site selected for the future 
metropolis is high and well drained, and sufliciently rolling to render 
the scenery picturescine, while furnishing tine natural drainage. Possess- 
ing so many advantages, and lying so near the geographical center of 
Montgomery county, it was almost inevitable that the city should be- 
come the county seat of the new county. And this was of cour.se what the 
compaiiy of Oswego men wIkj came here on the i!lst of August, 1869, 
under the lead of R. W. ^^'rigllt. intended from the start it should become. 
Indeed, they made no secret of tliis intention but boldly proclaimed it on 
the lirst night they spent here when cami)ing out at Bunker's cabin, 
which was located on what is now the Pugh fanuly home on North Ninth 
street. This is one of the highest points in the city and was then, and for 
some time afterwiird, known as "IJunker Hill." 

Sjieaking about this cabin of Frank Bunker's, in a Historical Sketch 
of ^Montgomery county delivered as a Fourth of July address in 1876, the 
late E. E. Wilson, who was the leading historian of the piOneer days of 
the county and from whose writings we shall have occasion to draw very 
liberally in the jtreparation of this chajiter, says, that at that time Bunker 
com](lained that the cabin, "instead of being treasured up in canes, base 
ball clubs, ear rings and jiulpils. like other land marks, has been prosti- 
tuted to the vile instincts of domestic fowls and beasts that perish." In 
other words it had been converted into a hen roost and cow stable. 

Besides Frank Bunker, the other earlv settlers in the vicinitv of In- 



84 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 




MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURT HOUSE, LOCATED AT iNDEPENDENCE 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 85 

dependence were his brcitlier. Fred I'.unker, W. O. Sylvester, Paddy Gil- 
Inla and George Reed, all of whom are said to have come in June 1860. 
The first claimants to any part of the original townsite of rndependence 
were Frank Hnnker. Shell Reed and W. (). Sylvester. P.nnker was in- 
duced afterward to move the lines (if his claim so as to make room to plat 
the city, and "Hunker's Addition" to the northwest of the city was one 
of the lirst. and probably the tirst addition to the '-ity. 

While the United States government did not cdnclude a treaty with 
the Osage Indians for a cession of their lands in this county until July 
1870, individual settlers had been making treaties with the red skins for 
larger or smaller tracts of land for a coujile of years jirevious, and, in 
September 1800, George A. Brown, after a jirotracted council, coincluded 
and solemnized an agreement for the cession to him. of a tract of land 
lying between Rock Creek on the south and Elk river on the north, the 
Verdigris river on the east and Walker and Table ^Mounds on the west. 
I'rolKiblly, at that time.Prown had no idea that the whole of the tract to 
which he thus acquired an irregular and not exactly legal title would be- 
come the site of the CJreater Independence of the future — and there are 
plenty of people today who do not yet see that this entire territory is 
bound to be covered by the city and its suburbs during the first half of the 
twentieth century. The region embraced is an irregular one, about five 
miles long by as 7nany wide, and embraces very nearly twenty-five square 
miles of land. For this tract, a sihigle acre of which now has a land 
value of over .fli.'i.dOO, Urown paid the munificent sum of '$'>(). The stipu- 
lations of the treaty were few and plain. Each jiarty bound itself to pro- 
mote peace between the two races. Rrown was to build all the houses he 
wanted, and Chetopa, the Indian chief who took the i)art of grantor, was 
to have free pasturage for his ponies. Finally. Ghetopa began to count 
the houses that were going uji on this tract ;'Jnd to estimate what his rev- 
enue W(mld have bwn at the customary rax of !$.5.00 each. He came to 
the conclusion that he had been swindled, and asked Itrown for a new 
council to rescind the treaty. Rrown was e(inal to the occasion and pic 
tured in glowing terms v.hat the immaculate word and unstained hc*nor 
of a great Indian warrior required in the observance of svidi sacred and 
binding f>bligations, demanding, if it were iiossible. that he would for- 
ever disgrace hiniself and his tribe by going back on his plighted woirJ. 
Still, Chetoi)a insisted that there were too many houses, and that his 
])eople were being imposed upon. The u])shot of the matter was a further 
stipulation; that the fi")(l already paid should exemi)t tlie town, and that 
the settlers outside might pay him f?>.00 jier claim in addition. 

While the Oswego jieople brought the name "Independence" with 
them all ready to a]q)ly to their county seat that was (o be. they found 
u competitor in the town of "Colfax," which Geo. A. P.rown had already 
laid out, a mile or more to the northwest, where the lirst city cemetery 



86 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

was afterward located by Mayor DeLoug. At the age of three weeks this 
town was already provided with a full ecinipment of streets and alleys 
and heginning to take rank among the towns of the county. After 
looking the ground over on the day following their arrival. Brown was 
persuaded to abandon Colfa.x; and cast his fortunes with the Independence 
party. With a pocket compas. a survey of the town site was made by 
Cajitain Haniner, E. K. Trask, Frank Bunker and one or two others, which 
approximately determined the Iioundaries of the city that was to be. 

For a time we can do no better than to follow Mr. Wilson's narra- 
tives as closely as may be. He says: '•Returning to Oswego they organ- 
ized the Independence Town Company, contracted for the publication of 
the "Independence Pioneer," for the location of a saw-mill and for the 
carrying of a weekly mail from Oswego. A week later L. T. Stephenson 
returned to nuinage the liusiuess of the com])any and began the erection 
of a double log hotel, known as the "Judson House." In September a cele- 
bration was held, the main feature of which was a barbecue. Speeches 
were nmde by E. R. Trask. R. W. Wright and L. T. Stephenson. All the 
settlers in the vicimity, perhaps one hundred in number, were congre- 
gated. The refreshments consisted of the ox, four kegs of beer and two 
barrels of bread. They were brought from Oswego by J. N. DeBruler's 
ox team. In crossing the Verdigris the team became unmanageable and 
dumjied the whole outfit into the river. No time was lost in fishing it out, 
and of course especial care was taken to save the beer, which came out 
undamaged. 

.AlHUit October 1st, 1860, E. E. Wilson and F. D. Irwin opened a 
store, having received their tirst invoice of goods, by wagon, from Fon- 
tana, Miami county, which was as near as the railroad then ran. Custom- 
ers were infrequent in those early days and the projirietors employed their 
leisure in nuiking hay, where is now the intersection of Main street and 
I'enn. avenue. Lumber was scarce before the saw-mills got to running, 
and none was to be got nearer than Oswego. But the crop of hay was 
immense, and the pioneers busied themselves in the erection of hay houses 
in which they found very comfortal)le shelter during the winter, and which 
gave the city its tirst nickname "Hay town." 

In October 18(>9, too, R. S. Parkhurst, better known as "Uncle Sam- 
my," arrived from Indiana with a colony of eighteen families thereby 
doubling the pojnilation of the town. These provided themselves with 
hay houses also. And it is worthy of note that of all the sixty-niners 
who laid the foundations of this growing city. Mi'. Parkhurst and O. P. 
Gamble are the only ones still living here. Although at an advanced 
age Mr. Parkhurst is still hale and hearty and is taking a most active 
interest in every movement for the ujibuilding of the city and its indus- 
tries. Since the beginning of the present year he made a talk in a public 
meeting at the Auditorium, telling something about those early days, in 



HISTORY OF MONTCOMICRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 8/ 

which he stated that he iiev(>i- then expected to see Independence become 
what she is today, but at the same time unhesitatinoly affirmed that he 
now exiierted to live to see lier with a hundred thousand jiopulation. 

On the 10th of November ISC.il, Alexander Waldschmidt reached In- 
dependence with his saw mill. Immediately Carpenter & Crawford locat- 
ed east of town on the Allison farm, and A. L. Ross at the mouth of Elk 
river. All were runninn; in December, but Carpenter & Crawford sawed 
the first lumber. Their enterprise may be inferred from the fact that 
for the first week they carried water in pails from the river to run their 
engine. Mr. Waldschmidt was very enterjirising and jtrovedoneof themost 
important factors in the building of the town. He erected the first grist- 
mill in the county, on the river just above the site of the present ice fac- 
tory, and began grinding grain there in the fall or winter of 1871. He 
also made the first shijiment of flour from the county. While all the other 
north and south streets of the city bear numbers, the one next the river 
is named "Waldschmidt Avenue." in his honor. 

The story of the struggle for the location of the county seat is re- 
ferred to elsewhere in this history, and need not be detailed again heret 
From the first a majority of the iieoi)le of the county favored Indepen- 
dence, and it was only a (juestion of time when their will should be 
obeyed. At the election in Novendier ISCll. the first vote was taken, and it 
was only by throwing out the northern jirecinct, known as Drum Creek, 
on a technicality, that a majority was secured for Liberty, by the east 
side board of commissioners then in office. This was the first backset In- 
dependence received, and, though shi> has had them in plenty since, she 
has always done as she did then — buckled on her armor and fought it out 
on that line. And in almost every instance, she lias won in the end, as she 
did the following May in the courts, and the following November at the 
polls, in the county seat fight. 

Unfortunately our State Historical Society did not begin business 
until 187.5. and jirior to that date newspajier files aie not accessible, and 
onlv occasional cojiies of lnde])en(lence newspapers of earlier dates have 
been preserved. Indeeil, the burning of the office of the ■'Independence 
Tribune," with its files, in February 1883, and of the ••Indei>endence 
Star," with the files of the earlier issues of the ••Independence Kansan," 
in December 1884, I'esulted in a loss of material for early history that is 
not only irreparable but well nigh inc-alculable. The first newspaper 
published in Independence was the "Independence Pioneer," of which one 
of the first, if not the first, copy issued, bearing date November 27th, 1809, 
and another dated January 1st, 187(1, are to be found in the collection at 
Topeka, but no others. In the former issue most of the business cards are 
of Oswego firms, but among the Independence advertisers are Wilson & 
Irwin's grocery and Ualstin & Sleiihenson's real estate, insiirance and gen- 
eral convevancint' ofiice. In the latti-r we note that Ralstin & Coventry are 



88 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

in tlic liiirdware business at Independence; Allison & Bell, general mer- 
ohandise ; r>r. Swallow, dry floods, provisions and groceries ; Chas. Wise, 
furniture; Chas. Coventry, drugs and groceries; Brown & Risburg and 
Knokle & DeBruler, meat markets. At Westralia, Crawford & MtCue an- 
nounce themselves as attorneys at law and land agents. 

The "Pioneer" was printed at Oswego until some time in Jaunary 
1870. when it became, in fact as well as in name, an Independence insti- 
tution, and was furnished with an outfit of tyi)e and a press here. In one 
of its earlier issues it tells an interesting story about a pioneer settler in 
the neighborhood of Independence who was living in a log house and 
whose wife woke him one night to startle him with the information that 
the baby was gone. Lighting a candle and making a search, no trace of it 
could be found in the cabin, but on going out do()rs it was discovered ly- 
ing on the ground unhurt and fast alseej). having rolled out of bed be- 
tween the logs thai formed one side of the cabin. 

In its editorial column, the "Pioneer" had begun the work, in which 
we arc still engaged, of booming Independence and Montgomery county; 
and fiom the issue of January 1st, 1870, the following forecast is worth 
quoting: 

"The valley of the Verdigris river, which but a few months ago was 
only visited by Indian traders occasionally, is now teeming with intelli- 
gent, enterprising immigrants from the eastern and northern states; and 
settlements and towns have sprung up as if by magic. Supplied, as the 
vallev is, with abundance of timber for fencing, its vast quarries of white 
and brown sandstone for building jmrposes, and its inexhaustible beds 
of exc(Mlent coal — it does not re(|uire a very vivid imagimition to picture 
a future exceeding in brilliancy the past history of western improvement. 

Indei)endence is growing. Forty frame buildings have been erected in 
as many days since our saw mills have been turning out lumber. The work 
of building has went (sic) on right merrily, and substantial frame build- 
ings have taken the ])lace of booths, huts and hay houses that a few weeks 
ago were scattered promiscuously over our townsite. Four months ago 
the tall i)rairie grass waved where today are scores of buildings and the 
scenes of busy life. To one unused to the rapid growth of the west it 
would seem the work of magic." 

Nothing here, it will be observed, about natural gas, vitrified brick, 
cement ]ilants, rolling mills, win<low glass factories, pa]>er mills, electric 
railways, four story ^fasonic Tenqdes. or .Ifdd.OOO hotels. So. ever does 
the reality surpass the most enthusiastic dreams in a developing civi- 
lization. 

The fii'st school house in Indejiendence was built in the winter of 
1860-70, and was dedicated A])ril Kith, 1870, with literary exercises 
which arc said to have l)een of unusual merit. The school was opened 
April L'lst. with Miss Mary Walker, the first female teacher in the county, 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 89 

in chai'S'o. The building' was afterward remodeled and occniiied by the 
Uniled lirethren chnrch. The first teadiers' institute in tiie county was 
held at Vandiver's Hall in the snniiiier of 1871), and was conducted by 
I'rof. r.oles. 

In the fall of lS()fl the first Sunday scliool was organized in the hay 
house of Mrs. McClung. The first sermon was jireached by T. Hi. ("anfield 
in the same house. Rev. J. J. Brown organized the First Presbyterian 
church of Iiide])endence April o, 1S7(I. and the Methiidist and Iiaj)tist 
churches were oiganized the same month. The Baittists erected the first 
church building, whicli was dedicated .March 12th. ISTl. Kev. Mr. Atkin- 
son, of (Jswego, officiating. 

About February 1870, R. W. ^^'right addressed a meeting at Wilson 
& H'win's store in advocacy of an east and west railroad. On the first 
day of June 1870. the jieople greeted the arrival of the stage coach from 
Oswego. The story of the voting of |200,(100 in bonds to enable the county 
to make a subscription of stock to the same amount to the Leavenworth, 
Lawrence & (ialveston railroad comjiany, which was the second among 
the many adverse events in the history of our city, is elsewhere told. 

I ntil along in 1870, says W. H. Watkins, in his sketch of the city's 
history j)ublished in the "Independence Kansau" on January 2, 1878, the 
principal part of the business was transacted on Penn. Avenue, between 
Laurel and Myrtle streets, or north of the present location of Baden's 
store. The road, as travelled, did not follow the avenue south of that 
point but shot across lots from Mfrtle to Main, reaching the latter at the 
corner of Sixth, where Zutz' grocery now stands. The merchants then in 
business on the north side of .Main street found it necessary to have their 
signs over their back doors. To the nortli of the crossing of Main street 
and Penn. Avenue was a quagmiie. and loaded teams frequently stalled 
there. 

.Mail facilities were meager during the first winter in "Haytown,"' 
and llie government did not act as i>rom])tly in establishing a ]K)stoftice 
as it has since, in the Indian Territory on similar occasions. While the 
county seat was at Verdigris City, it is said that the jtostage on letters 
brought in varied from ten to twenty-five cents, according to the state of 
the weather: but at Independence a service was arranged from Oswego, 
L. T. Ste])henson being the first carrier, and the charge being uniformly 
ten cents straight. He was succeeded by M. L. Hickey, and he by J. C. 
^^'oodrow. wli > (-allied the mail until the advent of the stage coaih. At 
first letters in and (mt were charged tor alike, but later the only charge 
was for those brought in. One poor fellow thoughtlessly wrote a line to 
a Boston paper telling about the new lOlDorado here in southern Kansas, 
and his next nmil cost him two dollars. When the mail arrived, there 
was a loll-call of the letters and each man stood ready with his fractional 
currency to pay i>(:st;'.i;e on his letters. 



tgo HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

On the 1st day of July, 1870, the people greeted the arriviil of the first 
istage coach from Oswego, and ou the first of July F. I). Irwiu was 
appointed postmaster at a salary of $l"J.(l(l per year. At the ju'esent time 
the salary of the postmaster is $l!,o(M), and the payroll of the office, in- 
cluding the salaries of four city and tive rural delivery carriers, amounts 
to im.liaO per annum. 

The Fourth of July 187(1, was appropriately celebrated in a grove 
south of town on Rock creek. Nearly 20(1 ])co]ile were present, and Cap- 
tain M. S. ISell was the orator of the day. 

On the liotli of July 1870, J. 1>. I'nierson, as jirobate judge, in accord- 
ance with the ])etition of a majority of the voters, incorporated the place 
under the style of "the inhabitants of the town of Independence," and 
appointed the following board of trustees: E. E. Wilson, -J. H. rugh ,J. E. 
Donlavy, R. T. Hall and (). V. Smart. Of this first governing body of the 
city, O. P. Smart, alone, is still a resident here. They met the next day 
■and oiganized by electing R. T. Hall, chairman; and on the l.jtli of Sep- 
tendtei' they apixiinted J. P.. Craig as clerk. Their first or<linance pro- 
vided that the bt)ard should meet on the second Tuesday of each month. 
They next decreed that all sidewalks on Main street and Penn. Avenue 
should be twelve feet wide. The third nuide it unlawful to drive any ani- 
mal of the horse or mule kiiui through the streets faster than a trot, or 
more than seven miles an hour. The fourth prohibited gaiiiiiig-tables and 
all devices for playing games of chance, also bawdy houses and brothels. 

On the 16th of November 1871. the trustees voted to accept the pro- 
visions of the act governing cities of the third class. Immigrants had 
come in rapidly during the spring and summer, and on Novemlier 2!)th, a 
little more than fifteen months from the time the town was laid out, a 
<-ount was made of SdO people. On the date named an election for city 
officers was held, J. B. Craig was elected the first mayor, receiving 03 
votes to 89 cast for E. E, ^yilson. The councilmeu elected at the same 
time were: A. Waldschmidt, Thomas Stevenson, W, T. Bishop, F. I). Ir- 
win and G. H. Brodie. Irwin failed to qualify and ou December Sth, 
Goodell Foster was appointed to serve in his place. On the same date 
William Hendrix was appointed the first marshal of the young city, and 
Councilmen ^^■aldscllmidt and Bisho]) were made a committee to draw up 
plans for a city prison, while the task of drawing up a set of ordinances 
s\-as confided to Mr. Foster. 

On the 5th of January 1871, I'rentis & Warner were authorized to 
erect hay scales in the street north of Pugh's drug store. This is, per- 
liaps, the only business house then in existence, which, in all the thirty- 
two years that have since elapsed, has changed neither its name, its busi- 
ness nor its location, "Pugh's Drug Store" being still located at the south- 
seast corner of Penn. Avenue and Laurel streets. At this meeting the first 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 9I 

drain shop license recorded was granted to Henrv Kaiser, who was to pay 
a fee of foO for a ])eriod of six niontlis. 

On the 2od of Jaunar.v, tlie city ]irinliiig was awarded to the "Kansas 
Democrat," which was published by .Martin Vanlluren IJennett. at the 
rate of three cents a line. On February 2, Mr. Hishoj) was appointed a 
committee to see about dee])ening the two piiblic wells. The work was 
done by Lewis & Mossman. who were paid |.52.08 for going down 29 feet 
in one of them. On the 2()th of Febi-nary, it was ordered that a well be 
sunk at the corner of Laurel stnuH and I'enn. Avenue. 

JLirch 30th, L'^71, C M. Kalstin as city clerk reported a po|iulation of 
1,382 souls. On the same day John J. Jack was licensed to keep a gro- 
cery and sell beer, on payment of .f2o.(KI and the giving of a |2.(I(I0.00 
bond. On the same date JL A. Jimmerson was granted a dram shop li- 
cense. Hy this time the wants of the tliirsty must have been pretty well 
provided for, \\ itli three jiublic wells and as many saloons. 

The city election held .Vjiril ")th. ISTl. resulted in the choice of E. E. 
Wilson as mayor and J. E. Donlavy as police judge, aiid on the following 
day J. r>. Emerson was appointed city clerk and T. 1'. Trouvelle, city 
marshal. The first record of a jirohibition sentiment ajijiears on Septem- 
ber l.'ith. when Judsoii & Saylor and H. Vanderslice apjilied for permis- 
sion to sell liquor, jireseuling ])etiti(>ns signed by 130 jieojde. and a remon- 
strance signed by another i;'>0 ])eople was presented at the same time. 
Notwithstanding the remonstrance, the licenses were granted, Councilmen 
Waldschmidt and Gray voting aye and Bishop no. December 7th, Good- 
ell Foster resigned as city attorney and Colonel Daniel tilrass was aj)- 
])ointed to succeed him. Three weeks latei', on the 2!tth, Grass resigned 
and J. I>. ^feCue was a]>]iointe(l. .Vmong other citizens who afterward 
became prominent here and elsewhere, who were honored with appoint- 
ments to this ottice, were \\'illiam Munkiii, (ieorge ('handier and (ieorge 
K. J'eck. 

In 1S71 the title of the Independence Town ('oni]iany, which was re- 
s]»onsible for tlie existence of the lity and to whom it owed so much, 
began to be seriously (piestioned. and for the next year the matter was 
ke|)1 jirominently to the front. I'.etween the sjiring of 1871 and that of 
1872 the growth of the city was most rapid. Two hundred houses were 
built and the population rose from one thousand to twenty-three hundred. 
This was more than the entire gain during the succeeding ten years, and 
made the period a marked <nu> in the history of the young city. In the 
summer of 1871 the Town ('om|)aiiy was losing ground i-ijiidly. The lot 
so long (K-cupied by Jasper cS; lioniface as a meat market was jum])ed by 
them during that summer, and a building started. The title to this lot 
was held by a man at Fort Scott by certificate from the Town ("omiiany. 
but those interested in maintaining the titles of this company assend)led 
and hitched a cou])le of yoke of oxen to the building, drove the carpenters 



92 HISTORY OF MONTriOMERY COt'XTY, KAXSAS. 

off and ](niii;illy liiuiled the buildiiifi into the street. It was, however, tlie 
hist show of vigoi- on the jtarf of tlie Conijianv. Its influence was on the 
wane, and hits were soon beinji taken everywhere, rejjardless of its warn- 
ings. Houses began to l)e built on wheels and hauled on to vacant lots at 
night, or the}" were claimed by some other act of occupancy. After the 
defeat of the conii)any, the good work it liad done for the city was fully 
recognized, and, wi-iting of it in 1S7S, W. H. ^^'atkins says: "It is of the 
past and the time has come to acknowledge the good work it did. Its ob- 
ject has been grandly attained tint the benefits have inured to others. It 
■entered into politics, met with success and disaster and came to its end in 
litigation. It dug wells, built houses, established a newsi)ai)er and by its 
wise jiolicy induced jieople to locate here." 

Following the \'oting of county bonds in aid of the r>(>aven\vorth. Law- 
rence & (lalveston railroad, in -lune 1870, which was accomplislied by the 
most unblushing fraud, that road was built down the east line of the 
county in July 1<S71, and a great many peo]>le thought that a death blow 
had been struck at the new city. Its people were not made of the stuff' to 
be easily discouraged, though, and from the very day that it was decided 
that the road should be built there they went to work to secuie a line from 
Cherryvale. Committee follo\\'ed committee in rapid succession, and re- 
ceived from the i-ailroad officials the same courteous treatment and ac- 
complished the same barren results. So anxious were the people, that, 
during this time, it was jirivately hinted by an employee of the company 
that ;i cash contribution of four thousand dollars and one hundred town 
lots, in addition to the ?7,.'")(l(l per mile in bonds, would secure the branch 
beyond question. The town lote were selected and individual notes to 
the amount required were placed in the hands of J. H. ("raig and E. E. 
Wilson. After a whole round of failures, Frank Bunker, M. L). Henry 
and Charles W. Prentiss succeeded. This was late in 1871, and the de- 
mand was so urgent that a bond in the sum of .|.50.000 was signed by a 
majority of the voters as a guarantee that the bonds would be voted so 
that the work might begin at once. An election was held Sept. 3(»th, and 
.|2o,(l(M» in bonds voted. Frank Bunker, by a generous donation of land, 
secured the location of the depot on his premises, and the road became 
Tsnown as "Bunker's Plug." The railroad was built in December 1871, 
and the first train of cars whistled into Independence on New Year's 
day 1872. The terniius remained here for seven years — until 1879 — mak- 
ing this a wholesale point for the sujjply of the entire southern Kansas 
trade for a hundred miles to the west and contributing very materially to 
the growth and jirosperity of the city. 

.\ word more is fitting in regard to Frank Bunker, whose name will 
be indissolnbly connected with the early history of the city and who, per- 
haps, did more than anyone else to i)romote its welfare in those pioneer 
davs. He died at Andover, Massachuesetts, on the 12th of August 187(i, 



HISTORY OF MOXTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 93 

In i\ii oliitinirv notice shortly after tliat flatc, tlic "Iiuleppiulcncc Kansaii" 
said: "Hnt little lia]i]iene(l in wliicli Frank was not consulted t>v did not 
take an acti\e ])art. Ills vivacity, brilliant wil .dash and droll anecdotes 
made liiin soujil't after in society, ^^'hen disposed, few men were more 
entertaining' than he could be- and none was warmer hearted." And E. E. 
Wilson says of him in his history of the county: "Frank Bunker was a 
man ol some rare native talents and. in some directions, of fine culture. 
.\ iialural musician, an easy and bi'illiant writer, in conversation he del- 
Ufied his liearei-s with soni; and st-)ry. His fund of humor was rich and 
his witticisms truly a bonanza. His lon<;- continued ill health had mad(> 
him whimsical and, at times, very irritable, but withal Frank was a fjen- 
ial fellow and a generous friend. After travelling from the Pacific to the 
sIku'cs of Africa in a vain searcli for health he died in ^lassachusetts in 
the autum of ISTCi." 

l>uring the year \S7'2. Indejiendence and Montgomery county were in 
the li(>y(lay of their e.nrly iirosjKU'ity and enjo.\ing what is known as a 
■•boom." E. E. \'\'ilson had been the second mayor the previous year, as he 
was the first storekeeper in 180!). and was followed in that ottice by James 
DeLoiig. formerly consul at Tangiers. Morocco, and a niost eccentric char- 
acter. So soured v.as he with the world that we who knew him only in his 
later years invariably refeired to him as the "chronic growler." It was 
during his administration that the i'enio\al of the Osage District Land 
Oltice to this city occurred. S[)eaking of the removal of this oltice from 
ISumboldt to Neodesha. in December 1IS71, Mr. Wilson says: "On the Sth 
of December the I'nited States hand Office jjassed on its way from Hum- 
boldt to Neodesha. As it i)assed down Main street and north on the aven- 
ue it was not a very imjiosing i)ageant. but its intrinsic value of .f 10, 0(10. 00 
was determined before it passed the limits of the to\\n." If the Xeod<>sha 
jteople ]iaid that much to secure it they made a very poor bargain, for, no 
hiter than March I'tjth, iS7'2, the same office was opened for business in In- 
dejiendence, where it remained until discontinued by order of President 
Cleveland in the spring of 1885. The means used to secure its removal 
to this city are detailed in another chapter of this book, devoted to Sen 
a tor York's betrayal of Senator Pomeroy. The city council apjiropi-iated 
.*:!.(IO(>.(l(l to secure the land office, but of this amount it was foun(l neces- 
sary to sjiend only $1.!I00, and even this small fraction of an "intrinsic 
\i\hv? of .*l(I.O()(r" would not have been paid, so it is said, by DeLong's 
economical administration, had it not been that "the town site was hang- 
ing in the land office." 

After its location here, the otlicers of the land office were P. P>. Max- 
on. register; and M. W. Reynolds, receiver. The subseipient registers 
were W. W. .Martin. .M. J. Sailer and ('. .V. Kalstin. The receivers were: 
!•:. S. Xichols, H. M. Waters and H. W. Young. 

In .March 1882. there was found hei-e a jioiiulation of 2.:>00. and the 



94 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

governor was jietitioned to make Indejiendence a citr of the second class, 
wliicli lie did by proclamation on ilarcli 2(ltb. The followinj;- day the city 
was divided into four wards, with the saniehoiindaricsastodayexceptthat 
the liftli ward has since been carved out of the second. The first election 
tinder the new title was held April 3th, when James DeLon<^' was elected 
mayor, receiving 44.5 votes to 14(i for L. T. Stephenson. Osborn Shannon, 
DeLong's son-in-law, was elected police judge; T. P. Trouvelle, marshal: 
•I. I. ('rouse, treasurer; and A. r>. (libson. justice of the peace. The first 
board of education was elected at the same time, and it is noteworthy 
that two of its mc-mbers, ^Mrs, .i. M. Ne\ins and Mrs. H. T. Millis, from tho 
first ward, were the first women elected to office in the city. The mem- 
bers of the council elected at the same time were J. M. Xevins, Wm. Daw- 
son, S. A. Wier, .John Beard, .John Kerr, J. Moreland, Joseph Bloxani and 
E. T. ^Fears. Of these six. Dawson and Mears still reside here. 

Ajnil (ith. owing to the ]irevalenie of small ]>ox. wholesale vaccination 
Avas ordered and the following physicians ajipointed to do the work: For 
the first ward. Dr. Miisterman ; for the second ward, l»r. Thrall; for the 
third ward, Dr. McCuUey; for the fourth ward. Dr. Miller. 

The year 1872 was one of the most prosperous ever witnessed in In- 
dependence. The transjdanted mendjers of the community were takin;^ 
root and growing together into a homogeneous citizenship, while times 
were good and values so far above the $1.2.5 an acre the lands cost to 
enter, that everybody felt rich. During this year, seventy-one school 
houses were built iu the county at a cost of |T0,U43, and the fourth ward 
brick school building at Tndei)endence comjileted at a cost of |2:?,0()().(K). 
Thotigh it was nicknamed "the Tannery," on account of its box-like out- 
lines, and came into bad repute iu later years because of a cracking of th.; 
walls which was thought to render it unsafe, it served its purpose in mak- 
ing a home for a generation of school children, and when it was demol- 
ished in 1902, it was found to be substantial enough to have stood for 
centuries. 

In March 1872, the city council ordered the issue of .flO.nOO.OO in city 
scrip to pass current as money, and to run until January ;>(), 1874. It 
cost .f(!50.()(t to get this scrip {iriuted. Half of it was in one dollar bills 
and half iu two dollar bills. Travelers would carry this novel currency 
back to their homes in the east uuuoticed and then write back to know iiE 
the bank was good. Half a million dollars in interest-bearing debt had 
been incurred by the county in the first three years of its existence, and 
times could not but be prosperous for the felloes who had the spending of 
the money. Kight athwart this l)oom, almost without warning, came the 
panic of 1878, to be followed the next year by a rainless season, drying 
and parching everything on the farm, except the mortgage and taxes. And 
then, to cap the climax, came the Rocky mountain locusts or grasshop- 
jiers. with digestion for everything except interest. And plenty of farm- 



IIISTOnV OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 95 

•ei's wei-e uiulei' couti-act to pay three per cent ii month for the use of 
money. The fat years were followed by others as lean as Pharaoh's kino. 

In April 1873, DeLong was re-elected mayi>r. and he continued his 
strciiuov.s fijiht for the settlers and as;ainst the old town company with 
all the sturdy vifior of his nature. One of the old settlers characterizes 
him as "the <'romwell of Independence." He was erratic, unseltish and 
zealous, and labored without stint to secure the land for the settlers and 
relieve them from the necessity of buyinfi their homes fi'om the town 
comjKiuy. At the same time he charjied every man six dollars for a deed to 
a lot, as ex)jenses, and he and those associated with him never made any 
accounting of the money. In fact it is underst(K>d that, during llie time 
the settlers were paying for their lots, DeLong was living out of the in- 
come he received from the office in this irregular way. He was not pe- 
nurious and did not lay uj) money but was always ready to spend it for 
the town and the peojde. He was autocratic in his methods and did a 
great deal to build u]) the city. He was pugilistic, too, and always ready 
for a tight. The issue of city script was his scheme, and. notwithstanding 
the doubtful legality of the undertaking, he carried it through very suc- 
cessfully. The stuff circulated and was never at a discount. Every dollar 
-of it was eventually redeemed, and the result of the undertaking might 
well be used as an argument in favor of municiiial currency. Altogethei 
DeLong was, in many ways, Ihe strongest and most uni(|ue personality 
in the city's history, and. had a popular no\elist known him and his 
works, he might have served as a leading character in some work of 
fiction. His declining years were soured and embittered, however, by 
dwelling upon the ingratitude of tlie people for whom he had labored, and 
he seemed to have a gi'udge against the world. 

The most prominent event of the year 1874 was the burning of the 
railroad depot on Jaunary l.lth. which resulted in the juirchase of a fire 
engine by the city council within a week. The KeLong dynasty ended on 
the 7th of April that year, with the election of D. B. Gray as mayor. 

The new fire engine did not prevent the most destructive fire in the 
history of the city on February 13ih, 1S7."), when eighteen business build- 
ings were consumed. l>own the east side of the avenue, from where Bad- 
en's di-y goods store stands now. and up the north side of Main street fo 
the location of Zutz' grocery, everything went ,exceiit Brown's three-story 
brick, where the Baden clothing house now stands. That was reserved to 
be burned later. That year W. E. Brown was elected mayor and William 
Dunkin city attorney. The session of the South Kansas Conference of the 
M. El church, which convened March 3, and was presided over by Bishop 
Merrill, was one of the leading events of the year. At the election for 
city officers this year, W. E. Brown won the mayorality. having 1278 votes 
to Ki!) cast for ex-Mayor DeLong. Wm. Dunkin now became city attor- 
ney, and J, L. Scott \\as continued in office as jiolice judge. The steady 



g6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

growth of a prohibition sentiment was indicated bv the instructions given 
the city attorney in March to draw up an ordinance to prohibit dram 
shops from keejdng open on Sunday. The last mention of the city script 
appears in November of tliis year, when it was ordered that fli.OOO.OO of 
that currency lying in Hull's bank, and which had been redeemed, be re- 
issued to take up outstanding warrants, and that the rest be destroyed. 

The years between 1873 and 1881 are not prolific of material for the 
historian of iliontgomery county's capital. Hard times had the new coun- 
try in its grip, and it was simply a matter of "hanging on" and "waiting 
for the clouds to roll by." with the business men then there. Independence, 
having reached about :!.(l()() in jiojmlation. came to a standstill and re- 
mained a country trading post mer(»ly, except foi- the wludesale business 
in the region to the southwest. Merchants advertised but sparingly in the 
local pajiers until the later seventies and there was nothing to indicate 
the brilliant future in store for the city. 

Reckless expenditure of j)ublic funds had become unpojuilar and iu 
l)ecend)er 1875, a proposition to use |!l(».(»(l(l.(l(l in building a dam across 
the \'erdigris river to furnish water power for factories was voted down, 
only 96 favoring it to 176 who opjKised. 

In 1876, there was not even life enough to get up a contest over the 
niayorality, and F. ('. Jocelyn had all the votes cast, except nine scatter- 
ing. S. S. Peterson, wlio subsequently served with distinction as sheriff 
of Wyandotte county, was elected city marshal, and Joseph Chandler 
city attorney, both of them being repeatedly re-elected in following years. 
In August of that year the citizens were worried by a rumor that the 
United States land office was to be removed, and the city council appro- 
priated .flOO.dO to defray the expenses of .sending Colonel Daniel Grass 
and Edwin Foster to Washington to ])revent such a calamity. 

In January 1877. a counterfeiters' den was discovered in a house at 
the foot of the hill on East Main street, and Marshal Peterson arrested 
three of the manufacturers of the "queer" and turned them over to the 
United States authorities. Not only were molds, frames and all parapher- 
nalia of this illegal business found, but ll-'l lialf dollars and Ki (piarters, 
well enough executed to pass readily. The same month the land office 
authorities awarded to L. T. Stephenson the one bundled and sixty acres 
adjoining the city on the south for which he was contesting and the may- 
or was permitted to enter for the settlers the lOmerson tract in the south- 
west jiart of the city between 10th and i;-!th streets. In Aj)ril, \\'illiam 
Duukin was elected mayor, the minority candidate* :>gain being ex-.Mayor 
DeLong, whose only ambition in life ajipears fo have been to get gack it; 
the chair of that eiHirc again. .Miciiael ^!«- Enivy was ciiosen as jiolice 
Judge, a positi(Ui he held tor many years and tilled with dignity and dis- 
cretion. 

Norman 11. Ives was now postmaster, beiui; (he thiid iiicumlient of 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 97 

t]i;tt iilticp. A. H. Moore luniiif; succeeded Irwin, tlie first iippoiniee. L. 
M. Kuowies wns suiierintendent of the city scliools. In June J. 15. Hoober 
be<;aii the erection of a two story brick iiotel on West Mlain street over 
wliich he presided for so many years and which is still rnniiing, with the 
name chani;ed from "Hoober" to "Heci<man.'' At this time the saloon 
business nmst have been one of the jprincijial indnstries of the city, and the 
iiiannfacture of dinnkards jioin";' on apace. There were eleven licensed 
gro<; sliojis. and the revenue they jiaid into the city treasury amounted to 
|:{.S(MMI(I a year. 

The vear 1S7T was rendered notorious, not only in Independence but 
throujihont the country, by the "Hull P.aby" case. Hull's bank here was 
one of the strongest financial institutions in southeastern Kansas, in fact 
the only bank in the county that weathered the financial storm of 1873 
without suspendiofi payment for an hour. It was established by Latham 
Hull, of Kahmmzoo, ilichifian. and his two sons, Charles A. and Edgar, 
were connected with it. Charles, the elder (me, was a bachelor, but he fell 
a victim to the wiles of a rlever ad\entnress and married her. No sooner 
was this former "schoolniarm" installed as the mistress of the banker's 
home than she began to sigh for other worlds to con(pier. Charles' father 
had ottered a standing jirize of .$5.1(0(1.00 for the first male grandchild born 
in the family. (_'arrie's fingers itched to get hold of that roll, and she 
procured, from an ()i'])hans' home at Leavenworth, a young infant of the 
requisite sex. to whicli she pretended to have given birth. The fraud was 
too transjiai-ent to impose long on the parties interested, and her husband 
'disowned the brat and began suit for divorce. Not to be outdone, the al- 
leged mother began suit against Latham Hull, her fatherin-law, Edgar 
Hull, her broTlier-iu-law, (ieorge Chandler, their attorney, and the H(une 
for the Erieiidless at Leavenworth, for alienating the utfections of her 
liusband and damaging her character to the extent of .|4O,OIMt.O0, In De- 
cend>er the divorce case of Charles Hull vei'sus Carrie Hull was heard 
and decided in the district couit . Mrs. Hull claimed to be in very poor 
health, so that her testimony could not be laken publicly, and those who 
were expecting to see all the dirly linen in the case aired in court were 
disajtpointed. Charles got the decree, however, but Carrie was allowed 
.f 3(1(1 alimony, the himsehold goods and §200 for counsel fees, which, con- 
sidering the wealth of the husband, was not all that she might have ex- 
pected. Vet she was still eager for the nuiin chance and proceeded to 
construe the "household goods" clause very libci-ally. In fact, she lore 
a mantel out of the house which she thus claimed a right to dismantle, 
and sold it. For this ofiense she was arrested on the 8th of -January fol- 
lowing by Sherifl' lirock. As he did uot like to take her to jail lie i-e- 
maiued in the house to guard her until she could have a liearing in court 
or secuie iiail. I>nring the night ('(uistable Nelson canie with another 
warrant to arrest her <mi a suit liv Dr. .McCulle\-. to whom she had mort- 



g3 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

fiaged lipr ^oods fur medical atteudauce. The coustable was refused 
admission and had to tear off a shutter to get in. And when he did. he 
found not a thing left of all the goods the court had awarded Carrie, 
except the cradle of that famous baby, which she still retained. Of course 
another arrest followed. When at last the heroine of this romance got 
free from the meshes of the law. she went west seeking fresher fields and 
pastures new. While her money lasted she cut a great swath at Pueblo, 
Colorado, as a rich young widow; and finally wound up there by bewitch- 
ing the landlord of the hotel where she made her home, who deserted wife 
and children to elope with her. 

Early in 1878 the school board expended ^~A5 in the purchase of block 
Xo. 1 in Concannon's addition, and proceeded to erect a four room school 
building there at an expense of fS.OUO. One of the city papers com- 
plained tluit the location was too far out for the little folks. Now. with 
another building at the same place the dilliculty is that it is too far in. 
The election for mayor this year was hotly contested and (leorge W. Bur- 
<-hard won by a nuijority of !((! over A. C. Stich. Hunhard had been both 
a Rei>ublicaii and ;i Democi-at. and had edited both the "Tribune" and the 
••Kansan." but he was able and popular. April oth. another counterflt- 
ers' ontfit was nnearthed in the old land office building and Matt M. 
Rucker arrested for the crime of making money on his own account. In 
the summer of this year the present city building was erected. 

About this time the railroad question was exciting lots of interest 
as it was known that the St. Louis & San Francisc(> line was to be extend- 
ed west from Oswego, and Inde])Piidenre was anxious for something more 
than the ''plug," which was all she yet had. Besides, there were propo- 
sitions for a road southwest fi-om Parsons, and the papers of that day arc 
full of the reports of meetings held and committees appointed to bring 
hither three or four different lines, the initials of whose titles mean noth- 
ing now. Probably if all the citizens of the town had pulled together, the 
" 'Frisco" would have come here instead of edging oft' to the north from 
Chei-ryvale and angling throunh \Ailson county. But there were divideil 
counsels in those days, and a jealousy between property holders on the 
north and south sides which would not permit them to work together har- 
moniously, and so the line was lost and the population which would other- 
wise ha\e come to swell the census of Inde]HMuhnne went to build up 
Cherryvale. Probably lnde|)eiidence would have been a city of 15,000 
many years sooner than it now will, if the " 'Frisco" r-)ad had been land- 
ed. Not only did the year 1ST!> witness the loss of this road, but the same 
yeav the "plug" was extended out into the counties to the west, and the 
city's trade thereby materially circumscribed. 

In April 1879, Burchard was re-elected mayor, defeating Dr. W. A. 
MrCulley. 172 to 2(i0. In September of that year Cary (»akes. who was 
then ((ninly treasurer, lost a suit instituted by the county to recover |4,- 



nisTonv OF moxtivomery county, Kansas. 99 

078.30 wliiili he li;ul unwittiiijily allowed to fiet into the .Msistin Bank 
at Kansas <'ity the day before that institution dosed its doors. Tt was in 
the shajie of a draft from the .state treasurer for the school fund account, 
and Oakes had put it in Turner & Otis' hank for collection. They for- 
warded it to their corresjiondent at Kansas City, and it disappeared in 
thai hole \\hii-h at tlie time eii.milfed so many other fortunes. 

In the year ISSd. the law in relation to city elections was clian<>ed. 
giving to mayors a two years' term: and the year witnessed so little of 
interest here that it must remain a blank, so far as these annals are con- 
cerned. In the spring of 1881, L. C. Mason was elected to the head of the 
city government, defeating K. F. Masterman. The following summer the 
jieople who have seldom refused to do anything asked of them to promote 
the educational int(>rests of the city, voted .tf4,0(l().(i(l in bonds to rejiair 
that ill-fated fourth ward school building which had cost .|2:},(I(H).()0 in 
the start. This year the board of edu<ation drew the color line by pro- 
viding a separate building for the accomodation of pupils of African de- 
cent, but tliey all refused to attend, and the courts decided they could not 
be discriminated against in that way. The prohibition law went into 
ettect on Jhiy 1st. and, before the year was over, twelve drug stores in the 
county, of which live were located in Indejiendence, had taken out [lermits 
to enable them to supi>ly alcoholic mediiine to tlie thirsty. 

P'ebruary ."ith, 1882. witnessed the second disastrous fire in the history 
of Indejiendence, five buildings on the west side of Penn. avenue, south of 
the bank building on tlie corner of Myrtle street, going dow'n, while two 
more were badly damaged. All the five were wooden structures, though, 
and when they came to be rejilaced with substantial brick and stone build- 
ings TWO stories in height, it was evident agiiin that what had seemed to 
be a calamity was really a blessing in disguise. 

May ^.-ith. the new iron railroad bridge in pi'ocess of erection over 
the Verdigris was swept away by the flooded stream and went down 
about ten minutes after a heavily loa(]ed passenger train had i)as*ed over 
it. The loss to the com]>any was |;i:tl.iMMl.(i(l. At the close of this year, 
the city counted among its accpiisitions during that period a canning fac- 
tory, a finii- story stone tiouring mill, a foundry and a woolen mill. The 
location of so many manufacturing i>lants was secured at considerable 
effort and expense, and was thought to indicate that the future of the 
city was assured. Of the fmir, the Howen tiouring mill, alone, proved a 
permanency. 

January 1."), I880. the |10,()(lll.(((l in bonds asked by the s.-lu.ol board 
for the erection of a new school building in the first wai-d were voted by 
the bare majority of twelve. A two-story sevenroom building was jiut up 
during the year, to be torn down just twenty years later to make room 
for one that was nioi-e modern and of larger size. 

Indejiendeme's third great lire occurred Februarv 17th. when the 



L.nfC 



lOO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

half block on the east side of the aveuue and south of .Main street went up 
in smoke. In M. J. Paul's thi-ee-story brick Imildinii- on the corner were 
located, besides his grocery, the "Tribune" office and the Masonic lodge 
room. Speaking of this fire at the time, the writer of this article said, re- 
ferring to the burning of the files of that paper: "The early history of 
Montgomery county can never be so well written since the destruction of 
these flies." Since attempting to write some of that early history I real- 
ize most profoundly the truth of thai remark of twenty years ago. The 
loss of projierty in this Are was estimated at -fTSjOOO.lK), on which there 
was insurance to the amount of -f. 54,000. 00. 

At the April election Dr. B. F. Masterman won the mayorality by a 
majority of 1!I4 over X. H. Ives; and H. T). ({rant became jiolice judge. 

In Ajiril 1884 a local paper says, "the coal bore is down 8.j0 feet and 
the prospects were then better for oil than coal." In view of subsequent 
develo])ments, it seems strange that our oil resources were not sooner 
brought to light. In Juue of that year, the Southern Kansas railroad be- 
gan running ;i second daily train between Independence and Kansas City, 
to the great delight of all llie people here. The same month the city coun- 
cil grunted a franchise to A. H. McCorniick for the construction of the 
system of water works which have since that time supplied the city. 

The first murder in the history of Independence was committed 
August 18tli. 1S84. It was a Cain and Abel affair, the murderer and his 
victim being half brothers. The parties were J. H. lilackwell, the slayer, 
and Charles Neal. the slain. ISoth were half-blood Cherokee Indians, and 
jealousy was the cause of the crime. The woman in the case was Mrs, 
J. W. I^Iaddox, with whom they both boarded. Itlackwell was also Mad- 
dox's i)ar1uer in the tinning business. The tragedy occurred at the cot- 
tage home of Maddox on West y\i\\u sti-eet. just opposite the Christian 
church. lilackwell was under the influence of liquor when he tired the 
shot that pierced his brother's stomach and ended his life. 

Just l)efore the November election of 1884, on the evening of October 
23d, sky rockets tired at a Re|)ubli(iin rally were responsible for a tire 
which destroM'd tliree business buildings on the west side of Tenu avenue, 
Shyrock's restinn;int. Conrad Zwissler's barber shop and Chandler Rob- 
bins' music store. Al that election a proposition to issue -f.")!), 000. 00 in 
bonds to build a court house was carried. 

November ITtli. the first steps were taken toward building the Ver- 
digris Valley, Independence & ^^'(»sterIl railroad, which has since become 
the Alissouri Pacific line through here. The committee selected to i)rej)are 
a charter for the new line consisted of Wm. Dunkin, E. V. Allen. H. W. 
Young and l)r. .McFarland. The committee ai>|iointed to raise the money 
for a survey si)eedily got fl.liOO.OO. although -fl.OOO.OO was all that had 
been asked. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. lOI 

On tlio iu<>li( of Ueceiiiber lutU, Conuiiodore JJrowu's thi-ee-story 
hvuk on flic norllicast corner of .Main street and l'enn.a\cnnewasl)nrned. 
G. Golilieh's clolliin<i- lionse. the "Star" office and (he Odd Fellows hall 
were the victims of I his disaster. This tire resulted in the jinrchase of the 
"Kansan" (illice by H. W. Young of the "Star" and the consolidation of 
the two offices under the name of the "t^tar and Kansan." 

At the spring term of the district court in ISSfi Judge Chandler re- 
fused the injunction prayed for against the issue of the court house bonds, 
but the case was cari-ied ui> to the state supreme court, and. although the 
decision was the same there, the legal battle delayed the work of building 
for nearly a year. At the city election in April there was a very spirited 
contest for mayor between two ju-ominent citizens, L. A, Walker being 
supported by the progressives and John iJ^cCullagh by the conservatives. 
Walker was elected by a majority of 48. He was, by far, the most far- 
sighted and jtrogressive head the city government had ever had, and it 
is due to him that grades were established throughout the city, and that 
the sidewalks in the business part of the city were widened from 12 to 16 
feet and the old wooden awnings removed. Although Mr. Walker lacked 
the powers of e.\])i'ession to make himself fully understood at all times, 
he was a man of very strong indiviiluality and of wonderful mental grasp 
and [>oise. He was a deej) thinker, and a man of strong convictions and 
great independence, never following the crowd in his conclusions but 
always working them out for himself. He was radical in his views and 
jiolicies and made many enemies, but everyone esteemed him for his in- 
tegrity and manly virtues. He had many of the characteristics of a 
leader of men and would have leached higher positions but for the defect 
adverted to. 

During 1885 Independence maintained its record as a bad town 
for the insurance com])anies. On March 30th, seven buildings on the 
west side of I'eiin. a\enue, between Jfyrtle and Laurel streets, were de- 
stroyed, including tiie (dd ^\'ils()n & Irwin store building, which was the 
first erected in the town. All were wooden buildings, as were all of the 
five on the south side of I>ast Main street which were burned June 13th. 
The last fire was e\idently of incendiary origin, but as a result of the 
two, about the last of the wooden sliacks were removed from tlie business 
([uarter, so that the city |)ut on a dill'erent as])ect thereafter. 

On the fifth of Sei)ti'nd.er the Sj;:!."),()IMI.IItl in bonds asked foi' the build- 
ing of the \'erdigris Valley road were voted with iiractical unanimity, 
only 1 against to 4;!S for. The vote was also favorable in Sycamore and 
Independence townships, ins\iring the building of the road, and adding 
some f 7.~,(MIII.(I0 to tlie interest bearing debt of the <'ouiity. In October 
W. T. Yoe, of the Tribune, turned the Inde]i('n(h'nce postollice over to H. 



I02 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

F. Devore, President ("levelaud's appointee, ami the tirst Democrat to 
hold that oflfice. 

The year 188C was one of the most uneventful in the city's history, 
It had reached a popuhition of 3,000, and was steadily growing. The new 
railroad was completed down to the south line of Independence township, 
In eluly. two men, Samuel Umbenhauer and Thomas Birch, were suflfo- 
cated while digging a well in the northwest part of the city, Frank P. 
Bur( hard, a dissipated scion of an excellent family, committed forgery in 
a real estate transaction and was sentenced to the penitentiary. The 
most noteworthy event of the year was the laying of the corner stone of 
the new court house on November 30th. The event was appropriately 
celebrated and the ceremonies were imposing. The principal address was 
delivered by Hon. Wm. Dunkin, and was historical and retrospective u> 
character. 

The second murder which stained the annals of our city was com- 
mitted February '2'Ah. 1887, the victim being .Joseph Tonkinson, who waM 
shot after an exciting chase by Frank Me.xer, whose sister Tonkinson had 
been unduly intimate with. Indeed the husband of the woman had given 
Tonkinson a terrible beating .some time previously and threatened his 
life. As in the tirst murder case, it was a quarrel about a wonmn that 
resulted in the killing. At the city election in April, ]\I|ayor Walker was 
defeated for re-election by H. H. Dodd, who received 4."(i votes to AValker's 
401. I>an ^^'assam, a well known printer, who has since acquired a com 
petency in the I'eal estate business at Neodesha, was elected probate 
judge. This was what was known in Kansas as the boom year, and In 
dependence had the fever as severely as any city of its size, indulging in 
dreams of speedily becoming a great metrojiolis, and marking up leal es- 
tate values to cori'es]M)nd .\nother east and west railroad was jirojected 
which even I'eached the bond-voting stage in Liberty township, but never 
materialized to any further extent. There began to be whisperings about 
natural gas. too. though the stories of burning wells were regarded as 
fairy tales by most levelheaded jieojile. Still, in May the city council 
voted a thousand dollars to pay for ]irospecting for gas, and the same 
monlli granted !>. P. .Alexander, of Wichita, a franchise for a street rail- 
way which he did not build. In December the new court house was com 
pleted and the dedicatory exerci.ses occurred, with more historical ad 
dresses by .Tudge George Chandler, .1. D, McPue, Taptain McTaggart and 
others. 

To judge from the news]iaiiers jmblislied in Independence, jiolitics 
was almost the sole subject of interest during the year 1888. That was 
not only a Pi-esidential year, but Independence's honored son. Lyman U, 
Humj)hrey, was a candidate for governor. When he returned home, after 
securing the nomination, he was accorded a most flattering reception by 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. I03 

liis fellow citizeiiM of all pai-lie.s. and tlie city felt itself liouored when the 
vote in Xovenil)er showed that along with Harrison he had received over 
80,000 idurality. the largest evei- cast for the candidate of any party in 
the state. 

The night of the 13th of .launary 1S8!), a landmark of the early days 
went up in smoke, the stone hotel on east Main street, familiar to the 
travelling {uiblic as the "i/ain Sti'eet Hotel," was entirely destroyed by 
fire. The site remained vacant for fourteen years thereafter. C)n the 28tli 
of February the United States land office here, which had outgrowu its 
usefulness — practically all the public lands in the district having been 
entered — was di.scontinued by order of the Interior Department. The 
contest for mayor this year was between Wilson Klncaid and Dr. G. C. 
Chaney. Kimaid received ?>70 to ("lianey's 347 and made a very popular 
official. November 23, the [lostoffice passed from the management of B. F 
Devore to that of E. E. Wilson. Mr. Wilson being one of the original 
settlers and founders of Independence, and having devoted a great deal 
of time to the records of pioneer days, everyone was gad to see him suc- 
cessful in getting the office, which he conducted with diligence and fidel- 
ity. It was his last official position, however, as he died not long after 
the expiration of his term. 

If "no news is good news." the year 1800 was one of the best Indepen- 
dence ever exi)erien(ed. for nothing out of the oi'dinary hajipened in the 
city during that year. It was. however, another i)olitical year which will 
always be j)rominent in the annals of Kansas. The "Alliance" was then 
in the height of its jirosjjerity and the columns of the press were filled 
with accounts of its picnics and public meetings. But it was not an 
especially jirosperous year for ludejiendence. the city having, by that 
time. e.\|icrienced the full etlV<ts of the reaction from the manufactured 
boom of the hiter eighties, and business being dull. Indeed, it began to 
look as if the town would go to seed, as so many county seats in farming 
sections wliich had enjoyed "great anticipations'' often do. 

.\t the city, election in April 1801, ^\'ilson Kincaid was re-elected 
mayor without opposition. At the same time J. B. rnderhill became po- 
lice judge. During this year the press was bemoaning the removal of the 
electric light jilant. \\ Inch had been shut down for some time previous, to 
.\urora. Missouri. But notwithstanding all that was said and done, our 
streets remain dark to this day. while a generation of children have grown 
(o Tiianhood and womanhood licre. 

In March 180L', Tinii Boniface, the fat and jolly Englishmau who had 
been in the meat business on East Main street ever since the pioneer days, 
was ( onvicted of obtaining money under fal.se jiretenses and sentenced 
to the penitentiary. While awaiting sentence he (-uiscd something of a 
.«en.sation liv confessing that lie and a man nam(>d Kinnie. who was then 



104 HISTORY OF MOXTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ruiMiiiii: the niiiiki-t, and L. T. Steiiheiisoii. luul. the fall previous, stoleu 
cows belonging to George Waggoner and A. ('. Stich. One or both of 
these gentlemen had bought at tlie market, and eaten on their own tables, 
the meat of the cows stolen from them without having the slightest sus- 
picion of the way in which tliose animals had been disposed of. Stephen^ 
son's jirominence as a lawyer, land spei-ulator. county official, and in oth- 
er positions in the public life of the community since he came here as: 
one of the original settlers in 1869, made his arrest the talk of the town, 
At that time, and since, many have been charitably inclined to hold him 
guiltless and Boniface a perjurer who was anxious to jmll others down 
with him. Stephenson was sentenced to the penitentiary, btit after ho 
had served a jtoi'tion of his term P>oiiifai-e made affidavit that his charge 
was false, and Steiihenson was pardoned and soon removed to New 
Mexico. 

Early in 1893, the Independence city council granted J. D. Nickersou 
a franchise for natural gas. and he began drilling on the Brewster place, 
five miles east of the city, after having secured a jdedge from the business 
men to pay him f 1.000.00 when gas was ready for delivery to the siibscrib 
ers to the fund. After so many vain attempts to secure gas for the city, 
this one materialized and before the end of the year the pii)es were laid 
and the city was using natural gas for fuel. This was the beginning of fi 
new era for the city, and, tlu>ugh its recovery fnnii the dejiression (hat 
followed the boom times of 1887 was slow, it was sure and steady. Prop- 
erty began to command better figures and values were more firm. Neg- 
lected buildings were painted and the signs of recovery from the 
"dum])s" began to manifest themselves on every hand. While no one 
fully realized what the new <-onditioiis that were beginning to develop 
would do for the city, confidence in hei- future was restored, and she 
started on the uji-grade. 

On the 7th of ]SIarch Emmett l)al1<)u was brought into court and 
pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree for ]iartici])atioii in the 
raid on the ("oft'eyville banks the previous October, in whidi the other 
members of the Dalton gang, as well as several citizens, were killed. 
Judge ilcCue sentenced Emmett to the penitentiary for 99 years, and he 
was at once removed to the train ; there being grave fears that an attempt 
woiili' ))e made to rescue him. Indeed, during the five months he had been 
confined in liie county jail Sheritt' Callahan had maintained an armed 
guard at the court house in view of the jiossibility if such an attempt, 
and it was with a feeling of relief that tlie people saw this weak and 
wounded survivor of the most eventful ejiisode in the history of the county 
depart for Lansing. 

In the election of 1893. the contest was along jiarty lines for the first 
time in many years, and Dr. G. C ("haney. the regular Repul)liian candi- 



HISTORY OF MOXTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I05 

•diiti'. received .■)4o votes to 475 cast for Henry Baden, the citizen Candi- 
da le. 

On the Fourtli of July Afilton ("annon left his lionie in liiis city, stat- 
ing tliat lie was going to Cherry vale to take a train for St. Louis. He was 
not afterward seen alive, so far as is known, but five days later his 
deconipdsed remains were found in a ravine near the river. ^Vhethe^ he 
liad been murdered was a grave quest ion. Charles Merrit was afterward 
tried for conijilicity in the murder, on the theory that Men'ilt had aided 
in killing him to avenge the honor of a sister. jV^erritt \\ as ac(|uitted, but 
(ieorge Stevens, wlio was the leading witness against him, had been [ire- 
viously convicted of the same crime and sentenciMl to be hung. He is still 
in jirisoii exiuatiiig an offense of which many ((ueslioii his guilt, and of 
which he never would have been convicted but for his genera! depr.ivity. 
Indeed, most of the jyarties connected with the case were of such unsavory 
re])utation that it was inipossible to give credence to their testimony. 
This was the third murder committed in the city — if murder it ^'as. 

The tirst day of -lanuary 1804. witnessed the worst fatality from the 
use of gas that ever occurred in the Kansas field, and one that caused a 
thrill of hori-or through this entire section. The story of the Reed tragedy 
is deiailed in another chaj)ter in this work. No other event in Mie iiistory 
of ihe lily e\(T caused such a sensation as this did. 

Near the close of the same month, the community was again horrified 
to iu'ai of the suicide of I'hilip Shoenuiker, a prominent citizen and busi- 
ness man. who hung himself in a granary out at his farm one Saturday 
morning, during a period of nervous depression. 

This year was signalized throughcnit by tragedies. On the night of 
March I'tlth. Night OHicer -T. T>. Burnworth shot and killed an unknown 
man who was preparing to rob the postoffice, and who had the drop oiJ 
him with a loaded revolver pointed at him and within three feet of his 
l)reast 

^^■heIl the election foi- city officers came off in April 189.5, Dr. Chaney, 
who had been elected mayor two years previous as the regular Republi- 
can" candidate, was found heading the opposition citizens" ticket, with 
Carl Stich, the regular Republican standard bearer. Chaney had SO'J 
votes and Stich 4:2."). 

A very ])leasant occurrence was the celebration on the 11th of -lune 
at St. Andrews chui-ch, of the twenty-fifth annivercary of its ])ast(u-"s min- 
istry as a priest of the Catholic church. Leading citizens of all denomi 
nations united in testifying to the appreciation in which Reverend Fath- 
er I'hilip Scholl was held as a nmn, as a Christian, as a friend of human 
ify and as one who went about doing good to the sick and sorrowing. 

The (|uestion of the purchase of the wafei' works by the city was 
voted on. -lune L'."itii. and although the jiroposition to issue bonds for that 



I06 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY'^ KANSAS. 

purpose received 215 votes to 115 cast in opposition, it was defeated for 
lack of the required two-thirds nuijority. 

Coming to ISOC. the year of the great silver flglit for the presidency, 
we find, as usual when politics absorbs s(i uiudi of the atteutitin andeuer- 
gies of the peo])le. that very little else of interest seemed to hajijien. The 
old adage that "Satan finds s(une mischief still for idle hands to do." 
niigh; be paraphrased to read,"AYhen the politicians don't keep the people 
busy, they will find some other mischief to anuise them.velves with."' A 
note« orthy event of the year was the appearance of Samuel C. Elliott, a 
promising young lawyer who had been county attorney for two terms and 
Inid secured an enviable practice, before tiie jirobate court as a candidate 
for the insane asylum. He was sent to Osawatomie where he gradually 
grew worse and died a few years later. 

At the S])ring election in 1897 W. P. I'.owen was chosen mayor by a 
majority of 277 votes over I. G. Fowler. I'nder a new law just enacted, 
the whole cor])s of city otTicins was elective, even where they had previous 
ly been appointed by the ma.ycu" and council, and the ticket this year ran 
down to street couunissioner. J. B. I'nderhill was elected clerk, Joseph 
Chandler, city attorney, and H. W. Hazen, jjolice judge. During the year 
the legal fight to juevent the building of the county high school estab- 
lished l)y act of the legislature in February, was ke]it up; but the prob- 
ability of its success was not great enough to seriously disturb the 
equanimity of the city. Another chapter in this volume gives the full 
details of this contest. One of the celebrated cases of the county was 
tried in. the district court early in December, when Henry Sheesley was 
arraigned for the murder of Captain Kaniel McTaggart. The victim was 
one of the early settlers of the county and had been ]troniinent in jioliti 
cal life throughout its entire history. Indeed, he had served in the state 
Legislature for fourteen consecutive years and had been twice elected 
state Senator. Sheesley was a tenant of ilcTaggart's, renting his flour 
ing mill <u) tlie "S'erdigris. and it was as the outcome of a dispute about a 
settlement of accounts early in August that the fatal affray occured, ^Ic 
Taggart was shot and lived but a few hours. Sheesley's lawyers made a 
strong efl'ort to prove that he was insane, and he went through the forms 
of having an e])ile]itic fit in the court room, but the jury concluded that 
he was res]ionsii)le f(u- his ai-ts and convicted him of manslaughter. He 
was sentenced to five years in the jienitentiary. which most of those 
familiar witli the facts considered a very light punishment for the offense 
of which he was guilty. 

lOarly in ]S!IS, a \itritii'd brick jdaut was established in the city, and 
Hie council |>ro\i(led for ])aving the business streets with its jiioducts. 
Aboui the same time the Iudepei\dence <!as ("ompany secured a gr(>atly 
increased gas sui)i)ly for the city by extending its mains to conneit witli 



IIISTOHY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. lOy 

tlic wells (liilleil by the Standard Oil Coiiipany out in the iieiglihorhood 
of Table Mound — that eompauy having drilled for oil, and being willing 
to dispose of the gas to our home company. From this time on the city 
had an abundant snjjjily for manufacturing purposes, and efforts went 
on witliout cessation to secure their location and make Tndepeiulence a 
manufacturing center. 

In iSay 1IS!»IS, the Twentieth Kansas regiment was enlisted for thft 
Spanish war, and company "G" was recruited at Independence, and for 
the most part consisteil of M/.mtgomery county boys. On tlie eve of their 
de|)arture for tlie state capital, the citizens tendered them a reception 
and banquet which was hugely attended and proved a most interesting 
occasion, with a grand outflow of patritftic spirit. The olticers of this 
<'ompany were: Captain, I). Stewart Elliott, of ( "otieyville ; First Lieu- 
tenant, H. A. Scott, of Sycamore; Second Lieutenant. ^Villiam A. Mc- 
Taggart. s(ui of the late Senator McTaggart. When the company accom- 
panied its regiment to the I'hiliiii)ines, it was to leave there two of these 
three — IClliott and McTaggart falling under Fili])ino bullets. 

This year Independence city voted |13, 0(1(1. 0(1 in bonds in aid of the 
exteiii-ion of the Southwestern line of the Santa Fe down to Bartelsville 
in the Indian Territt)ry. There were strings attached to the proposition, 
h(iwe\er, and one of the conditions — that a depot should l)e built up-town 
and within about three or four blocks of tlie crossing of Main street and 
I'enn. avenue — the road had no disposition to comply with, so that the 
vote was futile. I'robably this was the last vote of bonds for railroad 
aid which the city will ever make. 

Fire again made holes in the business portion of Indei)endence early 
in ISDD, Anderson's dry goods store and Gottlieb's clothing house going 
up in smoke on the night of the 31st of January, and the LaGrande hotel 
going to keep them company on the 13th of February. At the session of 
the legislature this A\inter the city was empowered to exjiend .f.T.dOO.OO 
in building the out-let sewer that was so urgently needed and the work 
was at once undei'taken. 

Like Miiyor ("haney two years before. Mayor Bowen in ISitlt. having 
held one term after his election as a regular Republican candidate, be- 
came, at the end of the term, an independent candidate for tlie same 
office. I'niike ( 'haney. though, he was elected, by a majority of 55. 

The business of the Independence postoffice having increased to over 
■*:!S.(t00.00 annually on July 1st, 18!)!), it was raised to the second cla.ss 
and the postmaster's salary increased to |2.000.00 a year. Edwin Foster, 
one of the pioneers whose name is met frequently in the early chronicles 
of Montgomery county, was now postmaster. He succeeded (ieorge Hill, 
who was the incumbent during Cleveland's second administration, and 
who made, perhaps, the most efficient and popular official wh.) ever tilled 
tlie office. 



I08 HISTORY OF MONTGOMKRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Next year the postofBee income had risen to $10,000.00. indicating a 
very rapid "rowth in business, and with the result that before the end of 
the year free mail delivery was established, with Lon T. Hudson, Frank 
G. Hinper and Dale Hebrank as the rejiular larriers, and Will Williams 
as sulistitute. 

.Tunc lOtli, 1000, another election was held to decide whether to issue 
bonds and buy the water works, and the proposition was again defeated, 
as it had been five years before, the argument most successfully used be- 
ing thai as the franchise of the company would expire in five years it 
wouhi be jioor policy to jtay them for a rundown and worn-oiit plant at 
this time, when, by waiting, we would lie absolved from all necessity to 
do so and could erect an indejiendent jiiauT in lOOo. 

This year the Republican ticket for city officers, headed by F. C. 
Moses, was elected from top to bottom. Mr. Moses was opposed by Guy 
I. Watt, on a citizens' ticket, who was beaten by 109 votes. The most 
imjiortant event of the year was the voting of .^lO.OOO.OO in bonds for the 
construction of two new modei'u school buildings, of twelve rooms each, 
to take the place of the three existing buildings, all of which were to be 
demolished. To destroy school houses as good as we then had, seemed to 
many )ieo])le like reckless extravagance and prodigality; but the prac- 
tical conilemnation of the Fourth ward building, erected in the pioneer 
days, made some action necessary and the voters stood by the Board of 
Educalion and adopted the very radical jiroposition they submitted, the 
electi.-m being held on the 30th of April, every ward in the city giving a 
majoi'ty in iheir favor and the total being K5T. 

A very pleasant feature of life in Independence during the hot and 
dry summer of 1001 was the open air theatre at Gas Park, op[)osite the 
court house, where a professional actoi-, assisted by his wife and some 
very good amateur talent, gave weekly performances all through the sea- 
son. Indeed, so popular a meeting jdace did this become that the union 
serxices of tlie churches on Sunday evening throughout the heated term 
were held llieie. 

The most destructive wind storm that ever visited the city occurred 
on I he morning of June L'lst. Foi' about an hcmr. between two and three 
((■(•hiik, tlie wind not only blew hard but hot fr;im the west, the calm that 
followed being accompanied by a temjierature above 90 degrees and 
in sou'.e localities in the country rejiorted to have been over 100 degrees. 
The gi'eatest damage was done to the court house where the galvanized 
iron work of the tower was blown off, and some of the windows broken 
outwr.i'd, inilicating a cyclonic vacuum in the outside air. Aside from 
tliis. the damage consisted princiiially in the unroofing of buildings an<l 
awnings. The wind, however, had a very deleterious effect on the corn 
croj", though that was a failure all over the country that year. 

In lOitii, Independence began to see the substance of things hoped 



I09 

for. nnd her ])e<)j)le to rciilize lliat she was passing out of Ihe chrysalis 
stage ami hecoming a city in fact as well as in name. The "Washington'' 
and "Lincoln" school buildings were completed and school opened in 
them about the middle of October. The magnificeut five story "Carl- 
Leon" hotel was building and was opened for business the following Feb- 
ruary. The Midland Glass Company came from Hartford City, Indiana^ 
and l)uilt a factory here, as well as a large addition to the city north of 
the Santa Fe railroad. Across the river, the Ellsworth ra]ier Company's 
mill was tinished and i)ut in ojieration, and the Adamsun .Manufacturing 
Company's sugar j)laut was erected and began the maunfacture of sor- 
ghuni syrup. Business buildings of a superior character were put up, 
and everywhere evidences of the new life the city had taken on were 
manifesting themselves. .Meanwhile real estate was doubling and treb- 
ling in value, and the demand for residences was entirely in excess of 
the supply, notwithstanding they were going up by the score. It was 
what, in earlier times, would have been called a "boom," but seemed now 
to be only a healthful and normal growth. During this year the Indepen- 
dence Gas Comjiaiiy opened the great Bolton gas field, with a capacity of 
seventy million cubic feet of gas per day, and connected it with our city 
system by pipe lines, thus making it contribute to our industrial develop- 
ment. At last things were coming our way, and they have continued to 
do so up to the present time, in a way that makes the air castles of the 
early fettlers look like pinchbeck jewelry. 

The enumeratiim of the spring of 1!)(I2 showed a population of 6,208 in 
the city, a gain of over 2, (KM) in two years. 

On October 1st, a shocking dcaible tragedy was added to the list of 
liomicides that has marred the history of the city. The victims were C. 
W. Hooper and his divorced wife, Luzetta. They disagreed as to ihn 
custody of the children, and he was jealous of her still, although sepa- 
rated. After consulting an attorney in his office over the iiostofflce, they 
stepped out into the hallway, where the man shot the woman und then 
himself, both dying at once. They had not long been residents of the 
city, having come here frofii Wilson county a short time ]»re\ ions. 

The city election in April 1003. resulted in the choice of W. 1'. 
Bowen for a third term as mayor. The opposing candidate was A. (;. 
Stich, of the t'itizens Hank. Both ran on indei)endent tickcls. by j)eti 
tion, and Bowen won by llo votes, after one of the most hotly contestect 
lights the city hail ever seen. 

Although it is in no sense history, I find it hard to draw this nar- 
rative to a close witliout saying something about the great things in the 
way of manufacturing industries that it is expected will soon materialize 
and f'ouble or treble the pojiulation of tlie city and extend its boundaries: 
and n-ulfiply its business. But these thiiigs are, as yet. only ideas in the 
minds of men and as such onlv can Ihev be chronicled. 



no HISTORY OF MOXTGOMERY COL'XTY. KANSAS. 

In llie retrospect, now lliat I :un laUinji' leave of this task. I cannot 
fail tc realize how very inij)erfe<-tly it has been iierfornieil. In looking 
over more than a thousand newspajiers and culling a few of the more 
strikini;: incidents of each year, I have not really been writing history, 
but only chronicling a mere fragment of the story of the life of a growing 
town. Think of the people who have been born and grown to manhood 
and wonianho(»d here, of the stories of their lives, of the steady growth of 
the city, of tlie shade-embowered sti-eets that now stretch out in all 
directions; of the thousands of events that have happened here and bee!i 
found worthy of mention in the city press, and of the tens of thousands 
of iiicidents that have not been clironi(ded. but of which many would 
jKtsse^s an interest surpassing those that have been preserved by the 
tyjtes — think of all these things and you will realize with me how little 
of history is contained in the I)ouks that are called history, and how 
iinirh must remain >nn\ritten in our meager annals. 

Town Buildings in the South-East Corner of Montgomery County 

I'.V DK. T. < . IliAZIin:. 
Claymore, Westralia, Tally Springs, Parker, Old Coffcyville, Colieyville and Liberty 

The \'erdigris river (so named on account of the daik green color of 
its waters) has its origin iu Woodson and (ireenwood counties and, run- 
ning in a southeasterly direction, crosses the .south line of the state near 
the so\itlieast co)-)ier of Montgomery county. 

In the early days, just preceding the ojiening of the Osage IHminish- 
ed K(»^erve to white settlement, no less than four Indian villages oc- 
cupi;'(l the baidis of this stream, near the point of its emergence from vhe 
state of Kansas on the way to its confluence with the Arkansas near Fort 
<!ibsoii. 'Whether from this fact, or because certain traders had estab- 
lished themselves near these Indi;ui villages, the idea that an important 
y'liy would soon spring u\> near this point seems to have taken fast hold 
ujion the minds of the early settlers. 

So nearly unanimous was this opinion among the hardy pioneers 
that no less than six towns were projected, within an area enclosed t»y 
the segment of a circle drawn from a point five miles up the east line of 
the county to a corresponding point on the south line, within two years 
after the country was opened to settlement. Some of these were hiid out 
and plats ]irepared for tiling even before the ratification of the treaty by 
which the Indian title was extinguished, and almost every ••s(|uatter" iii- 
«lulged in rosy dreams of the time when his idaim would become a jiait of 
the metropolis of the county. 

There can be no doubt, now, that the confidence of the early settlers, 
in the fitness of this location for the uj)huilding of an imp(u-taut traile 
center, was well founded, but the eagerness of so many of them to enjoy 
.the honoi- and emoluments, supposed to accrue to the founder of a pros- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTTj KANSAS. Ill 

peroii'S city, cauie near disappointing the hopes of all, for the fierce battle 
for supieniacy. bv whi<h the aspiring villagers were rent and torn, so 
dissipated the town Imilding energies, which shonld have been concen- 
trated in one united ettort. that capilal, which might have been attracted 
to any one of the sites chosen, was driven away by uncertainty as to 
what the outcome would be. 

What might have been the result if either of these locations had 
been backed by a united effort, none can know, but any old settler will 
tell you. that the energy wasted in the fierce struggles for sui)reniacy, 
among those rival towns, would, if expended in building uj) one locality, 
have made it the best and biggest town in Southern Kansas; as it is I 
doubt not that many loyal citizens will now tell you. that the best, if not 
the largest, town in Southern Kansas is to be found in the southeastern 
corner of Jlontgomery county. 

In June 18(i9. Governor Harvey issued a proclamation organizing 
The county of ;Montgoniery and apponiting three commissioners who, at 
their first meeting, in the following mouth, divided the county into three 
townships, indicated l)y two parallel lines crossing the county from east 
to west. Later on these townshii>s were subdivided by two parallel Hues 
crossing the county from north to south, thus creating nine townships, 
each having an area of about seventy-two square miles. Of these sub- 
<livisions. the souTlieastern. comprising the territory now included in 
Parker and Cherokee townships, was known as Parker township and 
within the limits of this territory much of the early history of the county 
was made. Here the towns of Claymore, VVestralia, Tally Springs, Parker 
and old Coft'eyville rose and fell in rapid succession, to be succeeded by 
the ]iresent city of ("otfeyville. all located, as above stated, in the south- 
east corner of the township, near where the Verdigris river crosses the 
south line of the state. 

In as much as the early pojiuiation was concentrated in and about 
the villages, and that it shifted from one to another as confidence in the 
stability of one site waned, to be succeeded by a boom movement in ii 
rival place, it is evident that the makers of the early history were inter- 
ested in The growTh and development of more than one of the rival towns. 
It seems advisable, therefore, that certain early events, which att'ected 
the community as a whole, should be treated of before entering upon the 
recital of the s] ecial life iiistory of the individual villages. 

Early Settlers 
Lewis Scott, a colored man, who made a seiTlenient in the ^'erdig■ris 
valley mivl-way between the sites subsequently chosen as the location for 
the towns of Cotteyville and Parker, in February 1867, claimed to be the 
TirsT "wIiiTe" settler in Montgon;ery county. This claim is confirmed by 
the late K. K. Wilson, author of a valuable historical sketch published in 



ri2 HISTORY OF M()N'l(;OM KUY COIXTY. KANSAS. 

Edward's Historical Atlas of I he ((niiity in 1881. Andreas, in his liis- 
toi'V of Kansas, accords whatever honor that may be due to the jiioneer 
settler to (ireen L. Canada who, lie says, "in January 1S(;(I. settled at i 
])oinl on IMnnjikin creek, whicli was sulisiMiuently seleeted as the site for 
the vilhiiie of Claymore." This histoi-ian. however, is in error. (Jreen L, 
Canada did make a settlement on Pumpkin creek in 1800, as stated by 
Andreas, but at a point within tiie borders of Labette county, one of the 
sub-divisions of which — Canada townshi]) — still bears his name. From 
this ]ilace Mr. Canada moved in Decendter 1S(!S to a j)oint lower down the 
creek wliii-h was subsecjuently seleeted as the site for the villanic of Clay- 
more. So the fact remains, as stated by Mr. \N'ilson. that I,(nvis Scott 
was the pioneer settler of the counly. 

Ill l)ecend)er 1867, Zachariah C. Crow settled on a claim adjoining 
that of TiCwis Scott. The following; names are remeiiibei-ed as being 
among those ^\•ho came to tiiis corner of the county in ISCiS: John A. 
Twiss. T. C.. J. n.and Allen (iraham, J. F. Sa\age, Jack 'rhom]ison, K. 
K. Kounce. ^^■i!liam Fain. Mrs. E. C. Fowell. John laisldiaugh, < ireen L. 
Canada. Jidin Mclntyre, Joe Koberls and \\'. T. and S. W. .Mays. Of 
tliese, only J. F. Savage. John Jlclntyre and .Mrs. K. C. I'owell irmain, 
while many who came in 18()!( are still here. 

Within the limits of Parker townshi)>, as origiiially constilnted, tlie 
first three school districts in the county were organi/.ed. Wilhin this 
territory the first school-house in the counly was built ; the lirst school 
taught; the first sermon preached; the first marriage solemnized; the 
first church organized and the first building to be used exclusively for 
church ]iur|)oses erected. Here was held the first inquest and the first 
I)reliminary examination on a charge of nuirder. conducted under the 
f<M-ms of law. Wilhin the limits of this township the most startling and 
sensational ad of moli violence known in the histiuy of the county was 
enacted, and here an enormous bonded debt was fastened ui)on the 
county by election methodvs the most daring and conscienceless that can 
he conceived. 

Tlie first scho(d-house, erected near Tally Sjirings. in the early sum- 
mer of 18()!), was a very primitive structure indeed. Its walls consisted 
of slabs set on end and sui)ported in an upright position by poles at- 
tached to four posts set in the ground. The bare earth served as a floor 
and the roof was partly of clap-boards and partly of straw cut from th(! 
prairie near by. Windows were unnecessary, as the chunks between tlie 
slabs of the walls admitted all the light and air that was needed. In I his 
rude structure John ('. Kounce. a young son of ])r. E. K. Kounce. taught 
a small subscription school in the summer of the same year; which is 
Indieved to be the pioneer school of the county. During the winter of 
18G'J-7() Miss Laura Foote conducted a school at the village of Claymore 
which, some historians claim, was the first school taught in the count v, 



IIISroUY OF MONTGOMERY COUN'Ty. KANSAS. 1 13 

hut 1liPi-e can lie no doiilil tliai the Kounce si-hool preceded that taught 

hv .Miss Fdote liy several iiioiiths. 

Religion 

The itinerant Methodist pi-eaclier is usually the fii'St to sjuead the 
■'illail li(liiii;s" in ])i(Mieei- settlements of the west, hut in this county he 
was jireceded hy his Uajilist brothei-. Kev. F. L. Walker, a Baptist min- 
ister li-om Oswego, Kan.sas, preached au opeu-air sernu)n at Tally 
Sjiriniis in ilie summer of 18(59, which is believed to be the first effort at 
relii^ious teaching ever attempted in the county. At this time the first 
clinrcli organization was effected under the name and title of Salem liaj)- 
lisl church. 

-^ little later on lOlder -lohu Randle. a ("liristian minister, prea<hed 
a series of sermons in the same locality sometimes (K-cupyiug the school- 
lionsc above described and sometimes holding forth in the ojten air, or at 
(he houses of the neighboiing settlers; especially at the home of the 
widow Fike whose daughter the Keverend gentleman afterward mar- 
ried. This is claimed by the old settlers of that neighborhood to be the 
-eai-liest ](roti"icted meeting, or religious revival held in the county. 

The old log church which stood (ui an elevated jioint in the north- 
west corner of the townslii|i, beside the wagon road leading from ("otl'ey- 
ville to lnde|iendence, was undoubtedly the first building erected in the 
county to be used exclusively for church purposes. It was built by the 
unitcil clforts of the settlers in that part of the township, of rough hewn 
logs, contributed by the "S(puitlers" on the tind)er lands along the river 
.and rai.sed hy an assemblage of neighbors gathered together b.\- ])revious 
a]ipointnient for that ])urpose: the foui- corners being securely notched 
logelher; the sjiace between the logs tilled \\ith bits of wood jdasterecl 
with clay and the whole being covered with a substantial roof of claji- 
boards. 

Tliis old church was, for years, the shrine toward \\hicli .\<ning and 
old lieni their stejjs on each rwairring Sunday, but time, \\hicli effaces 
:ill things, has left nothing. sa\e the neighlioiiiig graves, to mark the site 
<d' the sacred editice. 

Wedding- Bells 

.\bout niidsunniier of l.'^li!) "Old Man ^'asser," the jdoneer gun- 
snjilli. Ii\ing on a claim just north of the village of ("layniore, gave his 
daughter. <'atherine, in marriage to one, James Danehu. This was believ- 
ed to be the first marriage in the county and the men and boys from the 
village, and neighboring claims. |)roceeded to celebrate the event in true 
frontier style; creating such a frightful din Ihat some unsusjiecl ing 
neighbors lied from their homes in mortal fear of an Indian uprising. 



114 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

The First Murder 

lu March or April 187(1, an old man named McCabe. living alone in 
a little cabin a short distance northwest of Tally Springs, was found 
dead a few yards from his cabin door. The discoverer of the body, hav- 
ing reported his ghastly find to (ieorge Carlton, a claim-holder living 
near by. alarmed the neighborhood and led a party of half a dozen or 
more to the scene of the tragedy. 

The condition of the premises, as seen at this visit, indicated that 
the old man had been stealthily api)roached while sitting at his break- 
fast ; that a shot, which jiassed through his boot leg, had given the first 
intimation of danger; that jMcCabe had risen hastily and engaged in a 
struggle with his assailant, and that the victim, after being shot through 
the body at such close range as to set fire to his clothing, had run from 
the hut and fallen forward on his face, and that the body had been rolled 
over and the pockets rifled. 

Tills murder furnished the occasion for the first inquest lield in the 
<ou7ity, and incidentally showed the "sciuatters" '" respecr fin- orderly 
methods of procedure in such emergencies. The county not yet being 
fully organized, there was no officer in reach, so far as these settlers 
knew, who was qualified to take charge of this case, but the assembled 
neighbors, desiring, as far as possible, to observe the forms of law, pro- 
ceeded to elect a jury comjiosed of J. F. Savage. George Carlton, Mike 
Carlton, E. K. Kounce, John McCaleb and John Swarbourg. These gen- 
tlemen effected a formal organization by electing Mr. Savage foreman 
and were sworn in as a coroner's jury by ('. H. Wyckotf, an attorney at 
law. 

This jury instituted a formal investigation which resulted in the 
conclusion that the facts were substantially as stated above, and that 
the motive was robbery. A bullet digged from the earthen floor where 
it had buried itself after passing through the victim's trousers and boot 
leg, indicated that the attack had been sudden and un.suspected, and the 
u](-set table and scattered ware showed that the man had risen hastily 
to defend himself, or escape by flight. The burned clothing at the point 
where the fatal bullet entered the body indicated close contact with the 
murderer, as if there had been a struggle for life, and the similarity of 
the exhumed bullet to the one cut from the body of the murdered man 
was evidence that the assault was made by but one person, while the in- 
verted jtockets showed robbery to be the nuttive for the deed. 

It was also ajiparent that the assassin had done his Idoody work 
hastily, as several dollars in bills were left in his victim's vest jKuUet 
and a jiiece of script, or fractional paper rurrency. was found on the 
ground beside the body. 

The finding of the jury was, that "deceased came to his death by 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 1 15 

iiKMiis cf a leaden bullet lived fioiii a pistol in the hands of some per- 
son unknown." The body was then removed to the honse of Georoe 
<'ai'lt('n and pre])ared for Inirial which, liowever, was further delayed, as 
\\ill lie seen below. 

First Preliminary on the Charge of Murder 

The nnanlhorized proreedinj;s of the Tally Sprinjis selllers, in tlie 
mailer of the Mc('al)e murder, althou^li iionoi-al)le and well-meant, were 
not ]]ermitted I0 pass unchallenued. While Mi('abe"s body still waited 
tor burial ICli Mennis, of \\'estralia, who had i-ecently been comiiiission- 
ed a .luslice of the Peace, apjteared upon the scene with a jiosse and, 
takinji' possession of the body, proceeded to hold anotlier iutpiest. I am 
not iiifornied as to the finding of the second jury ,but it must have cast 
suspicion on three brothers named Shaw, who were holding a l>unch' of 
ci'.trle in the neiiihborhood and contesting the right of ^IcCabe to hold 
the claim he occupied. 

Ir was alleged b\ the settlers on (lie mu-th side of the creek, that the 
Westralia i)arty came out prepared not only to hold the incpiest but to 
execute 111" murderous Shaws. who. it is believed, were already adjudged 
guilt;, ot the crime. An air of probability is given to this susi)iciou by 
the fact that one of the e(pii]inien1s of the party was a length of new rojie 
which could have had no legitimate ottice to |ierform in the ceremonies 
attending a legal in(|uesf upon the detid body. Hvitwever this may be, 
woi-d had gone out that the Shaws were in danger and the Tally. Springs 
I)arty hastened to the scene of acticm where they found the sus])ects under 
arrest, and a council in progress under a large oak, with si)reading 
branches standing out from the body suggestively. The most fif these 
neighbors having brought their long sijuirrel rities with them the visit- 
ins; gentlemen from the south side of the creek, esteeming discretion the 
better part of valor, silently witluhrw leaving their juisoners in the 
hamls of the Tally Springs contingent. This movement proved only to be 
a feint, as a posse was sent out early the next morning to re-arrest the 
Shaws and bring them to Westralia for trial. 

Then followed the arraingnnient and trial which, as Imfore stated, 
was the tirst formal examination held in the county on a clnirge of mur- 
<ler. i:ii Dennis. .1. P.. jiresided and .1. },{. Scudder enacted the roll of 
])rosecuIor. while ('. W. KIlis and J. I ». McCue, two young men who sub- 
setpiently rose to ]iositions of prominence in the judiciary of the state, 
were retained as counsel for ttie accused. The legal battle raged Hercely 
for several days but \icIory finally perched upon the banner of the de- 
lendants" attorneys and theii- clients, being released, hastily left the 
count ly. 

The real murderer ot .McCabe will iie\er be known, but some of the 
settlers north ot the creek suspected one, liill Howell, a suspicious looking 



Il6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

fellow, who had for some time been banging around the oamii of the 
Shaws and who, as was afterward remeiubered, disappeared on the day 
of the ninrder. and was never again seen or heard of in this part of the 
counlry. 

Bonding: the County 

In 1870 tlie L. L. & H. Kailway Conijiany submitted a proposition 
to build twenty-one miles of road in the county, conditioned ujtou the 
voting to said company, in aid of the enterprise, the sum of two hundred 
thousand dollars in county bonds. As it was evident that the road 
would be built across tlu^ county near its east line. I'arker township un- 
dertook to see that the jiriiposilioii was accepted by an atlirmative vote, 
and in order that there might be no failure iu carrying out that purpose, 
all restrictions on the elective franchise, on account of age. sex and 
residence, were temporarily removed. 

rhe election was held at the town of Westralia and for that day the 
fight between the rival towns was suspended, the citizens of each vicinity 
vieing with those of the otliers in their etforts to carry the proposition 
through to a successful issue each faction, of course, expecting its favor- 
ite locality to be made the terminus of the line, and each, no doubt, hav- 
ing assurances from the manipulators of the project,, that its desires 
would be gratified. All were, therefore, animated by a determination to 
])oll enough votes to overcome any opposition that might be developed iu 
other jiiU'ts of the county. 

When the day ajipoiuted for the election ari-ived a board, friendly to 
the i)ropositiou. was installed and the voting began. It soon developed, 
Iiowever, that Eli Dennis, one of the judges, was inclined to be over-crit- 
ical as to the qualifications of voters, so a novel scheme was concocted to 
get him out of the way. It clianced that lie was the local justice of the 
])eace and numerous litigants liad Itusiness with him that day that was 
too imjiortant to admit of delay so he was called aside for frequent and 
j)ro]onged consultation, during which intervals visitors from Labette 
(county, the ludian Territory, Arkansas and .Missouri, and such small 
boys as were ambitious to cast their "maiden ballot," were rushed to the 
jiolling place and permitted to vote for the bonds, no questions being 
asked, except that each voter give a name, his own or not, no matter, to 
be entered on the tally sheets. 

Tender these ciicumstances it is not surjirisiug that men voted 
"early and often." but even these irregularities were not sufticieut to sat- 
isfy the nutnipulators of the j<ib. It is alleged that Fred C)"I>rien, an 
expert pennmn eni])loyed iu George HialTs grocery at Parker, procured 
some blank tally sheets whiih he filled with names copied at rand(uu from 
an old New York directory found among the effects of his emjiloyer. 
These were passed in to the election board with the number of ballots to 



HISTORY OF JIONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. II7 

correspond with the uaiuos on the bogus sheets, and made a jiart of the 
returns. 

I can not now recall tlu> uiinilier of votes polled at Westralia on that 
eventful day but it was not far short of tlie total pojtulation of the 
county. Bv such means the coveted aid was voted and in tlie following 
year the road was built, but with characteristic ingratitude the com]>any 
ignored the claims of all the friendly towns and selected a site just north 
of the village of Cott'eyville for the terminus of the line. 

This exhibition of bad faith on the i)art of the company aroused an 
intense feeling of bitterness in the outraged coninninity which culmin- 
ated in an effort to defeat the delivery of the bonds. Suit was iirought in 
the T'jiited States court at Jjcavenworth. with Albert H. Horton as at- 
torney for the county, but for some reason — which has never been satis- 
factorily explained — the county commissioners suddenly changed front 
and ordered the suit dismissed "without i)rejudice;" this wasaccordingly 
done and an order issued for the delivery of the bonds, which of course, 
jiassed into the hands of innocent purchasers, and thus another link was 
forged in the conspiracy against the county. 

The bonds being delivered and sold, it became the duty of a subse- 
quent board of county con)missioners to le\y a tax for the payment of 
interest and to provide a sinking fund for the ultimate redemption of the 
bonds. This the board declined to do and the case again went into the 
courts. This time the ])e()])le took a hand in the tight and appointed an 
advisory committee to collect evidence and advise with the commission- 
ers as to the best method of conducting The defense. The I'arker town- 
ship contingent of the advisory committee made a thorough inquiry into 
the ^^>stralia election methods and secured the consent of a nundjer of 
the chief actors to a|)]iear in court and testify as to the irregularities 
herein (h*scribed. but for some reason the commissioners c<im](romised the 
case an.d the evidence failed to become a matter of record, but the facts 
as herein stated nuiy be confidently accejited by the stuilent of the early 
history of the county as being substantially correct. 

Murder and Mob Violence 

Tn 1871 the deliberale and cooly planned murder of an inoffensive 
old man. which fnniislied the occasion for the startling and sentsational 
act of n:)b violence already referred To, occurred almost within sight 
of the town of I'arker. Old Jake Miller and John A. Twiss were rival 
claiman.ts for a qtiarter section of land adjoining the original settlement 
of Lews Scott in the Verdigris Valley. Not succeeding in ousting Twiss 
by intimidation, sillier called a consultation of his friends to devise 
some more elfective means of getting rid of the prior claiTnant. In jmi- 
fuance of This purjiose John Sturman, William Ross and Jim Bradeu, a 
negro, met at 5Iiller"s house and. after discussing the situation, concluded 



Jl8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

.tliat ;is Twiss livi'd al)iie in his little cabin, the safest and most expe- 
ditious plan was to remove him by assassination. A plan of proeeedure 
Jbeing- agreed upon,, and a certain Sunday night set for the perpetration 
of the bloody deed, the conspirators dispersed to their several homes to 
await the appointed hour for the perfurmance of their respective jiarts in 
the bloody drama. On that fatal Sunday night the church-going jiart of 
the community «ere surprised to see old -lake Miller and his entire fam 
ily enter the village churcli, and nniny whispered comments were made 
upon the unusual cii'cuni stance. 

The nH>vements of Sturman on that day are not now remembered, 
but they were such as to enable him to prove an alabi, if it should be 
necessary. Ross li\ed several miles u]> the river and (sn that a<-count was 
not likely to be suspected; and in the case of the negro, Braden. there was 
no known motive to connect him with such a crime. However, as was 
developed by the subse(pient investigation. TJr.ss was to cdmmit the mur- 
der and the negro was to wait for him at a certain ]i(>inl cm ilie river, 
where a skiff \\as known to be kept, and there set him across that he 
might return to his home by the most direct and least traveled route. 

On the afterno(ui of the day a])])ointed for Twiss" removal Koss called 
at the store of W. W. Ford, in Tarker, and purchased an iron weilge, 
wliiili had the jirii-e marked ujjon it with white paint, in the merchant's 
|)rivate ci|)her. He also bought a lunch of some kind and ate it in the 
store, taking so much time about it that it was (|uite late when lie took 
his departure. From there he evidently went to the home of Twiss where 
he shot the old man as he sat at his table reading a small pocket bible. 
This shot not proving immediately fatal the old man appears to have 
risen and rushed to the door, where he was met by the murderer who 
clubbed him with his gun. crushing his skull and breaking the stock from 
the barrel of the gun. 

The assassin then repaired to the place appointed for crossing the. 
river, sank the broken gun in the water and was ferried across by Kraden, 
who then returned to his own home in the heavy timber. 

The body of the murdered nuin was soon discovered by a neighbor 
returning fi'om the church where (dd -lake Miller had that night attended 
church. The alarm was given and an immediate search for a clue to the 
perjietrator of the crime instituted. 

In those days claim trobles were not an infrequent cause of enmity 
between neighbors, and M'iller's known contention with Twiss for posess- 
um of the claim they both occujjied, and his sudden piety on the night of 
the iiiurdei'. caused him to be susi)ected of complicity in the crime. He 
was. therefore, arrested on the following Tuesday morning. The arrest of 
Sturman and Kraden soon followed, not because there was any evidence 
.against them but because of their known intimacy with Jliller subjected 
Ihem to suspicion of having a guilty knowledge of the crime. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I IQ 

In the meantime searcli was liciiif;' made about the TwiKs cabin for a 
clue which resulted in the finding and identification of the iron wedge 
purchased by Koss on the day of the murder. This, of course, connected 
Ross with the crime and- he was immediately arrested. The prisoners 
were arraigned before S. B. Morehouse, J. P., for examination on a charge 
of murder, J. ]M. Pcudder appearing as attorney for the state and C. W. 
Ellis acting as counsel for Ihe accused. A plea of "not guilty" was 
entered, and as there was no evidenre n]iiiii which to hold .Miller, Stur- 
man and Bradcn, they were released. 

Marshall S. S. Peterson, however, still kept his eye on the negi'o and, 
finally, by threatening to lock him uji in the little one-celled calaboose 
with Koss, he was so wrought up, on account of his superstitious fears, 
that he made a full confession to the facts as above i-ecited. 

On the strength of this confession Miller and Sturman were rearrest- 
ed, and Braden, being assured of his jiersonal safety, c(msented to come 
into court and give evidence for the state. 

Following the discovery of the tragedy which had been enacted at 
the lonely Twiss cabin. ])opular excitement had raged at fever heat and 
the sessions of the court had drawn such crowds of interested spectators 
as to tax the capacity of the little school house where the trial was held, 
and it was expected that the final sitting would bring out an unusually 
large attendence, and that the tide of ]io]>ular excitement would reach 
the danger limit. So a posse was summoned to secure the safety of court 
and prisoners, but notwithstanding the rumored confession of the negro 
and its confirmation by the finding of the broken gun at the [)lace pointed 
out by him, the finding of the iron wedge and its identification as the one 
bought by Ross on the day of the murder, and the sensational story that 
Braden was expected to tell about the conspiracy and crime. (lie atteml- 
ance was noticeably small. There seemed to be a sudden lajise of po])ular 
interest in the prcx-eedings and wlieii the prisoners were remanded ti) 
jail to be held for trial before the district cottrt. only a few idle men and 
boys were on hand to follow them and their guards to the calaboose, 
where they were manacled and locked uji for the night; a guard being 
placed about the building for additional safety. 

Some time during the night the seeming lajise of jiopnlai- interest in 
the court jjroceedings at the little school house were exjilained in a start- 
ling manner, .\notlier couit. that of ••Judge Lynch." had evidently been 
holding a star chamber session with a full attendence. The guards at the 
jail were suddenly confronted with overwhelming numbers and quietly 
ordered to surrender. So orderly and unexpectedly was the attack that 
the n:en seemed to have risen uji out of the ground and in such numbers 
as to make it apparent tiiat resisteiice would be worse than useless. So 
the officer and his jiosse silently obeyed the order to lay down their arms. 
The jail key was taken from the jiocket of night marshal. .lohn Sowash. 



,120 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

the door unlockeil and llie prisoners broiisjlit f'urtli. The officers :uul 
gUMrds, except two youiin fellows, were pushed into the jail and the door 
closed upon them and locked. The two voung fellows were stationed a 
little wav from the building with their faces to the west and told not to 
move for a given time on jiain of death. A wagon w;is procured into 
which the prisoners were mounted and a procession formed which moved 
a little way east and then turned n )rth in the direction of the scene of 
the late tragedy. All the^■e movements were executed so silenlly rhat the 
sleejdng inmates of the nearest residences were undisturbed. 

The two young men with their faces to the west stood like statues 
nntil sure their jirobation had exjiired, when they procured a sledge ham- 
mer and broke the htck from the jail door. rel(>asing the officers and 
guards, but n-> jiursuit \\as altemjtteil mil 11 morning, when the bodies of 
their prisoners. .Miller. Sturman and Koss wei-e found hanging from a 
branch of a large oak which stood near the door of the Twiss i-abin. 

The man who kejit the ferry near by rej)orted that he had sei an 
armed party, nund)ei-ing about sixty men, across the riser on that fatal 
night, and the gtiards at the jail estimated the nnndier of their cajitors 
from fifty to sixty, but the exact nnndier has never been known. Xeitlicr 
has the identity of these self-apjiointed executioners ever been made 
public. 

This was no ordinary mob mined to deeds of violence by tierce utt- 
reasoning ]iassion. but a company of cool-headed, determined men. who, 
seeing in tlie Twiss murder a menace to the peaceful and orderlv admin- 
istration of alfairs, so necessary to the safety and good repute of the com 
munil.\, resohcd to forewarn those who were inclined to yield to the 
promptings of evil jiassiiui. by visiting swift and terrible punishment 
upon the stealthy ami cowardly assassins of an unoffending old man. 
This is amply jiroven by the entire absence of the usual methods of the 
mob. There was no noisey bluster, no wanton destruction of property, 
no effort to terrorize the community by the reckless discharge of firearms 
and the mutilation of the bodies of the victims, Init just a quiet and 
orderly inflict ion of the death penalty ujion a convicted murderer and his 
t'ellow-cons))irat(irs, 

»>r(iinariiv no good citizen can afford to condone the taking of hunuiri 
life \\ itiiont due ]nocess of law. but in a frontier settlement such execu 
<ii'ns as is here desci-ibed sometimes afford the best possilde safeguai'd to 
the lives and ]»roperty of the well-disposed. That such was the effect of 
the summary execution of the Twiss murderers, there is little doubt, as 
in those days there were many conflicting interests which might have ter- 
Muinated in murder if this on(> had been |ierinitted to pass unavenged. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 121^ 

Rival Towns 

In Ili(> \viiit(>r of lS(iS-!t the tradiii}!- \nm of (J. L. Canada, on Pump- 
kin Creek, became llie nucleus of tlie villa_<;e of Claymore wliicli orew to be" 
a siiiart little town of iierliajis one linndred souls. Karly in the spring 
followinn' a town conijiany was formed with (J. ]>. Canada, jiresident. aixl 
A. -M. Duncan as secret ary. A few small stores were opened to su])pl> 
the \illa^ers and scattered settlers with dry «;(iods and i;roceries and (o 
trade with the Indians. John Liishbaiij|;h. one of the store keejjers, also 
ke|il a tavern for the entertainment of man and beast, and Dr. Stewart, 
the ])ione(>r doctor, whose armamentarium consisted of a fow obsolete 
journals, a time-worn disjiensatory, a jiair of dilajiidated saddle ba2;s, a 
tooth forc(»ps and a dozen or so of bottles and packages, set up an office in 
one corner of Lushliaugh's store. 

ilie promoters of this town started out with high h ipex of building 
a town o*' importance but. alas, for the stability of human hopes, the 
summer was not half over before the enterprise was oNcrshadowed by the 
founding of the rival town of Westralia. 

This village was fouiuled by Capt. H. C. Crawford and Eli Dennis 
in the early summei- of ISCiil. It was located on a broad plateau, midway 
between Claymore and the south line of the state, on an old cattle trail 
leading from the south, known as the A\'est Trail, hence the name, 
Westralia. 

The village sprang into iirominence an<l in a very few months boasted 
a population nundu'iing several hundred. It was the mart toward which 
long lines of prairie schooners, freighted with fruit and produce, from 
^Missouri and Arkansas, wended their way. ami its merchants did a flour- 
ishing business with the scattered settlers in the neighborhood, the Osage 
Indians from the several villages scattered along the river and the resi- 
dents of the Cherokee country on the south. When I visited the place 
in the late summer of the same year it presented an air of bustling ac- 
tivity sur]irising to see. in a country so sparcely settled, liut it was the' 
sup]dy i)oint for a territory many miles in extent and its merchiints did 
a thriving trade. ^Lewhiney & Fagan. E. C. Robertson and N. F. Howard 
were leading merchants. O. 1^. HInes conducted a harness and saddlery 
shop. Louis Souger ke])t the village hotel. Joe Benoist, of Baxter 
Spi-ings. ])Ut in a slock of drugs (the first in the i-ounfyi jiresided ovei' by 
John Fleminji. Perry Clary and l-^d. Suydam were dealei-s in live stock. 
Joe ilcCreary ran a saw mill near by and Dr. .Mien, afterword famous 
as a Masonic lecturer, was the village doctor. The jdoneer newspaper of 
the county was published here, as ajipears in the chapter on "Newspap- 
ers" in this book. 

It would seem that a town with five or six hundred iiduibitauts. lo- 
cated on a commanding site, doing a large and lucrative business in- 
nearly all lines of trade; its professional men. merchants and tradesmen 



122 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

owuiug their stores, shops ami resideuees, might well liope to hold its 
own itgaiiist all later rivals, hut such was the state of uncertainty as to 
the final location of the metropolis that men held themselves in readiness 
to mount their buildings on wheels and move them to any point which, 
for the moment, might seem to be backed by a more powerful influence. 
So \A'estralia. with all her business and bustle and bright prospects, 
was destined soon to experience the fate of her sister — Claymore. 

Tally Spring's 

In August IStiit. .T. F. Savage. E. K. Konnce. William Fain and Dr. 
Dennison formed a town company and laid out the village of Tally 
S[)rings, armmd a large natural sjuing of that name on Potato (.'reek, 
about one and one-half miles northwest of Westralia. Lying directly in 
the line of the L. L. & <i. K. R., as afterward constructed, this village 
might, by liberal management, have become a formidable rival to the vil- 
lage of Westralia and jirevented altogether the founding of Parker 
and the ]>resent town of ("ott'eyville. but E. K. Kounce, whose claim 
formed a part of the site, had such an exaggerated idea of the importance 
of the location that he refused to encourage the investment of capital by 
giving away buihling lots. 

It is said that Parker. York & Co., the wealthiest of all the ])ioneer 
merchants, prepared to open up their immense stock of merchandise here, 
if given a one-eighth interest in the town site of three hundred and 
twenty acres, but Ko\uice promptly informed tlierii that if they wanted 
lots in that town they must buy them. This undoubtedly settled the fate 
of this promising village, which never attained a ])0]uilation above fifty 
or seveuty-five ])eoi)le. After the building of the raih-oad the name of the 
village was changed to Kalloch. and a station maintained there for a few 
years. l)ut even this was finally abandoned and the land reverted to farm 
purposes. 

Coffeyville — Old Town 
About the time the Tally Springs townsite was being platted or a 
little later. Col. Coffey. N. B. Rlanton. Ed. Fagan, .John Clarkson and 
William Wilson formed a company and laid out a town around Col. Cof- 
fey's trading post, previously established for the purpose of trading with 
the Pdack Dog band of Osages, who then had their little village south of 
Onion ("reek, on the site subsequently ajiprctju'lated by Ben. Chouteau, 
and still known as the Chouteau jdacc. The new town was named Cof- 
feyville in honor of its principal founder, but it did not assume much 
importance until 1871. Col. Cofl'ey was the princi[>al merchant, N. B. 
l^lanton kept the hotel. Peter Wheeler, an accomjdished young i)hysiciiVii, 
administered t') the ills of the people, E. Y. Kent presided at the black- 
smith's forge, and S. B. Hickman kept a little store and handled the 
I'nited States mail. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOXIERY 001-NTY, KANSAS. 12^ 

A little later on C. W. Mnim, KaiTon & Hedtloii. J. S. Burns and 
Kead Bros., were added to the business circles, but as before stated the 
real history of the ])lace did not beoiii until the L. L. & (J. Railroad was 
built in 1S71. so it will be tieated under llie head of Cott'eyville. of which 
it soon became a part. 

Parker 

In the late summer of 1S(!!), -James W. I'arker, of the Southwestern 
Staf>e ('(im]ian.v, came to southern Kansas to rest and recuperate 
and in<i(l(Mitall\ to try the effect of the climate on a ](ainful disease from- 
which he had long been a sufferer. While here he became greatly inter- 
ested in the prospect of the early growth of a good town on the border, 
l)ut not being satislied with the conditions of either of the sites already 
laid out, he ])urchased a claim of I'eter Miller on the east bank of the 
Verdigris river, about (uie mile fi'om Westralia and a little nearer to tlie 
state line. Here he laid out and ]ilatted a town site, and soon after or- 
ganized a town comjiany. with Maj. II. ^^'. Martin as ]iresident, and D. T. 
I'arker as secretary. 

This town was cliristened Parkersbourg in lnuior of its founder, but a 
little later on the "bourg" was dropped, as it was thought that the simple 
nanii' of the fjumder was more ap])ropiiate. as well as being less cumber- 
some. The well known character of Mr. I'arker for honesty and financial 
standing served to attract immediate attention to The new town and 
j)eo]»Ie began to talk about the rising metropolis before there was any- 
thinu-, excei)t the surveyor's stakes to mark the site. 

U'hen 1 came to the place in the last days of 0<'tober in 1869 there 
wei'e just three houses on the town site: the original claim cabin, a small 
structure built of logs, a little board shanty used by the town comjiany as 
an office, and a small three-room building owned and occu]iied by Robert 
Walker as a boai-ding house; but ground had been liroken for The locati';n 
of a lai'ge double stoi-e room soon to be occupied by Parker. York & Co. 
as a general store. Their |40,()00.00 stock of goods was already being re- 
ceived and stored in Temjiorary sheds, uniil The building c()uld be n>.ade 
ready for occiijiancy. 

Wright & Kirby had located a saw mill near by and a considerable 
UTimber of men wei-e engaged in felling tlie oak, cottouwood and walnut 
trees, of which tliere ^\■as an abundant gi-owth in the valley hnids, and 
carting them to the mill lo be cut into lumber to supply the lapidiy in- 
creasing demand. The saw and hammer were heard early and late, and 
stores, sliojis and residences s]irang u]) as fast as lumber could be 
obtaine<l foi- tlieir construction. 

Parker, York & Co.'s building was soon <i>mpleTed and their im- 
mense stock of merchandise, consisting of dry goods, groceries, hardware, 
boots and shoes, hats and cajis, farming implements, liquors, etc.. were- 



124 IIISTOIIY OF MONTliOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

opoiiPii lip and a corps of ilci-ks installed to serve the luiiiiei-ous oustoiu- 
ei's who eame from inaiiv miles around. 

The o]ieiiiiij> of (his mammoth store was followed by the o])eniiig of 
maiiv smaller |ilaccs, reiiresentiiif; all lines of trade, traiisformini;- the 
place, in a few weeks, from a (iiiiel laiids(a|ie iiilo a lliriviiiu ronimercial 
center. 

The wide reiuitation of the founder of the new town, the confideiice 
displayed by rarUer, York & ( "o. in the inv(>simenl of a small fortuue in 
nuM'cantile business in (his border land, and (lie iin])recedented growtli 
of the couii(\ in ]iopiila( ion. served to sdmiiiale a marvelous <;rowth in 
the little city, so (ha(. in less than a year. i( had comiilelely overshadowed 
the rival villajics and ac(|uired a jioiuibnion es(inia(ed at on(> thousand 
souls. 

Amonji those eiifjajjiii!;' in business liere. at (his early period, I remem- 
ber Parker. York & Co., \V. AY. Fiud. (Jreen L. Canada, Uuenaman Bros., 
Harricklaw Bros., and (lould & McDonald, general merchandise; Frazier 
& Fra/.ier. \Yells Bros., (ieorjre Hiill. John ^^"l•i;;h(. and Cox Bros., gro- 
ceries.. Cunningham & Fra/ier. and Sco(( i^ llooser. drugs; l». A. Davis, 
and Hiues \ HioKy. ii;irness and saddlery; Ziba Maxwell, sloves and tin- 
ware, ("apt. A. .M. Smidi. and ^'annllm & I'eterson. livery; !S. O. Kbersole, 
jewelry; John Todd. wag<»n-niaker; M'orehouse & Beardsley, and John Le- 
wark. blacksmidis; J. C. Frazier. UimbtMinan; Jose)(li Benadum. Frank 
Boggs, and John McDonald, carpenters and builders; C. AY. lOllis, T.eroy 
Xeal. and B. l"-. Horner, altorneys; (1. D. Baker, editor of (he Barker Rec- 
ord; John I'.evi'i-ly. barber; Louis Kliule. baker and confectioner; C. il. 
lleatheringtcm. billiard hall; Smith *c Nlallen. Scott & Kearns, John 
Prutteman. .ind Ne;il & Cottingham. liipiors; .John Iai)sy, Robert AYalker, 
John Brown. John (larper and Heiu-.\ I.ec. boarding; S. li. Morehouse 
and M. D. Bailey, holels; C. S. Brown, bookkeeper; William AYallace, 
John S. hang, I'rosper N'idie. Fred O'I'.rien. I'.noch Madder. Matt Draper, 
and Edwin Foster, clerks; T. C. Frazier and F. B. Dunwell. |)hysi<ians ; 
several of whom are s(ill residents of (he coniKy. 

Society in Parker 

(»n Chrisdiias nigh(. IStill. (he successful inaugnia( ion of (he new 
town was celebrated in the midst of a blinding snow storm (the first of 
the season) by a grand ball given in (he largt> hall over Parker. Y'ork & 
Co.'s store, tlie bampiet being sjiread al .l.inies Itiown's hotel, where 
plates were laid fiu- one hundred cou]iles. This was doubtless the first 
social event, of any considerable iuiportance. in Moii(gomery county and 
it was conducted in a manner (hat would Ikinc (bine credit to a much 
older sett lenient. 

Much has iK'en said and written about (he "wild aiul wooly" char- 
acter of the peo|>le. tli(>ir ]iredilecti(Ui for "a man for bi'eakfast every 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 125 

iiioriiiii.n." and all lliat, hut. a.s a matter of fact, persoual encounters were 
iiifi-e(|iieiit and tlie low dives and dance Imuses tliat disj^raoe the averajte 
border t<>\\ii. wei'c nut tidei'ated. On the contrary, there was a friendly 
feeliuii and unanimily of |iiir|iipse anmnj; our ]ieo|)le — a disposition to act 
to<;ctlier in matters |)ertainin<i- to the material welfare of the community, 
and ai' alisence of petty jealiousies tliat would have been remarkable in .a 
nnicli oldi'r community. True, the town was a resort for many rough 
characters, as every bustlini;'. border tfiwn must be. but as a rule ji;ood '.I 
lowslii]! prevailed, even in the most boisterous assemblajtes. 

As foi- our social <;atherinf;s they wotild conipare favorably with 
those of any old commnnily. A sti'anjicr droii|>inji into one of our even- 
ing entertainments would have found our women as modest and well 
dressed, our men as genteel and courtley. and our conversation as re- 
lined and well sustained as in any jiart of the country. Hie might have 
missed the music, the flowers, and the swalhiw-tailed coat, but in other 
respects he would ha\'e no reason to consider us uncivilized. 

To be sure the "shindig" was patronized by the i-nder element of so- 
ciety, and (Ml such occasions the hoodlum was very much in evidence, but 
even in these meetings good nature usually prevailed, and when it was 
otherwise, a black eye or a bloody nose was genei-;illy the most serious 
casualty. 

It was the unity of jpurjiose. ai)ove mentioned, that enabled the p(>ople 
of I'aiker to sustain, for three years., the biftcM- tight for supremecy which 
was waged against the rival town of <N)tTeyville. backed by the powerful 
intluence of the railroad company. It was this unity of effort that en- 
abled (hem to compel the I'ailroad company to extend its line to Parker 
and iiiaintain there, foi- months, better depot facilities than were su])- 
]died to its own town of < 'otfeyville. but the contest was une(|ual and 
some of our largest capitalists, growing tired of the struggle, abandoned 
the tight and a stampede (piickly followed. 

Incidents 

It is no easy task to select from the nniitijilicity of events which gave 
•color to our conimunity life during the brief time in which I'arkei' was the 
recognized metrojiolis of this cornei- of the county, those which will best 
illustrate the characteristics of the residents of that ill-fated village, but 
as my stoi'y would hardly be complete without some such attemjit, a few 
of th'' more striking are selected, leaving much to the imagination of the 
readei' 

The story of the summary justice meted out to the murderers of -lohn 

A. Twiss has already I n recited, so it only reiiiains to be said that tliis, 

although itself an unlawful act. serves to em|(hasize the detei'uiinat ion 
,r»f this |iioneer conimunil.\ to ])rotect the lives an<l property of the well- 



126 HISTORY OF MONTOOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

tlisjiosod. even to the jmiiit of takiiii; Imiiiiiii life, when the cii-cuiiistanees" 
seemed to wai-iaiit siu-li hei'oie ineasiiirs. 

On nuniPfotis occasions otir peojile were called tijion to exhibit this 
deTerniinatioii in such au emphatic manner as to warn the tonjih element 
tliat Ihev would not be permitted to terrorize the weak and timid witii 
impuL'iiit.v. 

In the spiinj;' of 1S71. when the railroad was nearini; coui])lcl ion to 
( 'oti'eyv ille, that village took on (|uile a little boom, ("attleuieu were drix 
inji their lierds to that point for sln]imeTit and with these herds canit^ the 
usual quota of reckless cowboys. The influx of this element caused the 
opening of numerous saloons and dance houses, and this, of course, 
brought into the community the usual gang of gamblers, pick iiockeis. 
thugs, and all-round toughs who constittite th(» ])atroiis and hangerson 
of such places. These gentry, as might be expected, soon took sides with 
CotVeyville in the town fight then just beginning between that village and 
I'arkcr. AlnutsT daily threats were made by these fellows that they were 
about to raid the latter place and wipe it out of existence, ami the exiieri- 
uieut was actually made on several occasions. 

Among the fre(|uenters of "Ked Hot Street." as the locality in Cof- 
feyville given over to saloons ;;nd datxe halls was called, was a notorious 
gang, known as the "Adams gang." These fellows had frequently given 
it out that they were going down to Parker to shoot tip the town. One 
morning word was brought in that the "gang" was actually advancing up- 
on the city, and preparation was made to give them a warm reception. 
I'reity soon they were heard riding across the river bridge and in a few 
moments they ai)])eared in the smith end of Oak street, which was then 
the main business street of The town. Here they were met by a lommitlee 
who notified tlieni that they were not wanted in that town, at the same 
time calling their attention to the gleaming gun barrels protruding from 
every corner and doorway along the street ; a convincing evidence of the 
inlios]iitable intentions of the jieoj)le toward such fellows as they. This 
ended I he interview, and the "'gang", esteeming discretion the better part 
of valor, (piietly witlidrew To lie seen in that town no more. 

On another occasion Two young fellows rode into the town without 
]irevi(ius atinounceiiieut. "to have some fun with the town." They were 
more daring Than The "Adams giing" aiul acTually commenced hostilities 
by shooting the windows out of (Uie of The hotels. The shooting aTTracTed 
the utlention of the marshall. v»ho soon ajipeared on The scene wiTh a 
jios.^e and summoned The invaders to surrender, and U]ioii their refusal to 
do so the marshall shot one of them thriuigli tlie neck, while one of his 
assistants beat the oTher into insensibility with a club. When the man 
with llie liulleT in his neck was ]iicked up he was found To have sustained 
a liroken neck, producing complete jiaralysis of the body and limbs, from 
which, he died two days later. His companion soon regained conscious- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 127 

iioss ;iii(l was iicrinitlcil In leave town, while the wouiKled man was put 
In lied ill the hotel iijiiii whieli he had just made a waiitmi assault, and 
tenderly cared for until death. 

Out of the killing just (h'scrihed grew the only fatal collision be- 
tween resident citizens of the town. This tragedy — the killing of George 
Conry hy Alex. Keiirns — which was enacted on the following day, cre- 
ated a more intense feeling of e.xcitenient than any other event which 
ever occnred in the \illage tf Parker. These two men were rival saloon 
keepers, between whom an unfriendly feeling had existed for some time, 
;;:;d .ift(>r the fra.MS above descT'tt d Conrv accused Kearns of kicking 
the c'idibed man as he lay unconscious where he fell from his horse. 
Keariis resented the accusation and on the following morning went to 
Oonr;,V' place of business and demanded an apology, which Conry re- 
fused to make. but. instead, reitterated the charge jireviously made. 
This so enraged Kearns that he opened lire upon Conry with a small 
caliber revolver, inflicting several body wounds. Friends interferred 
and Kearns then returned to his own place, while Conry went to his 
boarding house a few rods away, where I was summoned to dress his 
wounds. 

As I, pas.sed (low n the street toward Lee's iKjarding house, where 
<dnry lived, Kearns came out of an alley just ahead of me and also 
turned in the direction of the l)oarding house. A moment later, Conry, 
siri](]ied to the waist, rushed int^i the street pistol in hand, and a duel 
with Ir.rge caliber weajions lK*gan. Several shots were fired, one of which, 
from Keai-ns" pistol, passed through the thin walls of the building, 
woumting Ileni-y I.ee in the arm. Finally, Kearns, resting his pistol on 
his left arm, took deliberate aim and tired. Simultaneously with the re- 
jiort o1 his pistol Conry leaped high in the air and fell dead in the street; 
the ball having entered his right eye so centrally as to make only a 
sight nick in both the upjier and lower lids. Kearns was immediately 
place<l under arrest and then began the intense jiopnlar excitement be- 
fore referred to. Kearns. who was blamed for following Conry uj), after 
having the best of the first encounter, was a fierce-tempered, over-bearing 
fellow, while Conry, aside from his tiusiness, was considered a quiet and 
respectable citizen; hence public indignation ran high against Kearns. 
The friends of Conry were bent on avenging his death by mob violence, 
but tli(> better element determined, if possible, to jtrevent this additional 
blot on the fair name of the city, so they foi-med themselves into a volun- 
tary committee to jtrotect the prisoner ami <|uiet the excitement. After 
two days and nights of unremitting effort, dispersing groups of excited 
people here and there and doing guard duty at the hotel whei-e the prison- 
er was held, the conimittee sui-ceeded in biinging about a lietter state of 
feeling. JltMi returned to theli- various occupations and the law was per- 
jnitted to take its couise. In (his case, however, its coui-se was not in ac- 



128 HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

cordaiice with the kuowu facts and I have heard some very j;<)od men 
express a regret that the mob had not been iMTinitted to work its will 
upon the slayer. 

Coffeyville 

In the spring of l.*^71. when the Leavenworth. Lawrence & (ialveston 
railroad (now tlie Santa Fel was nearing completion to the south line of 
the state, certain officers and emi)loyes of the company selected a tract of 
land lying immediately north of and adjoining the site of the "Old Town" 
of Colieyville. but located within the Osage Diminished Reserve, for town- 
site jairposcs. This tract of land, being a jiart of section 30, township 
;U. range 1(> east of the sixth jirinciiial meridian, was surveyed and 
platted by Octavius Chanute. chief engineer of the above-named railway, 
company as "Railroad Addition to the ("ity of Coffeyville," and it was 
entered for the "benetit of the occujiants"' by W. H. Watkins, probate 
judge, on the 2iM of .June ISTl. On the 20th day of October of the same 
year. ^Ir. ("hanute tiled his plat in the office of the register of deeds for 
Montgomery county, and thus was launched on the uncertain sea of com- 
mercial endeavor, another aspirant for the honor of being rated the best 
town in southern Kansas. 

The following winter the friends of the new town jirocured the enact- 
ment, by the state legislature, of a sjtecial law authorizing the incorpo- 
ration of the village of Coffeyville as a city of the third class. This law 
was signed by the governor on the 20th day of February 1872, and a few 
days hiter was presented to H'. O. Webb, judge of the district court for 
Afcmtgomery county, together with a jietitiou praying for the issuance 
of the necessary order for carrying the law into effect. This order was 
issued on the 5th day of March 1S72. fixing the limits of the new city so 
as to include only the "Railroad Addition" before mentioned. 

Judge Webb's order incorporating the city of Coffeyville fixed ^larch 
10, 1872. as the date for holding the first election for city officers, and 
designated election officers as follows: Judges, T. B. I'ldridge, G. W. 
Curry and J. ^I. Scudder; Clerks, H. A. Kelley and A. W. lloif. Can- 
vassing Hoard. J. G. Vannum, (J. J. Tallman and D. P. Hale. These 
electicui officers being duly (pialified bef(U-e VA\ Dennis. J. P.. on the ISth 
of Mai'ch, jiroceeded to jierform their duties in accordance with the order 
of the court, and made proclamation of the result of the election as 
follows : 

Mayor elect, A. H. Clark; Councilmen elect, W. Hi Bowers, G. W. 
Curry. G. J. Tallman. D. Blair and E. S. Eldridge; Police Judge, G. A 
Dunlaii. 

The mayor and C(uincilnien elect having been duly (pialified, held 
their first meeting on the 22d of .March, and <om]ileted the organization 
by th:^ a|)pointment of I. N. Kneelan<l, city clerk and Peter 1\. Flynn, 
marshall. 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I 29 

Tlnis it ciiiiu' ;ili<>ut that the tcnilorv ])lat(('(l as an addition to the 
villafjo ot Cottevville Itecanie tlip incoriioratcd cil.v of ("oH'cyville to the 
exclnsijon of the town to which it was ]iresnni(Hl to be only an addition. 

Tliis anonialons cii'cunistanfe was pi-esnnied to be jnstified by the 
fact that the Cherokee Strip, on which the old town was located, was not 
open for entry at the time of the incoriiorat ion, and, therefore, not under 
the jurisdiction of the court for sudi iiurjtoses, but, as will be seen later 
on, tliis view was not ai-cejited by the settlers on the orioinal town site. 

The Cherokee Striji of that day was not the Cherokee Strip opened to 
settlement a few years ago, and now a part of Oklahoma territory, but a 
narrow strip of land(al)out two and one-half miles wide at this point) 
ac(]uired by treaty with the Cherokee Indians when the final survey was 
made to locate the UTtli iiarallel of latitude which marks the southern 
boundary of the state of Kansas. 

On this striji. whiih was not oj)ened for entry until about two years 
after tlie Osajje ]>iminished Keserve lands came into market,, was located 
the original village of Coffeyville and the thriving town of I'arker and 
this is the circumstance jireviously referred to which gave Coffeyville the 
advantage and ultimately enabled her to win out in the fierce struggle 
for sujiremacy waged Ix'tween the two towns in the early seventies. 
Parker, with a better site, a larger ])o]>iilat ion and a stronger financial 
backing, had to yield to her younger rival because lier town company 
could not tell how long investors would have to wait for titles to the lots 
on wliich they were asked to make imjirovements. 

Having secured incorporation and effected the organization of a mu- 
nicipal government tliere was much rejoicing and mutual congratulation 
among the {x'ople of ("offeyville. but the n(>w city's troubles were by no 
means at an end. 

In addition to the fight made by the lusty young city of I'arker, there 
was war In'tween the two Cofl'eyvilles. There was blood in the eye of the 
people of the "old town" because of the con]i l>y which the new town had 
secured separate incorjioiation and robbed the old of its United States 
postoffice, which had iRM'n moved across the line. Frecjuent stormy meet- 
ings wei-e held at which the situation was discussed and the i)eople of 
the old town, having a sufticient club in that clause of the constitution 
which provides, "that in all cases whei^e a general statute can Ix" made 
applicable, no sjiecial law shall 1k' enacted," finally jirevailed so far as to 
force their neighbors to surrender their cha7-ter and seek re-incorpora- 
tion under the genei-al statute. 

A petition was circulated and signed by the ])eople of the two 
villages and jiresented to K. W. I'erkins, then judge of the district court, 
praying for the incorporation of the two villagers into a city of the third 
class in accordance witli the general law govei'ning sncii incorporations 
in the state ol Kansas. This petition was tiled on the li.")tli of March 1873, 



130 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and an order issued designating the 7th day of April as the date for hold- 
ing the first election, apjiointing election and canvassing hoards and 
defining the boundary limits of the city so as to include tlie platted terri- 
tory comprised in both villages. 

The election being held as per order of the court one hundred and 
sixty ballots were cast and the canvassing board declared the following 
ofiSeers elected: ^fayor. Dr. O. .1. Tallman; Councilnien. J. M. Hidden, 
W. A. Moore. T. J. Dean, A. J. Hanna. and W. M. ISroberly; Police Judge. 
John A. Heckard. The mayor and councilmen elect being duly qualified, 
met on the Kith of A])ril and completed the organization of the new city 
government by electing W. A. Moore, president of the council and ap- 
pointing the following subordinate officers: City Clerk, Luther Perkins; 
Marshall, E. M. Easley; Treasurer, W. T. Reed; and Street Commission- 
er. (Jeorge Tuck. 

Local troubles llnis being liap|)ily adjusted the warring factions 
found time to unite llieir efforts against the rival town of Parker which, 
for reasons already mentioned, soon abandoned the unecpial contest, but 
not until the attention of investors had been diverted to other i)oiuts. 
Liberal inducements were olfered to the leading merchants of Parker 
and also to the banking firm of Parker. York & Co., to remove to Coflfey- 
ville, which were finally accejited. This desertion of her strongest busin- 
ess firms broke the fighting spirit of the Parker people and the town col- 
lapsed as suddenly as it had grown into i»rominence, but the result was 
almost as fatal to Cotteyville, as that town was so completely checked 
that it was Sjeveral years liefore her population reached the number boast- 
ed by her unfortunate rival at the end of the first year of her meteoric 
existence. 

In the early eighties the town again began to grow and on the 20th 
day of July 1887. by i)roclamatiou of (Jovernor John A, Martin, it was de- 
chued to be a city of the second class, the preceding sjiring enumeration 
having shown a population exceeding two thousand persons. The census 
of 1 !)()() shows a poi>ulation of 4.953 and the assessor's returns for 1903 
shows a ]io]nilation of 7.tl7."i. 

Financial and Commercial 

Frcmi the earliest ])eriod of its history Cofteyville luis been the bus- 
iness center for an extensive territory from which her merchants and 
tradesmen have drawn a large and lucrative business. Men who began 
business here in the eaily days with a snuill capital have grown rich, and 
the nund)ev of business failures have been remarkably few, and those few 
have been due to incapacity rather than to lack of business opportunity. 

]n the early days all immigrants had a little money, received from 
the sale of their belongings in the states from which they came, and, being 
made up mainly from a class little accustomed to handling money, they 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. I3I 

seemed to tliiiiU their piii'ses like the "widow's cnise of oil," eould never 
he wh(dlv emptied. .M;tny of them lived so ex()eiisivel\- that when the time 
came for enterinj; the lands they were reduced to the necessity of borrow- 
inji money at exhorbitant rates of interest with wliich to pay the entry 
fees and make necessary imjirovements. 

The breakinfi up of an immense acreajie of virjjin soil loaded the air 
with malaria and a "^reat deal of sickness resulted. It thus happened 
that extravagent living and sickness, combined, brought some years of 
hard limes, wliich were bad for purely financial concerns. The two local 
banks, those of T. 1!. lOldridge and Noah Ely & Son, failed, and a few 
small merchants were f()r<ed to close their doors, but with these ex- 
cei)tions the mercantile and financial institutions of Coffeyville have 
always been above sus]iicion of weakness. 

The neighboring farmers have either mastered their early ditliculties 
or sold out to later comers who were in easier circumstances. Mortgages 
have been paid ott and many farmers, after getting their jilaces well im- 
proved and well stocked, still have a good bank account. 

This condition of the farming interests makes the mercliants pros- 
perous and puts it in the jiower of the banks to take care of every legiti- 
mate demand tor money at reasonable rates of interest. The merchants 
on their \y,\vi are loyal to the banking institutions, as was well exempli- 
fied during the last financial crisis, when banks all over the country jvere 
being forced to close their dooi-s by a wild scramble to withdraw deposits. 
When it became evident that the gereral panic would spread to this lo- 
cality, the merchants joined in a jiublished statement, declaring their 
entire confidence in the stability of the local banks and pledging them- 
selves to kee]) on deposit every dollar that could be spared from their 
business, instead of using it to discount their bills, as had been their cus- 
tom. This action immediately restored the confidence of outside deposit- 
ors and doubtless averted tliumcial disaster. 

Railroads 

The peoi)le of Coft'eyville have always been keenly alive to the value 
of transportation facilities and have given such encouragement to the 
construction of railroads as could l>e extended without over-burdening 
the tax jiayers. As previously stated the Ijcavenworth, Lawrence & Gal- 
veston railroad i now tlie Santa Fe I was built to this ])oint in 1871. 
Since that tin.e the I>. M. & A., the V. Y. I. & W. and the 1. M. & S., ( Mis- 
souri I'acitic lines) and the M. K. & T., connecting with the main Hue of 
that road at Parsons, and recently extended to IJartlesville, Indian Ter- 
ritory, have l)een constructed, thus giving the city transportation lines 
in seven difleient directions and connecting her with three great railroad 
systems. 



132 HISTORY 01' MONTGOMEUi' COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Natural Resources 

The territory tributary to (/offeyvilk' is not .surpassed bv any part of 
the state in fertility of soil and the variety of crops which may be profit- 
ably grown. The Verdigris river furnishes an abundant supply of pure 
and wholesome water and is ca[)able fif sui»i)lying water power sufficient 
to operate many factories. 

The city and surrounding country is underlaid with immense depos- 
its of shale suitable for the manufacture of brick and tile of superior 
quality. Great ledges of limestone of good quality crop out in many lo- 
calities and some of the neighboring hills furnish inexhaustible quantities 
of a sujierior (juality of building stone and flagging. 

This city is in the very heart of the gas belt and was the first Id 
southern Kansas to discover and develop this valuable fuel. On the 20th 
day of March 1890, the city council granted to J. McCreary a franchise 
to furnish the city and the inhabitants thereof, natural gas for domestic 
and manufacturing purpo.ses, and appropriated a thousand dollars 
toward the expense of making a development test. A drill was at once 
set to work, almost in the center of the town, and at a depth of a little 
more than eight hundred feet a strong flow of gas was found. Since that 
time more than forty wells have been drilled with not more than half a 
dozen failures, and the supply of gas appears to be inexhaustible, as the 
oldest and most severely taxed wells are still yielding a good flow. 

Since the preparation of this paper was begun oil has been found, 
and while the tirst well can not be called a "gusher," it produces oil in 
paying quantities and it is believed that a profitable field has been dis- 
covered on the very edge of the cori)Orate limits. 

Manufactures 

The discovery of natural gas, the cheapest and cleanest of all fuels, 
together with the city's luisurpassed transjtortation facilities, has in- 
vited the attention of niaunfactures in various lines and the place is 
surely and steadily developing into a manufacturing center of import- 
ance. 

Already the output of milling stuffs is 2,000 liarrels per day; the 
largest straw board mill and egg-case filler factory west of the Mississ- 
ippi is located here; the city has a plow factory; foundries and machine 
shops; a window glass plant; ice plant; numerous small factories, and a 
brick plant whose product is known from the Kocky mountains to the 
Gulf of Mexico. Grcuind has betMi broken for a .second glass plant to be- 
gin operation during the year 1;mi:>, and two other brick and tile plants 
are now almost ready to begin work. 

A Grain Center 

In the year 1SS4 a few enter[iiisiiig citizens, anticupating the inevit- 
able time when the product of the grain fields of Kansas, Iowa and Ne- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 133 

braska would seek an outlet through the Gulf ports, organized a Board of 
Trade and established a station for tlie inspection and weighing of grain 
in transit, and through the local elevators. So successful was this effort 
that in a very short time Coffeyville became the most important grain 
station, except Kansas City, in the state. In 1897 the weighing and in- 
spection of grain became, by legislative enactment, a department of the 
state government, but tlie business so successfully inaugurated by private 
enterprise has been continued and this station has now become a close 
second to Kansas City, and, with the overcoming of the railroad discrim- 
ination against the Gulf ports, is destined to eclipse that city. Already 
the elevator capacity has been greatly increased and with the demand of 
the milling interests already mentioned, this city has become a grain 
market of no mean importance. 

Municipal Advancement 

Since obtaining a charter as a city of the second class, in 1887, the 
growth of Coffeyville, in population and commercial importance, al- 
though not phenominal, has been sure and steady, and civic pride has 
kept fiace with the city's material development. 

In 1895 a municipal water works plant was constructed at a cost of 
$49,000.00. This jilant has now been improved and extended until it rep- 
resents an expenditure of about |8.^, 000.00 and is easily worth, on a basis 
of earning capacity, $1.50,000.00. In 1897 the necessary companion piece 
to a water works plant — a system of sanitary sewers — was constructed at 
a cost of 122,000.00. This system is soon to be extended so as to cover 
more than double the territory included in the original sewer district. 

Immediately following the installation of the city water works the 
council created a voluntary fire department and equipped it with a lad- 
der- truck and hand-hose reels, which were operated by volunteer firemen 
without other compensation than the voluntary contributions of such cit- 
izens as felt an interest in maintaining the department for the public 
good. Two years later an ordinance was passed authorizing the pay- 
ment of a monthly sum from the general fund of the city for the support 
of the department, and this appropriation was increased from time to 
lime until 1902, when the department was re-organized by providing for 
three regularly paid firemen and a volunteer force of six men who are 
paid a fixed sum for each fire attended by them. The department is now 
equipped witii a di'illed team, hose-wagon and other up-to-date appliances 
owned by the city, and is maintained at a cost of about two hundred dol- 
lars per month. 

In 1898 the local Commercial Club liegan to agitate the question of 
«treet lighting and in 1901 an electric light plant was installed. This plant 
was const niclcii at a c(»st of |20,000.00 and is owned and operated by the 
city. About J!."),oo( >.(!(» iiave been expended in extending the system for 



134 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

coiiiinercial lijihtiiij;- and witli an additional exjienditure of ai)j)i'oxiniatply 
|2,('0().<I0. the plant will lie fully self-supiiorting. so that the streets will 
be well lighted without cost to the general puldic. 

Schools and Churches 

\Vhile fostering and encouraging those enterprises which make for 
the material welfare of a community, the people of Cofleyville have uot 
been unmindful of the necessity of building up those institutions which 
concern the moral and intellectual well-being of a people. 

The city boasts eleven churches, and a school system of which the 
coiimiunity is justly proud. In addition to the usual graded schools our 
system includes a high school in which pupils are ecjuipped for admissiou 
TO the State University. There are five school buildings, four of whicli 
are substantial brick structures, in which twenty-four teachers — and a 
su])eriiitendent over all — are employed, whose combined monthly pay is 
.^l.L'OO.IIO. The school ])o])uluti()n is a little less than eighteen hundred, of 
whom fifteen liundred are enrolled on the school registers of the jireseut 
year. It has ever been the policy of our people to enlarge their school 
facilities to keep pace with the increasing population and there is now 
I)ending a ])roposition to vote an appropriation of |i30.000.00 for the con- 
struction of additional buildings. 

Debt and Taxation 

f 'otfeyville's municipal debt now amounts to .f 14ti.444.4.j and the rate 
of taxation for the jiresent year is .f(1. 88 on the hundred dollars. On the 
face of the record this seems to be a very large debt and a ruinous rate of 
taxation, but when we reflect upon the manner of assessing taxes in Kan- 
sas, and remember that $105, 000. 00 of this debt is for a water and light 
plant, which pay a profit largely in excess of the interest charges, and 
that another 134,000.00 is for special imjirovenients for which only the 
affected property is assessed, the financial horosco}ie is not too terrifying, 
as we are simply in the jjosition of the business man who borrows money 
with which to engage in a profitable business. 

Our real rate of taxation is only about fl.8o on the hundred dollars, 
as is evident when it is known that our assessment this year (190.3) is 
made on a basis of only 27 i)er cent, of the actual value of the property 
assesed. 

Liberty 

The village of Liberty was originally located on a high bluff over- 
looking a beautiful stretch of the Verdigris valley, two miles north and 
one mile west of the present site. In the early days it was a prominent 
factor in the politics of the county, being a formidable rival of Indepen- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I35 

dence for couuty seat honors and. in fact, the actual seat of government 
for a short period in 18tl'J-70. 

When the county was organized by proclamation of Gov. James IVi 
Harvey, on the third day of June 18(39, Verdigris City, located about five 
miles north of the subse(]uent site of the town of Liberty, was designated 
as the teni])orary seat of government; the ])ernianent location of which 
was to be submitted to a vote of the people at the following November 
election. 

Independence, Verdigris City and Montgomery City were the rival 
aspirants but the few settlers in Verdigris and Montgomery cities, realiz- 
ing that their respective sites were not favorably located for the purpose, 
pooled their issues, founded the town of Liberty and immediately entered 
that beautiful city as a contestant for the honor of being the capital city 
of the county. 

This narrowed the contest down to a fight between Independence, 
located on the west, and Liberty on the east side of the Verdigris river. 
Morgan City was also a candidate but was not considered formidable, 
except in so far as she might divide the vote that would otherwise go to 
Independence. 

In this contest Independence was under the disadvantage of having 
to cross the river to vote, lieing attached to the voting precinct at Verdi- 
gris City where the friends of her principal rival were in control of the 
election machinery. She. however, made a heroic but futile effort to cap- 
ture the election board, sending two wagon loads of her citizens on an 
early morning drive for that jturpose: but the plot being discovered, they 
arrived too late to obtain more than one place on the board, and that had 
been left open for them "by courtesy." 

Because of infonuality in certifying the returns from the "S'erdigris 
City precinct the vote of Drum Creek township, in which Independence 
was located, was thi-own out and Liberty, with the whole east side ticket, 
declared elected. 

This action of the canvassing board was contested by the friends of 
Independence before the Probate Court of Wilson county, as is clearly 
set forth in the article on the "Bench and Bar" in this volume. The 
action of the court in declaring the election invalid, left the County Com- 
missioners first appointed in control of county aft'airs. and as they were 
in sympathy with east side sentiment, they soon met and ordered the log 
court house, with all the offices and records, removed from Verdigris City 
to Liberty. This, however, did not settle the matter, as the west side con- 
tingent claimed that the action of the board was illegal and that the 
county seat was still at Verdigris City. 

In support of this contention they sent an agent to Topeka. who pro- 
■cure<i the a]ipointment of a new Board of Commissioners. On the receipt 
of their commissions the members of the new board — W. W. Graham, 



136 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Thomas Brotk and S. \i. Jloroliouse — repaired to Verdigris City where^ 
sitting; in tlieir wajion. they oryaiiized, and ajipointed a new set of county 
officers, ordered tliat the next term of the District Court be held at Inde- 
pendence and that the various county offices be liept there temporarily. 

The old board and their appointees, failing to get an order of court 
requiring the return of the records and offices to Liberty, soon surren- 
dered and nialters moved on quietly until the fall election in ISTO, when 
the ci^unty seat question was again voted on by the people and Indepen- 
dence chosen by a vote of 839. to .5G0 for Liberty. This terminated the 
aspirations of the little city for civic and commercial greatness. 

In 1871 the construction of the L. L. & G. Ry. across the east side of 
the county caused the removal of the village to its present site where, sur- 
rounded by a good agricultuial region, its business men have continued 
to enjoy a prosperous country ti'ade, although the place seems to have 
reached its maximum growth. However, the village is within the gas 
belt and is now prospecting for oil with a fair probability of finding 
enough of the black fluid to libricate the wheels of progress without limit. 

The population of Liberty is about 300. 

To one of the founders of this village — the late Daniel McTaggart — 
we are indebted for the demonstration of the fact that cotton can be suc- 
cessfully grown in Southern Kansas. Some years ago quite a colony of 
Negroes from Texas settled in the Verdigris valley between Coffeyville 
and Liberty. Soon after the arrival of these i>eople Capt. McTaggart 
conceived the idea of inducing them to try cotton growing, and, as an 
inducement, he furnished the seed and installed a gin at his mill near the 
original townsite. Quite a considerable acreage was planted, and while 
the yield was not large the fiber was of good quality and the yield per 
acre large enough to justify the continued production of this important 
staple as a side crop. 

Caney and Elk City 

BY .1. R. CHARLTON. 

Caney, the Queen City of Montgomery county, is situated in the 
southwest corner of the county, about one mile from the Indian Territoi'y 
line, and about the same distance from the east line of Chautauqua 
county. It is built upon a sandy knoll, skirted on the north by the beau- 
tiful stream, ("heyenne creek, with its beautiful farms, on the west by the 
broad and rich valley of the Caney river, and on the south by the classic 
and limpid stream known as "Mud creek," while upon the east lies the 
broad, rolling and productive prairie lands. No prettier site can be found 
in all the county for a city, overlooking, as it does, for miles, the sur- 
rounding country. 

Looking to the south and the southeast one beholds the beautiful 
mounds, and undulating prairies, and the fringes of timber along the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I37 

streams, where are to be found the farms and the happy homes of the 
■Cherokee and tlie Delaware Indians, who have accepted the fruits of the 
onward mardi of civilization, and, with their schools and churches, living 
in their neat little residences upon their well kept farms, are a happy 
and contented jjeople. Looking off to the south-west, as far as the eye 
can reach, are to be seen the hills and rolling lands, where roam vast 
herds of cattle of the Osage Indian Reservation. The Osage, unlike his 
Cherokee and Delaware brethren, has persistentl.v refused to become civil- 
ized to any great extent. He disdains "store clothes," and clings to the 
blanket and breech clout of his fathers. Perhaps he can be said to be 
civilized, only in one particular, and that is, that he gets drunk just like 
a civilized white man. 

Late in the fall of 18f59, the first white settlers settled upon what is 
now the townsite of Caney. Among them were -Jasper N. AVest and fam- 
ily, J. H. Smith and family, Berryman Smith, a single man, and "Uncle 
John" Hodges and family. Of those earliest settlers "Uncle John" 
Hodges, alone, is with us. He has been a continuous resident of Caney f^ \ «lj?' 
from That time to the present. Jasper N. West was Caney's first post- "^-^^ ""^T 
master. During the winter of 1869 Dr. J. AY. Bell and family came to 
Caney and he was the first tradesman, conducting a small store in which 
was kept for sale, (in a small box house made of native lumber, which 
was probably hauled here from some point east,) a little sugar, coffee, 
meat, flour, and, as we were informed by one who was there, a goodly 
supply of clothes pins. This structure was erected near what is now the 
crossing of State street and Fourth avenue, at the jmblic well, from 
which particular point nearly all the earlier transfers of title to real 
l)ropci'ty had their starting. 

In the early part of the summer of 1870, O. M. Smith engaged in the 
mercantile business. "O. M.," as he was familiarly called, was then a 
single man. He had a small stock of geuei-al merchandise, and he cooked, 
ate and slept in the store building. Jasper N. West built the first log 
house and it was located on what is now Block 61, and was the first and 
only place for the weary to take rest, and have their hunger satisfied and 
thirst quenched. Old "Uncle Robert" Hammill, in the early spring of 
1870, came in with his two sons, with four yoke of Texas cattle, and lo- 
cated on the farm now owned by Thomas Steel, and about the same time 
"Uncle -John" Badgley located the })lace now owned by J. A. Fleener. 
Jasjjcr N. Smith commenced, and probably completed, in the early part 
of ISTO, a frame building for a hotel, on the site now occupied by the Reed 
residence, in Block 54, moving from his log house to the same. 

Bill Coi>en was Caney's first blacksmith. Dr. A. M. Taylor, who came 
in Novcnd)er 1870. was Caney's first physician, and the doctor is still 
with us. James (\. Woodruff came in during the early summer of 1870. 
Jasper X. West, J. H. Smith, Berryman Smith and James G. Woodruff 



138 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

took the four claims cornering at a jxiint where the public well, spoken 
of above, was located and conceived The idea of locating and platting a 
town. On Hay 11th, 1870, Capt. J. E. Stone dropped in among them, and 
the four claim holders, above named, with Stone and O. M. Smith, caused 
to be surveyed and jilatted what is a jiortion of the jiresent city of Caney. 
"Uncle John" Hodges took the claim and made some improvements there- 
on, now owned by S. K. Jack. I.evi (ilatfelder located and improved the 
farm, together with other lands, upon which Mrs. Oladfelder now resides, 
two miles east of t'aney. After the survey and platting of Couey quite a 
number of houses were erected and a mail route was established from 
what was then the village of I'arker to Caney and then to St. Paul on 
the west side of Caney river. From that time on there was a steady 
stream of immigrants into Caney and the township. The latter was 
rapidly settled up by a thrifty, hard-working, and industrious class of 
|)eopIe, and busines men of all classes began to locate in the village. 

From that time on Caney became known as a first class trading point. 
Being a border town, its business men did a good business with the In- 
dians and the whites residing in the Territory 

In July 188.5. Cleveland J. Keynolds started the first paper in Caney, 
the Caney Chronicle, which has lieen issued continuously since, and 
entered upon its eighteenth year. It has 'been published for the la/5t 
seven years by H. E. Brighton, is a bright, newsy paper, and has ever 
stood up loyally for Caney and her best interests. 

In 188(i a ])roposition was submitted to the citizens of Caney town- 
ship to vote bonds in the sum of .f!2i!.000.00 to aid in the construction of 
the I). M. & A. R. R. The bonds were voted, the road was built, an.l thus 
Caney was placed in closer touch with the outside world. The "freighter'' 
who, with his mule teams, hauled goods from Independence and Cofifey- 
ville, went away back and engaged in some other business, while the ar- 
ticles of merchandise and the products of the farm, from that time on, 
were carried by his fleeter- footed comjietitor. the steam engine and its 
train of cars. The building of a railroad into Caney really marked the 
beginning of its business career 

The town continued to grow until on the 5th day of .July 1887, it was 
incorjiorated as a city of the third class. Its first city election was held, 
under its Charter, on the 18tb day of July 1887, in what is now the old 
school building. The judges of the ele<-ti()n were; Dr. A. M. Taylor. John 
Todd and 1*. C. Dosh ; Clerks, J. J. Stone and J. V. Stradley. 

The first officers of Caney, elected on the above date were : Mayor, 
P. S. Hollingsworth; Councilmen, Wm. Rogers, Harry Wiltse, J. J. 
Hem]>hill, J. A. Summer and W. B. McWilliams; Police .Tudge, F. H. 
Hooker. F. H. Dye was appointed and served as the first city clerk. 

In the year 1891, Cleveland J. Reynolds, who was then the owner and 
publisher of the Caney Times, a weekly newspaper which he had founded 



HISTORY 01- MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 139 

some time before, com-eived ami put into execution a plan for connecting 
all the towns of Montfjomery county by telephone. Being a man of in- 
domitable will and untiring energy, he at once organized The Caney Tele- 
phone Company, and. within a few months thereafter, the "hello" girl 
was at her post of duty in every town in the c(mnty. The completion of 
this telephone line marked a new era in the history of Caney, as well as 
that of the entire county, as it was the first telephone line ever built in 
the couty. 

In isn2. Col. S. M. Torter. of Caney, J. A. Bartles. of Bartlesville, 
I. T., and others, organized and chartered the Kansas, Oklahoma Central 
& Southwestern Railway ('onii)any for the purpose of building a line of 
road from Caney. south, through Oklahoma and on southwest into Texas; 
and a franchise for the building of said road was granted by Congress on 
December 21st, 18!t3. The construction of said road was begun in 1898 
and in the spring of 1899 the old company sold out to the A T. & S. P. 
Ry. Co., and the road was completed from Caney to Owassa. I. T., a dis- 
tance of about sixty miles, thus giving Caney two seperate and competing 
lines of road. To Col. Porter is due, in a large measure, the credit for the 
building of the Santa Fe, for he worked without faltering for about eight 
years on the project before it finally succeeded, making one trip to 
Europe, and countless trips to Washington, New York and Chicago. 

But Caney. like other cities in Montgomery county, owes its greatest 
prosperity and growth to the finding of natural gas in the earth beneath 
it. In the year 1900 the Caney Gas Company, composed entirely of Caney 
men, was organized and began prospecting for gas and oil After putting 
down several dry holes, they succeeded, in the fall of 1901, in striking a 
very strong flow of gas about two miles northeast of town, and in a short 
time thereafter they secured another well which has proved to be the 
strongest well in the Kansas field, having a rock pressure of 6(50 pounds 
and producing 10,000.000 cubic feet of gas every twenty-four hours. They 
also have a very good oil well in the same field. There are now six difl'er- 
ent gas and oil companies operating in the Caney field, and the prospects 
are very flattering. 

In 1902 the members of the Caney Gas Company organized the Caney 
Brick Company and put in one of the largest and best vitrified brick 
])lants in the counti'y. with a capacity of 100.000 brick per day. They are 
tui-ning out a first-class brick and have shipped as high as sixty cars of 
brick in one month, besides supplying the home demand. They carry a 
pay roll of sixty-five men. 

The Cherryvale. Oklahoma & Texas Railway Company was chartei-ed 
on July 22nd. 1902, with (*ol. S. M. Porter, of Caney, as president, for the 
purpose of constructing a line of railroad from Cherryvale. in Montgom- 
ery county, through Caney. to ElPaso. Texas, a distance of 900 miles. We 
are ass\ired that this road will be built in the near future and will be of 



l40 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

great benefit to Caney and Montgomery eoimty, as it will give us another 
system and competing line, probably the "Katy" or "Frisco." 

Our high pressure and unfailing supply of gas is attracting the at- 
tention of various manufacturing enterprises. 

('aney is a good place to live. Those who are religiously inclined will 
find four churches, all having good buildings, and resident pastors. They 
are the Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and Christians. 

Our public schools are first -lass. At present we have two school 
buildings, and employ nine teachers, but the growing population will soon 
require larger and better buildings and more teachers. 

Caney has six physicians actively engaged in the practice, and many 
of them rank among the best physicians in the county. It also has a San- 
itarium, run by Dr. T. A. Stevens, to which patients come for treatment 
from the Territory and all the surrounding counties 

We also have six lawyers who, by hard work, are able to look after 
the interests of their clients and keep the community quiet a good part 
of the time. 

Capt. J. E. Stone, one of the first settlers, and who assisted in lay- 
ing out the original town site, was elected sheriff of Montgomery county 
in 1872, and served his county in that capacity faithfully and with credit 
to himself, and is now Caney's efficient postmaster, having been appoint- 
ed by President McKinley. 

E. B. Skinner, one of Caney's enterprising business men, is just serv- 
ing the last year of two terms as county treasurer, and Dr. J. A. Rader, 
one of our leading physicians, is serving his third term as coroner. 

J. R. Charlton, one of our attorneys, was elected county attorney of 
Montgomery county in 1890 and served one term, refusing a re-nomi- 
nation. 

J. H. Dana, who resided in Caney until the year 1900 was, in that 
year, elected county attorney, and moved to Independence. 

Others of our prominent citizens have been exposed to the dread dis- 
ease called "office" but have never caught it. 

Caney has grown from the little hamlet of a few years ago to become 
one of the Itest towns in Southerii Kansas, having a population of but a 
little less than 2,000, and we confidently expect to see double that num- 
hev of i)eople here in the next two years. It will make a good town, first: 
because of its natural advantages in location; second, because it has cit- 
izens who are public spirited, enterprising and pushing, who do not only 
have money, but have faith in the future of the city, and therefore do not 
hesitate to invest their money in public enterprises. 

In concluding this brief sketch let me .sav that as a resident of Kan- 
sas for more than twenty-five years. I believe it to be the best state in the 
I nion ; that Montgomery county is the coming banner county of the state, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. I4I 

and tliat Cancy — well, language fails me, and I can only add that "the 
half has never been told.'' 

Elk City 

Elk City, one of the prettiest little cities in Sdutheastern Kansas, is 
situated at the mouth of Duck Creek, where it emi>ties into Elk river, and 
is about three miles from the west line, and six miles from the north line 
of Louisburg township, the northwest township of Montgomery county. 

The first settlement of Louisburg township was made during the 
summer and fall of 1868, and during the following winter and spring sev- 
eral towns were started near Elk river at the mouth of Duck Creek. 

Tijitou, about one and one half miles east of Elk river, was probably 
the first town started in the township, and was located on the claim 
owned by -James E. Kelley. No living water having been found on this 
town site, it was soon abandoned, and the buildings moved west about 
three-quarters of a mile to a new town site called Louisburg, on the claim 
of either Hen. I'itman or grandfather .Tames P. Kelly, but sftei" a number 
of the little box houses had been located on the new town site, the same 
difficulty was encountered as at Tipton — no living water could be found — 
and the third town was founded on Duck Creek, about one and one-half 
miles from its mouth, called Bloomtield, better known as Fish Trap. It 
was located in the fall of 1869. 

In the meantime two brothers, John and Samuel Kopple, who had 
taken the claims at the mouth of Duck Creek, on Elk River, organized a 
town company and laid out the town of Elk City, and immediately ap- 
plied for and obtained a charter for their company, and for more than a 
year a bitter rivalry existed between the towns of Elk City and Bloom- 
field. A saw mill had been in operation for several months at Bloomtield or 
Fish Trap, owned by a man by the name of Seevers. Other enterprising 
citizens settled in the town, which continued to flourish until the spring 
of 1871. 

In December of 1870, M^ D. Wright, who is now one of the oldest and 
most respected citizens of Elk City, was postmaster for a number of 
years and has been connected with nearly all of the city's enterprises, 
drove into the thriving city of Bloomfield, or Fish Trap, in his proverbial 
prairie schooner, and, he informs the writer, that he found Jack Brock 
jiutting the finishing towches on a two-story store building, built exclu- 
sively of native lumber. Mr. Brock was laying the floor, first nailing thin 
narrow strips on the joists, then laying the boards so that the cracks in 
the floor came immediately over the center of the strips, so that when the 
green Hackl)erry boards had shrunk to their normal condition, as Jack 
expressed it. children and dogs would not fall through the cracks. An 
assortment of bra<es and wedges were required to bring the warped and 
crooked boards into a horizontal position. But the struggles of Fish Trap 



142 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^, KANSAS. 

for siipveiuapy were luiavailing. She was not to be a child of destiny 
and fonti'ol the ooiumerce of Duck Creek. 

The natural advantages possessed by Elk City, the building of a saw 
mill that could mutilate more logs into bad lumber than its rival at 
Bloomfield. the advent of two blacksmith shops, several general stores, 
and saloons, especially the saloons, together with several other enter- 
prises, proved too much for Bloomfield. and they capitulated in the fall of 
1871. and their citizens were given lots in Elk City, upon which they 
moved their houses, including the Jack Brock store building, and the 
contention between the two towns ended in their uniting and all the 
people coming where they could gel i)lenty of water, which Elk C-ity had. 

In the spring of 1871 Louisburg township wes sectionized, and the 
supposed lines of many claims, it was found, did not conform to the gov- 
ernment survey, and thus originated mu("h litigation and many deadly 
feuds. The rich and extensive farming lands embraced in the broad bot- 
toms of Elk river. Duck creek and t^alt creek, were eagerly sought for 
and jealously guarded against all comers. 

On Aj)ril 1st. 1871. a village municipal government was organized for 
the government of Elk City, with J. P. Jlorgan. who now resides at 
Bartlesville. I. T.. as (hairman and V. R. Dannettell. as clerk. The 
names of the other trustees arc not found upon the records 

As evidence that there was nothing small about the early Fathers of 
the City, we find Ordinance No. 5, relating to the duties and obligations 
of the town treasurer, to read as follows, to-wit : ''within ten days of 
his aii]iointment to office the treasurer shall enter to bond to the Rtate of 
Kansas, for the use of the town, wilh two or more sureties to be approved 
by the clerk, in the sum of Three Thousand Dollars for the faithful jier- 
formance of his duties, etc." 

No copy of the bond or the name of the first treasurer or of his bonds- 
men a7)pear on the records, but from the financial condition of the citi- 
zens as judged from the recollection of the oldest inhabitants, it would 
have required a majority of them to have qualified to that amount at that 
time. 

As an evidence that the deliberations of these ancient Solons were 
not always harmonious, we note the discussion over the claim of Frank 
IVIbrgan and Buck Brookins for destroying a dead mule, amount of bill 
•13.00, which was finally allowed and paid. 

William Osborne holds the honor of being the first justice of the 
■peace, and ^Jqnire Burdick was his successor The t^quire had a penchant 
for horse trading, but like nearly all the other settlers of Elk City, at 
that time, his property or his horses did not represent much wealth, so he 
ran but little risk of losing in a trade It is related of the Squire, that one 
day he was holding court in a room fronting the. then, open prairie, when 
fi woman came into the i-oom and inquired for Squire Burdick. The 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I43 

Squire, who was seated near a window in the temple of justice, was point- 
ed out to hei-. She at once, without regard to the fact that court was in 
session, assailed the Squire, in a voice pitched upon a very high key, and 
demanded the return of a horse, which she claimed belonged to her, and 
which her minor son had traded to the Squire for a horse whose lease of 
life exjiired a few hours after reaching her home The Squire listened 
quietly until her tirade of abuse ended, and then invited her over to the 
window, pointed out to where the nose and two legs of a dead horse pro- 
truded above the prairie grass and said : "There is your horse, madam, 
if you want him go and get him. and take him home with you." The wo- 
man, hastily vacated the room, with a jiuzzled expression of countenance, 
as though she was trying to solve the problem as to which party did the 
cheating in the trade. 

Whig Southard was the tirst postmaster at Elk City, A. C. Clark was 
his successor, M. D. Wright succeeded Clark and held the office from 1872 
until Cleveland's election in 1884, when he was succeeded in 1885, by 
Wm. Daugherty, who, in turn, was followed by J. P. Swatzell and Wm. 
Wortman. the latter being the present incumbent. 

Elk City, in common with all Kansas towns, was ambitious to become 
metropolitan and her citizens began to importune the different railroad 
companies, pointing in this direction, to extend their road to the town. 

After much solicitation by some of the citizens they succeeded in 
getting a i)rop()sition from General Nettleton and Col. Valiet, of Cin- 
cinnati. Ohio, and the owners of the stub railroad from Cherryvale to In- 
dependence by which they pledged themselves individually, together with 
the earnings of the above railroad, to extend that road to Elk City making 
a terminus there, in consideration of which they asked Louisburg town- 
ship to subscribe to the capital stock of the company in the sum of twen- 
ty-two thousand dollars. This was during the year 1876. Here was the 
opportunity for Elk City to place herself in the fr(»nt ranks of all the 
towns in the country, and the promoters felt that they had accomplished 
something that would benefit the citizens of Elk City and Louisburg 
township, that would meet with the hearty co-operation of the citizens 
generally, as it would have made Elk City the nearest railroad point for 
all the country west of it for one hundred miles. Independence was awake 
to the danger that threatened her commercial interests, and united in a 
desjierate effort to defeat the bonds at the election called to vote on the 
proposition. Of course Independence was justified in any legitimate ef- 
fort to hold the road at their town, but where so much was at stake it was 
hardly to be expected that the advantage which money and influence gave 
them over Elk City would not be pushed to the limit; but if some of the 
citizens of Elk Tity. who had labored to bring about the proposition felt 
a little hard tc)ward the citizens of Lndependence. what was their sur- 
prise and disgust to find some of their own i)rominent citizens arrayed 



144 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COCNTY, KANSAS. 

agaiiii^t the bonds, and inauftui-ating a fight against them that ended in 
their defeat li.v a iiiajoiity of two voles. >\'hat the township lost in tax- 
able jirojieifv and the advantage of a railroad terniinatiug in the town- 
shiii will never be known. Elk City experienced in this defeat the hardest 
blow it ever snstained. Several prominent liusiness men left the town, 
many houses were hauled off into the country for dwellings and barns, 
and its pojiulation deci'eased one fourth. 

Three years thereafter, in 1879, after the A. T. & S. F. had acquired 
the old L. L. & G. R. R. and its branches, tliat company sent ^layor (iunn, 
of Independence, to Elk City, and in lK>half of the A. T. & S. F. R. R., pro- 
posed that if T.ouisburg township would vote bonds in aid of that road 
they would extend from Independence west through Elk City. While this 
proposition offered far less advantages than the first one, in that it simply 
made a way station in the township, giving it local advantages, whereas, 
the terminus for three years would have given it the trade of three coun- 
ties, to the west of it, but little opposition was offered and the bonds car- 
ried by a large majority. All of which proves the wisdom of the old chest- 
nut, "that white man is mighty uncertain." 

The advent of a railroad instilled new life into the town which grad- 
ually increased in wealth and im])ortance though but little in population 
for several years. In the mean time the very rich and productive soil 
around 101k <'ity. which ]iroducc<l large and successive crops of wheat, 
corn and other crops, enabled the farnicis in the township to surround 
themselves with all the comforts and luxuries that wealth can purchase. 
Their daughters were garbed in the latest styles and their sons robed in 
tailor made suits and laundered shirts. They came to town in their toji- 
buggies and carriages and purchased of the merchants all that heart 
(•(Uild desire, and thus dawned an era of ])rosi(erity for the City at the 
mouth of Duck ("reek. 

During the winter of 1901-:^ a company was organized in Elk (;ity 
and capitalized at $10,000 for the purjwse of prospecting for gas and oil. 
After several failures the company was finally successful in striking 
several tine gas wells, and also good oil ]iroducing wells. 

Several companies are now in the field and in the course of a few 
months this will undoubtedly prove to be the peer of other remarkable 
gas fields of Montgomery County. 

There is a bright future for Elk City and Louisliuig Township. The 
price of land of every description is advancing rapidly. Buildings of per- 
manent character are taking the jilace of old frame store rooms in the 
town, which is growing rapidly. The City is heated and lighted with 
natural gas. Nearly all the streets are lighted with the same material. 
It has a splendid telephone system, and all these conveniences make 
it a good place to live. It has five good church buildings and strung 
church organizations, while its schools are the best in the County. 



HISTORY OF MONTfJOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 145 

Elk CHy lias no system of water works as vet, bnt its close proxim- 
ity to abuiuiaiice of water and the ease with which it can be introduced 
Into the town, insures at no distant date, this additional luxury, to this 
otherwise greatly favored little City. 

The immense amount of wheat and corn, cattle and hogs being ship- 
j)ed from this place over its two railroads, the A. T. & S. F. and the Mis- 
souri Pacific, and the fine store rooms and inci-easing mercantile busi- 
ness are evidences of the prosperity of the town and its surrounding 
country. 

It has at this time a population of about 800 people, but we predict 
that no distant date will see not less than 2000 happy, contented and 
jirosperous citizens of Montgomery County making their home in Elk 
■City and enjoying its natural and acquired advantages, and each doing 
their part in making Montgomery County the best County,, in the best 
State, in the grandest Republic on the face of the earth. 

Cherryvale 

BY JOSIE H. CARL. 

Cberryvale is situated in the North-eastern part of the County, on 
section 9, township 32, range 17. 

It has had three distinct periods of growth, viz: early beginnings, 
the coming of the railroads and the discovery of gas and oil. 

Early Beginnings 

The first white settler within the corporate limits, of whom I have 
any account, was Mr. Ab Eaton who, with a married brother, emigrated 
from Hickory Grove, 111., to this place. The brother having died, his 
•widow sold her claim to Thomas Whelan. This claim is now incorpor 
ated ;;s the Whelan addition. In 1869 Joseph Wise and Bill Paxfon 
camped on Drum Creek, and soon afterward bought Eaton's title to his 
claim for 1250. In May 1871, Mr. Wise sold his rights to the L. L. & G. 
R. R. Company for a good round price which I believe he never got, as 
the Coiii])any soon changed, and the Supreme Court decided against the 
R. R.V' ownersliiji of the Osage Ceded Lands. The story of the early set- 
tlers' (Oiliest for titles to their homes has doubtless been told in other 
parts of this work, and will not be dwelt upon further here. 

On the .Srd day of May, 1871, the first sod of the L. L. & G. R. R. was 
broken on the T. Whelan claim. This point became the terminus of the 
Tciad loi- some time, and headquarters for supplies. The R. R. company 
laid oft a towiisite. The location was a happy one; the nearest towns 
ten and twenty miles distant, a broad valley of wonderful fertility 
stretcliinj; miles to the north and south, a gentle slo|)iiig ridge, giving al 
niost peifect drainage and the whole area of coniitry. wliicli would, in 
lime, lie tributary, rapidly filling u[> with settlers. 

The following .seems to be about the order in wliich the first Imsiness 



J46 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

firms were established : The first house erected was the Union Hotel, 
proprietor. (General Darr. The first store was kept by .J. R. Baldwin and 
C. A. ("lotfelter. followed bv Seth Paxson and N. B. Thorpe. 

O. F. Carson located here in 1871. and for three rears, kept the only 
drug store in the place. I^ater he entered into a partnership with J. R. 
Baldwin in the implement and hardware trade. — Two of the additions of 
the ciT> isre known by their names. — C. C. Kincaid came in 1874, and has 
been in the mercantile business here ever since. He and O. F. Carson 
erected the first brick block at the corner of Main and Depot streets. 
Charles Booth moved to town in 1871. and engaoed in the livery and 
feed trade. In 1873, he formed a partnership with ('. A. Clotfelter and 
for many years they kept the only livery barn in the town. E. B. Clark 
came to ]\iontj;omery coun.ty in 1809. His land adjoining the town site 
is now known as Clark's addition. He kei>t the first store of general mer- 
chandise near ()ne of the mounds, where the earliest settlers traded. R. 
F. Richart came in 1878, and engaged in the drug business. He soon took 
E. S. MacDonald into partnership. In 1882, Mr. MacDonald sold his in- 
terest to J. C. Hockett. John M. <_'ourtney come to Southern Kansas in 
1866. He moved to Cherry vale soon after the town site was laid off. 
The first lawyers were Hastings and Hinkle. Among the physicians of 
this period may be mentioned r>rs. Hyde, Lykins, Cami)bell, Adams and 
Bradbury. T»r". O. H. I'. Fall located' here in November 1877. The first 
celebration was held July 4, 1872. near Main and Depot streets; canvas 
and arbors provided shade. Dr. Hyde was one of the speakers. The 
growth of the town for several years was slow. The po])ulation in 1879, 
was only 2.50. 

The Coming of the Railroads 

In 1879 the second period of jirosjierity began. The Frisco R. R. 
was built, crossing the Santa Fe at this point. The Memphis R. R. Com- 
pany extended its road from Pai'sons here. The Santa Fe was extended 
westward, and its branch south to Colfeyville operated. This railroad 
activity gave a great impetus to business and building. The town grew 
ra[iidly until 1888. when a reaction having set in from the general depres- 
sion of l)usiness and the bursting of real estate booms over the west, the 
jiopulation fell from 40(10 to 2500. However, some of our solid business 
men who are here yet, and have ever been alert to the best intere.sts of the 
town; came during this period. C. A. Mitchell and C. C. Thoinjison 
came in 1880; Revilo Newton and J. H. Butler in 1882; A. O. McCormick. 
Fred Leatherock and the Dicus Brothers. The W. W. Brown brick block 
Avas built in 1887. The jihysicians were, Drs. Taylor, Warren, Hopkins, 
Hutchison, Kesler, Sloan, <iard and Cormack. A. L. Wilson, a native 
son of the state, came in 1881. He was admitted to the bar September 
1882, and still has a law office here, though, since 1902, his tuain office has 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. I47 

been ;it Kansas ("ity. A snj;ar faitorv and ci-eaniery were built during 
this period and operated sueressfuily for a time. 

Discovery of Gas and Oil 
In 1SS9 bonds to the amount of loOOO were voted to be used in pros- 
pecting for coal. At the depth of (!(IU feet, gas was found instead of coal. 
This i? said to have been the tirst gasser of importance struck in Kansas. 
Furtlier developments only increased the richness of the find. Later, oil 
was discovered, and the capitalist and manufacturer have been on the 
ground ever since and thus the corner stone of "Greater Cherryvale" was 
hi id. 

The Edgar Zinc Ojmpany 
In 1898, S. C. Edgar built his famous zinc smelters, at an original 
cost of 1350.000. Of all the enterprises which have contributed to the 
town's prosperity, none had approached this. ''Smelter Town" with its 
up to date cottages, broad streets and lawns, is a village .in itself. 

Brick Plants and Factories 

For many years the mounds in the vicinity, while adding to the 
picturesqueness of the scenery, were not supposed to enhance the value of 
the farms around them, unless as windbreaks against the occasional 
cyclone that skipped across their i>ath; but about the time that oil and 
gas were discovered, the knowledge came that the best brick in the world 
could be made from the shale of these mounds. In 1897, F. G. Lotterer 
erected a Brick Plant on Corbin's mound. It is now owned by the Cof- 
feyville Virtitied Brick and Tile Company. Corbin City, a suburb of 
Cherryvale. is built on Corbin's mound and is a result of this company's 
success. Six brick companies are operating in this field. Other factories 
are: The Iron Works, consisting of Foundry, Machine and I'attern mak- 
ing dejiartnients, representing an investment of foO.OOO. The Glass Com- 
pany, Engine Co., Barrel Factory, Bicycle and Machine Shops, Plaining 
Mills, Tannehill Manufacturing Co., Marble Works and two Elevators. 
The first mill was built by Mr. Dodd in 1873. Mr. A. Busch afterward 
become its owner. It finally came into the hands of C. A. Black who im- 
proved it. In 1902 the Sauer-Stejihens Milling Company purchased it 
of ifr Black. They have rebuilt the mill and have put in the latest mod- 
ern milling machinei'y with a capacity of 400 barrels per day. In 1881, 
the Dobson's came from Minonk. 111., and built a large stone mill on 
Main street. It was burned in 1900 and never rebuilt. 

Banks 

There are two banks. The Peoples' Bank is an outgrowth of the old 

E.xchnuge Bank founded by C. T. Ewing in 1880. Its present officers are, 

('. (>. Wright. President, B. F. Moore, Vice-President, and C A. Mitchell, 

Casliicr. The .Montgomery County Natiunal Bank was founded in 1882. 



148 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

The i.iesent officers are. C. C. Kincaid, President, John Courtney, Vice- 
President, Revih) Newton, Cashier. 

Schools 
The first school honse was Imilt in 1872. The first school was taught 
by Sliss Mary (ireenfiekl, the summer of 1873. In the fall of 1882 a two- 
story Inick structure was erected. G. B. Leslie was the prineipal, assist- 
ed by four tec.chers. Now there are two large brick school houses. The 
E.ist-side building has 9 rooms and the West-side G rooms. In 1902 
.fl7.0(K> bonds wero voted to build two ward school houses. These are 
under construction and will be ready for oecuy^ancy in September, 1903. 
Number of jiupils enrolled, 1902, about 1,000. The course of study runs 
through eleveu grades, (iraduates from the High School are entitled to 
enter the State University and high institutions of learning in the state 
without examination. The following superintendents have had charge of 
the schools since Mr. Leslie's time: Mosier, Crane, Dana, Harris, Taylor, 
Richardson, Myers, Herod, Moore and Lovett. The first High School 
graduates of the class of '83 were Minnie Newton, Janie Fall, Mertie 
Shannon and Rose Blair. 

Churches 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1871. The first 
services were held in the school house. Rev. Moffat was the first pastor. 
In 1880 a brick church was commenced under the pastorate of Wm. 
Shanibaugh and completed under that of James Muray. It was improved 
and enlarged during Robert MacLean's time. A commodious parsonage 
adjoins the church. Membership in 1903. COO. Pastors have been Rever- 
ends Moffat, Lampnian, Slianibaugh. Murray, Durboraw, Pattee, Hark- 
nes, Creager, Rice, MacLean, Bailey, Roberts, Ross. 

The Presbyterian Chuich was organized December 11, 1881. Meet- 
ings were first held in the opera house, until 1883, when a church was 
built. This has been improved from time to time. In 1901 a commodious 
manse was built on the church lots. The first pastor was Rev. W. B. 
Truax, Subsequent pastors have been Revs. S. W. Griffin. Phileo and 
A. E. Vanorden. Original membership, 26; present membership, 250. 

The Bajttist Society was established by Rev. J. R. Baldwin May 18, 
1883; original membership, 8. The first services were held in the school 
house and ojiera house. A frame church was built in 1884. This was de- 
stroyed by lightning in 1900. It was replaced by a splendid brick 
structure in 1901. The present pastor is Rev. Eaton. Other pastors have 
been. Revs. J. R. Baldwin, Essex, Coulter, and King. Present member- 
ship. .'00. 

The Christian Church was organized in the spring of 1884. First 
pastor. Benjamin Smith. A church was built in 1886, burned December 
14, 1888— rebuilt 1892. Subsequent pastors have been J M. Ferrel, T. W. 



HISTORY 01' MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 149 

Cottinsliam, William Flower. C. C. Atwood, E. F. Taylor, D. D. Boyle, 
J. K. Charlton. C C. Deweese. George Willis. Pi-esent pastor, C. Shive. 
Present nieiiibership, 200. 

The Catholic Society was organized in 187.5. Mass was said at the 
house of John Coyle until 1877, wJien the tirst church was erected by Eev. 
Ponziglioni. In 1000 the ground was broken for a new edifice which was 
finished in 1001 at a cost ()f .fl2.000. The building is 42 feet wide by 100 
feet long and 24 feet liigh. The tower is 110 feet high, surmounted by a 
large golden cross. The church is called St. Francis Xaviers Church. 
The first pastor was Father Scholls of Independence. The present pastor 
is Eev John Sullivan. 

Telephone 

In 1900 a tele]>houe was put in operation, connecting many of the 
business and dwelling houses and affording telephonic communication 
with all the surrounding cities. 

Vater-Worfcs 
The city was first supplied with water from Lake Tanko. a large arti- 
ficial lake south of the city, by the Cherryvale Water and Manufacturing 
Co. The bonds were sold to New York capitalists in 188.5. A new com- 
pany was organized, called the Cherryvale Water Co., Mr. MacMurray of 
New York City, President, John Courtney, Superintendent. Since June 
15, 1903, the city has had control of the system and important improve- 
ments are contemplated. 

Park and Aodifc rium 

Logan Park was originally the gift of Geo. R. Peck, soon after the 
town site was laid off. The gratitude of the citizens for this beneflcient 
gift increases with the years, and they have taken great pride in beauti- 
fying it. It is well supplied with seats, lighted by its own gas and well 
shaded with old trees carefully trained. In 1902 the city erected an aud- 
itorium in the i)ark. It has a seating capacity of 1,200. The district 
Grand Army encanipment is held annually in August, in this Park. 

Lodges and Associations 

Cherryvale Lodge No. 137 A. F. & A. M. was instituted Oct. 16, 1873, 
with thirteen charter members. O. F. Carson, W. M. ; M. L. Crowl, S. W. ; 
William Hummel. .lunior Warden. 

Cherryvale Lodge No. 142 I. O. O. F. was organized Oct. 10, 1877, 
with five charter members. This Lodge owns an elegant hall on Neosho 
street. 

The A. O. U. W. was instituted in February 1882. 

The Lodge directory of the city includes sixteen lodges. Hackleman 
Post is strongly organized in a fine hall and the W. R. C. owns a beauti- 
ful building in Logan I'ark. For several years a Library Association 
maintained a reading room and acquired a fair library, but it is now dis- 



150 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

organized. At present there is a public reading room in connection witli 
the Hai)tist Church, where the best i)eriodi(als are found upon the tables. 
The Eastern Star ladies have orjiaiiized themselves into a Reading Club 
which has proved to be of interest and benefit. There is an organization 
of the Chautau(iua Literary and Scienttic Circle. The first officers were 
Mrs. Dr. i^eacat. Etta Hughbanks. Josie Carl and Martha Witham. 

Fairview Cemetery 

P. C. Bowen first set off 10 acres of his farm northeast of town for a 
cemetery. Five years later fifteen of the citizens formed a Cemetery As- 
sociation and bought tliis land with the expectation that the city would 
in time take it off its hands, yothiug was done in the way of improve- 
ment until about six years ago. when Mrs. Ada Xewton rallied ten or 
twelve of the ladies around her in a Ladies' Cemetery Association for the 
fiole purpose of improving and Ijeautifying the cemetery. The result has 
been marvelous. Over fl.OOO in funds raised. 300 elm trees planted, 
streets graded 10 feet wide, alleys 4 feet wide, culverts built, tiling laid, 
the land thoroughly drained, a sexton's house and cistern built, and a 
sexton hired by the year to care for the grounds. Fairview Cemetery 
will always be a monument to Mrs. Newton's broad spirit and executive 
ability. 

Fires 

In 1873 the main business part of town was destroyed by fire. In 
1879 the stone business house of Jasper Gordon was burned and 
three young men sleeping in a rear room lost their lives. In 1885 all the 
buildings on the north side of Neosho and Depot streets were destroyed 
by fire including Clotfelter & Booth's livery barn, with 32 horses and 
G. B. !-!haw's lumber yard. About 1891 the Frisco depot was struck by 
lightning and burned. About 1001 the Opera House Block was wiped out 
l)y fire. 

Hotek 

The earliest hotels were the Union IJouse, Commercial, Buckeye, 
Leland, etc. The Axtell was originally built by J. A. Handley and called 
by his name. For a good maany years it was a losing investment to every 
one connected with it but the city has finally caught up with it. 

Municipal Government 

In March, 188(1, pursuant to a petition signed by the citizens and pre- 
sented to the court by E. D. Hastings. Cherry vale was duly incorporated 
as a city of the third class. On the first Tuesday of April, city officers 
were elected. C. C. Kincaid was the first mayor. Jan. 21, 1885, by proc- 
laiiialion of Gov. John A. Martin, it became a city of the second class. 
The following men hnve served as mavors: C. C. Kincaid, A. Phalp, O. F. 
■Carson. J. W. ^Yillis. M. P.. Soule. A. S. Duley, C. A. Mitchell, John Cald- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 151 

well, Mr. Shanton, Revilo Newttm, and E. S. MacDonald who is now serv- 
ing hit; second term. 

Postmasters 

N B. Thorpe was the tirst postmaster. The office has since been held 
by the following citizens: Wni. Parks, Major Lyons, C. E. Moore, T. An- 
derson, Leo Veeder and T. H. Ernest. 



THivrTER vn. 
The Medical Profession 

BY T. F. ANDRESS, M. P. 

To write even a sketch of a history of the times and places one has 
been a part of is difficult ; to l)e preserved from the everlasting egotism 
that exalts the ''I" in everything, and at the same time to preserve the 
verity of history is still more difficult; but hardest of all is, to "naught 
extenuate, nor set down aught iu malice." To this task we devote these 
pages, and if we shall throw the recollection backward, and help in any 
slight degree, even to present a picture of the early days of the county — 
"all of which I saw and a ])art of which I was" — then our purpose will be 
served and. as the lamented Ward would say, "We have accom]ilished 
all we expected, and more too." 

Early in March 1S70. the writer first saw the mounds, the valleys, 
the forests (for there were forests then) and the ever-varying and, to us, 
the always beautiful scenery of this Montgomery County. When one 
looked around, the first thing that enlisted the attention of the "tender- 
foot" was the Indians. They were certainly a picturesque feature and 
moi-e interesting at some <listanie than in closer contact. The Osages, at 
that time, owned and occujiicd the land. They nunibered about three 
thousand and there were, jierhajis, about live thousand emigrants in the 
(•ounty, all tired with the ambition and desire to pos.sess the soil, and, as 
it were, devour the country in search of claims. 

The Indians looked on with evident hostility, at this sudden and 
overpowering coming of the "Pale Face." But the Osages were no more 
a lirave and war-like jieojile. which fact assured the safety of our scalps. 
If the ("omanche. the Sioux or the Blackfeet tribes had occupied the place 
of the Osage this history would very probably, read differently. 
The Arappahoes had conquered the Osages and. it seems, extinguished, 
at the same time, their courage and martial spirit. 

The white people were scattered everywhere and, even at that early 
date, towns and cities were being staked out and started in the race for 
po])ulation and wealth. Inde]>endence had some shanties covered wiih 
hay; Liberty — at that time the county seat, it having been moved over 
from Verdigris (Mty — gave promise of liecoming the metropolis; Parker, 



J52 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

down near the nation line, on the east bank of the Verdigris river, had 
some pretentious Iniildings: Elk (Mty and Louisburg were rivals, side by 
side, with two or three houses each. At all these places there were mem- 
"bers of the medical profession, generally trying to combine the business 
of the physician with that of the squatter on land. 

The doctors exercised and held a large influence in their several 
communities and used it. in the main, for the public good, and to build 
up society. As in all frontier settlements we find the most enterprising 
and wideawake coming in the lead, and so it was here; the more digni- 
fied followed after. At that early date some very bright followers of 
Esculapius were here — and some not so young — but, taken altogether, a 
good and talented representation of the medical profession. One would 
frequently find the graduate of Jefferson. Ann Arbor, or Rush in a board 
■shanty frying "slap jacks" or ''lady hog's bosom." while a few vol- 
umes of standard works rested on a shelf near by and a few bottles of old 
•stand by drugs that shai-ed the shelf gave out an intimation of the trade 
of the settler. 

The well worn saddle bags and the ever-present lariat completed the 
picture. In some of these rude and temporary surroundings one would 
often find the studious and competent man of medicine filling his mis- 
sion of alleviating suflfering and healing the sick. Owing to the mode of 
life, shelter, food and water, there w«s a vast amount of malarial trouble, 
and the varied types of intei-niittent. i-emittent and bilious fevers made 
themselves familiar in almost every home. I'^verybody knew the doctor 
then and welcomed his visits, but some, unfortunately, had short mem- 
ories and forgot the doctor before the bill was paid. 

Looking back, the wonder is not that so many were sick but that so 
many recovered. r>rinking slough water, eating pork and corn bread 
flavored with soighuni. and living in tents, wagons and shanties were 
not first-class sanitary conditions. Everybody grew familiar with qui- 
nine, calomel, Dover's powders and the dozens of nostrums that promised 
to cuie the "ager" or as the attiicted Dutchman said "Der damned cold 
fever." 

The doctor of 1870. in Montgomery covmty. with his primitive out- 
fit of hovse. drugs, apparel and instruments would not compare favorably 
with his suicessor. with "rubber tire" and thoroughbreds, with fashion- 
able dress and with the modern insti-uments and appliances of the city 
'•M. D." Many of these modern "M. D.'s" are the same old fellows of 
1870, grown out of the chrysalis of the early time and become leaders 
in the i)rofession of their choice. 

Few men have been more devoted to their chosen work, or less mer- 
i'enary, and. as a result, very few have accumulated the wealth that their 
arduous labors deserved, ^'ery few of the jiioneers have acquired wealth 
.and not manv. even, are well-to-do. 



HISTORY OF JIONTCOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 155 

Always :i!ivo to everythiii.u: to lielj) the I'l-otVssion and thereby become 
a greater blt'ssinji to a contidiii!; public tlie establisliinent of a medical 
college was encouraged by the jdiysicians (if Montgomery county in an 
early day and it was actually organized and incorporated at Inde- 
pendence in the year lS7:{-4. Two courses of lectures wei-e provided for 
in this school and the faculty of the institution were: 

Dr. B. F. ^lasteniian, rrofesscu- of Surgery. 

Dr. W. A. .McCulicy, Professor of Theory and Practice. 

Dr. John (irass, Pi-ofessor of Materia Medica. 

Dr. Fugate, I'rofessor of Pliysiology and etc. 

Dr. (^anii)bell. Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology. 

Dr. Moon, Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

Some of the faculty of this defunct institution have passed away, 
some have left the county and the state and a few remain with us, active 
and in the front rank of the "pilldispensers'" of this county. Some of the 
dead have left behind a precious heritage in the memory of their devotion 
to duty and self-sacrificing labor. 

The Osages have l)een rennned and the Indian Medicine Man is gone, 
except in the fakir who claims to have learned his medicine from the 
Indians. . My observation is that no jieople on earth know so little of 
medicine as the Red Man. One old Negro plantation "Aunty"' knows 
more about healing and nursing the sick than all the Indians we have 
ever come in contact with. The doctor of 1870 who could get an Indian 
pony, jjartly broke, and a few ounces of quinine and other drug.s — with a 
pocket case of instruments — was as well equipped for the practice of 
medicine as any one he was likely to meet. 

In those early times w'e had no capsules, no elixirs, no tablets, no 
concentrated drugs; and our resources were, indeed, primitive. And it 
may be here recorded that the very necessity of relying on his own re- 
sources had the eflfect, as it always will, of developing the native talent 
and stimulating ingenuity, and making an alert and wide-awake practi- 
tioner. He may have forgotten some of his I^atin and (ireek, yet at the 
bedside, and in cases of emergency, he could discount the professor with 
his technicalities and extensive library attainments. Out of the ranks 
of such men has come very much of the progress that has marked the 
practice of medicine for the last forty years. And that there has been 
very marked advance along the lines indicated, all agree. 

.\t Independence, in 1S70, we met Dr. .Masterman, who is still there 
and is the only one of the jdiysiciaus of that date left in the county seat. 
He is still in the active jjractice. jiojiular and resjiected. A kindlv, genial 
man, companionable and sympathetic. He is the Health Officer of the 
county and one of the Santa Fe local surgeons. He is a public-spirited 
citizen, an old soldier and a local lienefactor of his race. 

Of later ari-ivals, Drs. Chanev. Davis, Kvans, Surlier. Taiiquarrv, 



154 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERV COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Barker and Kelly, of ludependeuce, fill the field there. Several of these 
have an eriuipnient that makes the county seat a medical center. At Lib- 
erty, in 1870, we found Dr. ("aniiibell. now of Cherry vale, a superannuated 
rheumatic. He is an old soldier with some exj)erience in hospital work 
in the army. While not extensively trained in medicine or widely read 
in books or scientific learning, yet he had and still has the faculty of cor- 
rectly naming a i)hysical trouble and of prescribing the dose that will 
relieve. Our jiractice, in an early day, covered a district larger than half 
a county and the doctor feels, sevei'ely. the effects of the long rides, fac- 
ing the storm and swimming the swollen and unbridged streams of that 
time. H!e was here from 18(50 and gave his time, his health and his all 
toward the alleviation of humanity on the frontier. He found plenty of 
work, some gratitude and a little cash, an experience paralleled only by 
the first doctors of the county. 

At Parker, in the early days, was Dr. Dunwell, a well-equipped man, 
low dead. His partner for a time. Dr. T. C. Frazier, still survives and is 
in the front rank of the profession at Coffeyville. His sketch appears 
in this volume. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Agriculture 

BY w. T. yoE. 

AVhen the pioneer .settlers of Southern Kansas began edging their 
way, as trespassers, in among the Osage Indians, on what was then 
known as Ihe Osage Diminished Reserve, the White man found he had in- 
deed reached a veritable paradise; especially was that true of what be- 
came known, a few years later as Montgomery County. The valleys of 
the Verdigris and Elk rivers, and of tlie score of creeks, were broad and 
rich, and covered with a heavy growth of timber, including walnut, hick- 
ory, ash, pecan, hackberry, sycamore, cottonwood and other vnrieties 
of hard and soft wood. The second bottoms and tlie wide expanse 
of broad prairies, and the hill and slopelands were covei-ed with a lux- 
uriant growth of grass — generally blue stem — frequently so rank that it 
reached above the horse's back and gave one visions of becoming cattle 
barons and pasturing his herds ujion the government land wtihou' 
cost. 

The agriculture of the Osage Indians was of a most primitive charac- 
ter as the "noble red men" regarded labor as degrading, but here and 
there, in their village settlements the "squaws" would cultivate small 
patches of corn of a vari'ey of blue and white, eight-rowed coru-mostly- 
cob, and when this matured it was rubbed between stones, into a coarse 
meal. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 55 

Those cnily ]ii()iit't'is wore <jreatly delightetl witli the luxuriant veg- 
et.ntion, the extent of timber belts, the numerous streams, and other evi- 
dences of a ferttile soil. As soon us jiossible. lo,<;s were out and ])repared 
and a cabin built, and then began the breaking-oiit of a piece of prairie 
sod or a clearing in the timber where, the followino' autumn, a few acres 
of wheat would be sown, or, in the sprinji'. corn planted and vegetables 
grown. The results of these early exjieriments were successful in a re- 
markable degree and demonstrated that no mistake had been made in 
their .settlemnt in "Sunny Kansas." But there came many disappoint- 
ments and destruction of crops by herds, and, during the flrst few sea- 
sons, many families were de])endent on coarse ground corn-meal, turnips, 
and wild game, which was abundant. 

After the signing of the Indian Treaty in August 1870, for extin- 
guishing the title of the Osages to these lands, there was an immense 
tide of immigrants via the "prairie schooner"' route, all anxious to get 
a home in this new country; and "claim takers" were not slow in break- 
ing out a few acres and making ready for growing crops in the following 
season, and. in the aggregate, a few thousand acres of wheat were sown. 
The following spring a few thousand acres in small patches were planted 
to sod-corn and vegetables. The season was favorable, and all began to 
feel that the days of plenty had come to their homes. 

There were comparatively few good teams driven into the county 
and it was fortunate, as there were severe losses of horses while becom- 
ing acclimated and getting used to the short rations of grain. Then it 
was. the settlers learned to appreciate the long-horned Texas cattle, 
which wei-e being driven here to fatten on the grass, and, later , to be 
driven to market. From these herds the pioneers bought their ox teams- 
two, four and, sometimes, six oxen being hitched to a breaking plow 
proved the motive ]>ower which turned over most of the virgin prairie 
for futuie cultivation. The Texas and Indian ponies, also, became popu- 
lar as they were numerous and cheap, and they became the staple teama 
for plowing corn and for road teams. 

The new-comers were gnerally young, energetic and enthusiastic 
and embraced all classes and professions; and all came anticipating the 
securing of a (piarter section of land and the making of a home for them- 
selves and families. P.ut all was not sunshine, as there were privations 
to be endured and lessons to be learned in pioneer life. 

All men were not born farmers, and many found by bitter experience 
that Eastern methods were not successful, and that they had to adapt 
themselves to ways new to them; hence, when the drought :ind grass- 
hoi)jiers came, in 1S74. many found it convenient to go back east to their 
wife's pco]>le rather than face the serious problems of a new country. 

The following season, IST'i. was one of great abundance and made 
glad the hearts of those who had remained — in many cases, not from 



156 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

choice It further demonstrated a point disputed, up to that time, that 
this was pro poinently an ng;riculturiil, as well as one of the finest of live 
8tock};rowinj; counties. II was in that year Tiie South Kansas Tribune 
made a collection of grain and grasses for the Centennial Exposition 
of 18TG, and one can now only imagine the pride of the people when a 
telegram was received from Hon. Alfred Gray, Secretary of the State 
Board of Agrieiulture. announcing that the "Highest prize. |.")0.00 cash," 
liad been awarded to Montgomery county samples of grains and grasses, 
as the finest grown in Kansas. It was indeed a fine exhibit of grains 
and grasses including wheat, i-ye. oats, flax, corn, timothy, blue grass, 
and blue stem. 

From that time on agriculture became more prominent and for sev- 
eral yeais this county made exhibits at the Kansas State fairs and at 
the Kansas City fairs, of the varioiis grains, grass and fruit products, 
and at every one. with a large measure of success and there are ii; exist- 
ence a dozen premium tags and ribbons and one silver medal awarded 
on corn, wheat, flax, cotton and fruits exhibited from this county, at 
these great fairs. 

In those earlier years it became necessary to settle for all time the 
contlicting interests Ibetween the "cowman" and the farmer whether the 
lands were to l)e held for a free range for grazing of herds, or to become 
the homes and farms of the poorer settlers. The wealth was on the side 
of I he Texas steer and every season vast herds of southern cattle were 
driven into this county to graze and fatten on the prairie grass. The 
cattle would ber(>ak from the corrals at night and devastate the farmers' 
growing crops and thus eng(Mider bitter strife. The campaign for the 
herd law was inten.'*e. but although wealth and immense profits were ar- 
rayed on the side of the free range, the farmers won out in the contest 
for a herd law, and gradually the long-horned cattle disappeared and 
gave place to higher grades of cattle that would be confined in fenced 
pastures. 

It took years of time and a great many experiments to demonstrate 
for Just what crojis the difl'ereiit classes of soil were best adapted, and 
what varieties of cereals were the most profitable. But as the years 
])assed and experience was gained and more economical methods substi- 
tuted, yearly accumulations increased and ^lontgomery County farmers 
have been enjoying a prosperity rarely equalled; and for seven years 
past the cry of "hard times'" has not been heard. With diversified agri- 
culttire and better methods and the growing of high-grade cattle, horses 
and hogs, together with j)roducts of tlie orchard, garden and poultry, 
our farmers entered upon the twentieth century with abounding prosper- 
ity. 

Montgomery is one of the smaller counties with an area of 048 
square miles or 414.7l!0 acres. Oiu- fourth of this is fertile valley land 



HISTORY OF MONTfJOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. I57 

'AuA specially adapted for either of the oreat staples, wiieat or corn; in 
favorable seasons prodncinfi from 2") to 40 bushels of wheat per acre and 
some .^ears even larj^er yields. Durinji the five-year period ending with 
1895 the wheat product was 2,093..")90 bushels, and for the next five-year 
period 8,7ri4..398 bushels, and an average for the ten-year period of 
•57.5,798 bushels of wheat each year. And for the opening year of the new 
century, 1901, the average yield was 201/2 busliels of wheat per acre, a 
higher average ])er acre than was gi-own in any other county in Kans;is, 
and aggregated 1,042.280 bushels, which was a greater amount of wheat 
than was grown in twelve other eastern counties in the state. That year 
the wheat yield was 117 bushels per capita for the population of the 
county outside of the larger towns. The cost of growing wheat per acre 
in Jfontgoniery County, for plowing, discing, harrowing, seed, cutting, 
threshing, and rent of land is placed at $9.74 per acre. 

Of the other great staple crop there were produced in the five-year 
period 1891-1895, of corn 5.720,.')l.'i bushels, and for the next five-year 
period 8,851.509 bushels showing the effect of better farming and a year- 
ly average of nearly 1 and 14 million bushels of corn. These statistics 
are from the State Board of Agricultiire and are proof positive that agri- 
culture is a success in Montgomery County and that it is in the corn and 
wheat belt. 

The general crops, so far found adapted to this county, and most 
profitable, are winter wheat, corn, oats, rye, Irish and sweet potatoes, 
castor beans, cotton, flax, broom corn, millet, sorghum, for syrup and 
also for forage. Kaffir corn, timothy, blue grass, orchard grass, clover, 
alfalfa, and prairie grass for hay and jinsturc. These staple farm crops 
average a value of one and three-fourths millions of dollars annually, 
to which should be added for cattle, hogs, poultry, wool, butter, cheese 
and horticultural products to make a total of farm products, the first 
year of this century, of .f2,8.38,295, or f225 per capita for every man, 
woman and child living on the farms. 

As the years pass, greater attention is given to small fruits, poultry 
and the imi)roved class of hor.ses, cattle and hogs. 

Blue grass, red clover and alfalfa, during the recent years, have 
proven sure crops and very profitable — in fact observation and statistics 
])rove Montgomery County to 1m» one of, if not the best, agricultural and 
stock-growing county in the State. 

Montgomery County enjoys the most favorable climatic advantages 
and is free fiom the great extremes of heat and cold that affect more 
northern and southern localities, and has had an average rainfall of 
thirty-six inches during the past twenty years, with a growing period 
extending 18(1 days without frost. In addition to climatic advantages 
the county is in the great Kansas natur.-il gas and oil field. Natural gas 
is used for light and fuel in all the towns of the county, for residences. 



158 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

l)usiiu'.>*s l)nil(lint;s. offlct^s aiul all kiuds of factory industries, and prob- 
ably a TboU!<and farm houses use natural gas for fuel and light and have 
the beuetit <if free rural mail delivery — two luxuries enjoyed by no other 
farming cummunity in any other state — and whii-h emitribute very large- 
ly to the ])leasures, prosperity and iKinie-making of the farmin^f m- 
lnun't^ . 



CHAPTEK IX. 
Manufacturing 

BY W. T. YOE. 



My the diseovery of natural gas in all i)arts of the county, the cheap 
fuel problem was solved, and Montgomery County is destined lo become 
one of if not the greatest manufacturing county in the state. 

Natural gas is the ideal fuel and light for the home and adapted for 
all manufacturing purposes, and the known supply is greater now than 
at any former period. It is in such abundance that it is furnished as low 
as three cents per 1.000 cubic feet, which for heat or steam purposes is 
ef|ui\alent to a rate of sixty cents per ton for coal. The industrial enter- 
])rises consist chiefly of the manufacture of the native shales into the 
finest dry i)ress, face, ornamental, vitrified paving and building brick of 
the finest quality known to the trade and superior in quality, in color 
and finish. There are eight of these brick plants now in operation and 
the extent of the industrv may be judged from the fact that one com- 
pany operating three of these plants employs .500 people, manufactures 
80 million luick per annum and pays .fISS.OOO in wages for labor. 

Among the other industries are two paper mills employing 200 peo- 
l)le in the manufacture of wrapping paper, pulp boards, and eggcase 
fillers from wheat straw. 8ix large flouring mills converting our high 
grade winter wheat into the finest quality of flour. One of these milling 
firms em]iloys 75 people and has a capacity of 2,000 barrels of flour daily. 

Grain elevators are in each of the larger towns, one of which has a ca- 
pacity of storing 200,000 bushels and of handling GO car loads of grain 
daily. 

A zinc smelter employing 12.") ]ieoj)le; three window glass factories 
emjiloying 250 peoj>le; several foundries, machine shops, and planing^ 
mills; a cracker and sweet goods factory employing 50 people — and the 
only one in the State of Kansas; a cotton twine factory; several sorghum 
syruji works — one of which was built at a cost of 1125,000 — two artificial 
ice plants and several other industrial enterprises, are all using natural 
gas for fuel. 

Among the other industries jirojected for the near future are two 
plants for the manufacture of Portland cement, with a capacity of 4,000- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 159 

barrels daily; a plastet mill to innnufacture 2,000 barrels daily from 
gypsum and two additional window glass factories. 



CHArTER X. 
History of the Bench and Bar 

BY WILLIAM DINKIN. 

Section I. 
General Observations 

A true history the beneh and bar of Montgomery County cannot 
fail to awaken a just pride among its members, and to be entertaining 
to those who shall i(oj)ulate the county in years to come. 

The existence of this bar covers a period slightly less than the av- 
erage generation of the human race and. in less than twenty years from 
its beginning, it furnished a United States District Attorney for Kan- 
sas, whose record in that office, for six years, and in the high places he 
subsequently filled in the profession, long ago made his name a familiar 
household word in Kansas, and well known over a large portion of the 
Union. 

It also, in that brief limit of time, sujiplied the State with an honored 
Governor, who served with distinction for two successive terms and 
the public with two judges of the District Court, in men of distinguished 
abilit;.. wliose wide imputations as j)rofound lawyers, acquired in the 
jtractice. became, while on the bench, extended far beyond the limits of 
the State. Within the same time, one of its members became an efficient 
First Assistant Secretary of the Interior, at Washington, during Presi- 
dent Harrison's administration, and another represented the Stat? in 
the United States Senate for six years, ending in 1897. 

Besides these, there have always been in its ranks, numbers of well 
known attorneys, who have ever been recognized in the circles of the pro- 
fession, as talented lawyers. It may well be doubted, if a more promis- 
ing bar existed within the confines of the State than that formed by the 
young attorneys, who came in the Hood of immigration that poured 
into the county, during the years of its first settlement. 

V.'hile many — aye most — of the old members have either yielded to 
that inevitable law, which fixes the destiny of every man, or sought new 
fields for the {iractice of their chosen jirofession, or the pursuit of other 
more alluring callings — other young lawyers now in the prime of their 
physical and mental vigor have taken the places of those no longer here. 

These young gentlemen, among whom are some very brilliant and 
well-cultivated minds, are maintaining an enviable reputation for the 
bar, and making history that, it is to be hoped, will hereafter be written 
■bv one or more of them. 



l6o HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Anijtle reasons existed for the foriiiation of a stroug bar in the early 
settlement and devehqmient of the county. The conditions were inviting 
and the jirosjiects teiii]itinj; to the talented young lawyers. In its native 
state, the face of the country was charming and picturesque, and the vsoil 
of exceeding fertility; and an iinusually fine climate added its induce- 
ments to other fascinating features. 

The early jtojiulation was. for the most part, composed of young 
persons seeking homes, with their life and hopes before them; and these 
young peojile were generally equipped with good health and gifted with 
constitutions that enabled them to endure the toils and privations of a 
new country. 

Tlie.se circumstances were attractive to the brainy, and generally 
brietii'ss. young barristers who came seeking fame and fortune in the 
pursuit of their calling. Most of them, like a great majority of the first 
pioneers, were men of limited means; and some had left comfortable 
homes and turned from the proffered aid of influential kindred and 
friends to brave the dangers of frontier life to win foi-tune and fame. 

While early l)usiness became brisk in their line, the litigous ele- 
ment could not always respond in the "Coin of the Realm" for needed 
{irofessional services; and necessity frequently compelled compensation 
to be rendered in time notes that were rarely bankable, unless secured by 
mortgages on substantial property. Sometimes owing to the impe- 
cunious circumstances of the client, his attorney willingly yielded his 
services for an agreed upon share or interest in the property in contro- 
versy. 

From these earnings, and from such fees as were paid in legal tender 
"greei>banks."the young lawyer was enabled to fortify his doors against 
the far-famed wolf, and to live comfortably, if not luxuriously; and from 
such resources some of the more thrifty built pleasant homes and stocked 
their offices with good libraries. 

In the ealy days, many, who afterward commanded a lucrative 
practice, advertised themselves as "attorneys at law and real estate 
agents" and some of these devoted more time to the agency features thau 
to their profession, and often with profitable results. 

The sources of income to the first members 'of the bar were numerous 
and fruitful, and as the county grew in population and developed, com- 
pensations for legal services were usually awarded in money or its equiv- 
alent. 

When the various fountains of revenue to the legal fraternity are 
nnderstood., it will readily be perceived why so many brilliant young law- 
yers came here so early and stayed so late. 

There were eight or ten thousand people in the county when the 
treaty with the Osage Indians was concluded on September 10, 1870. 
and most of these were claiming an interest in the lands in defiance of 



i6r 

tho Iiidinn's rijiht to the exclusive occupancy thereof. Long before the 
treaty was sijiued or an official survey of the county had been made, these 
aggressive settlers had staked out, claimed and possessed themselves of 
tracts of lands and lots on townsites that had been laid out and platted 
\vitho\it warrant of law. Each claimant asserted a prime right to the 
tract of land by him selected and occupied and to the town lot he had 
chosen, against all, except the United States Government, in whose favor 
a concession of one dollar and twentytive cents per acre, was recognized. 

The rajiid settlement of the county by persons who had generally 
been strangers to each other and the exciting scramble to acquire the 
best land claims and choicest lots in projected towns, often provoked 
bitter disputes and controversies. In the settlement of these, profes- 
sional services were rendered that yielded handsome fees to the young 
lawyers. 

The official survey of the lands made a new alignment of the 
boundaries of most of the claims that had been staked out. This often 
had the effect of enhancing the value of one claim and dej)reciating that 
of an adjoining one. Sometimes such survey jdaced the houses and im- 
provements of two neighbors and friendly claimants on a single tract, 
and out of these causes, arose sharp contentions that created a pressing 
demand for legal work for their solution. 

[ncident to the entry of the townsites, much litigation ensued, some- 
times between the clainuints of the lots they respectively professed 
to occu])y and own. at other times between such lot owners and the trus- 
tee who held the legal title. Expensive suits were also instituted to da- 
termiiie who were the several occupants of a townsite and entitled to 
deeds from the trustee. At Independence, the Independence Town Com- 
pany nvas created and chartered under the laws of the State. It claimed 
the mayor, who had entered the townsite, held the title in trust for the 
town company. Under the law, as it has since been interpreted, a town- 
site is entered from the United States, for the benefit of the actual occu- 
pants of the lots (see ^Yintield Town Company vs. Enoch Morris et al, 
11 Kansas 128 and Independence Town Comjiany vs. James DeLoug, 11 
Kansas 152). As the matter then stood, all i)arties agreed the mayor or 
cor])0!-ate authorities had the legal right to make the entry in trust. The 
controversy was over the question as to who were the ccstuis que trust — 
or bejicticiaries. It would be foreign to the purposes of this article to 
discuss this question and it is only alluded to to show that such condi- 
tions developed doubts that could only be settled by the skillful lawyer, 
and that the comjiensation for the solution of them was one of the 
source- of the lawyer's income. 

Among the disjiutants in the disagreements arising in the settlement 
of the county were some daring and reckless men, who occasionally chose 
to attempt a disposition of their disputed attairs "outside of court," 



1 62 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

and without the aid of counselors. Usually their efiforts resulted in the 
creation of more serious troubles in which the State of Kansas became 
the party plaintiff, and the lawyer found himself blessed with two cases, 
instead of one. 

While a large element in the first population was cosmopolitan, the 
people at once began to take steps to encourage the building of railroads, 
bridges and other public improvements. These were soon .secured at 
ruinously extravagant prices, in exchange for municipal bonds, many 
of which are yet a burden upon the people and wealth of the county. In 
accomplishing these purposes much employment was afforded to the 
members of the bar. 

Adventurous mei'chants often failed for want of caution in making 
purchases, buying too much on trust, and extending credit too far. 
Farmers who had not reckoned upon the disastrous drought of 1874 and 
the ruinous visitation of the festive red-legged grasshopper, and other 
unlooked for woes, came to financial grief. These misfortunes opened 
the way to the attorney to make collections by foreclosing mortgages, 
and in other suits, including attachments, receivers, etc. 

The location of the county on the border of the Indian Territory^ 
which then furnished a comparatively safe retreat for criminals, encour- 
aged the commission of crime. Many of the less discreet among these 
lawless men, often ventured from their asylums of safety, into the State, 
and were sometimes apprehended by the officers of the law; and others 
of them were occasionally, by daring officers without warrant of law, 
forced into the State. The prosecution and defense of these men fur- 
nished many handsome fees to the first lawyers who came to the county. 

Besides these unusual sources of income to the members of the bar, 
that arose out of the rapid settlement and improvement of the county, 
and the peculiar conditions that surrounded it, the ordinary opportuni- 
ties for the lawyer, in all countries, were ever present here. 

Section II. 
The District Courts 

Piior to ]8(i7. the Osage Indians were in Ihe exclusive and rightful 
possession of all the territory of the present Montgomery County, except 
a tract known as The Cherokee Strip, al)out two and one half miles wide 
on the south border of the county, and another strip about three miles 
wide on the east side of the county, that was a part of the Osage Ceded 
Lands. This Indian right remained intact until, by treaty concluded 
near the mouth of Drum Creek, on September 10, 1870, these occupying 
Indians relintpiished all claims to the lands forever. 

In 18(>7, a few adventurous settlers located in the country and these 
were reinforced by othei-s during the next year. In the latter part of 
1868 the immigration began to flow in constantly increasing streams, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 163 

Avhiili (•outiiuicd till the first United States census for 1870 was taken, 
which showed a population of 7,G3S, exclusive of Indians. This was ap- 
proximately the population of the county at the time its first District 
Court convened at Independence on May 9, 1870. 

Before that date, improvised tribunals of justice had afforded relief 
to the wronged, and inflicted punishment for the infraction of those 
rules that were by common consent adopted as a guide. These courts, 
if they may be dignified by that name, antedated the justices of the peace 
of the three original townships (Drum Creek, Verdigris and Westralia), 
created in -June, 18(;!l, by the first board of county commissioners (H. C. 
Crawford, H. A. I!ethuren and R. L. Walker), and assumed to exercise 
jurisdiction, in some matters, after the creation of the succeeding town- 
ship courts. 

Before the first District Court convened, the question of the location 
of the county's permanent capital had been the subject of many heated 
controversies. Governor .James M. Harvey, on June 3, 1S69, by procla- 
mation, created the county and named Verdigris City as its temporary 
county seat. In the fall of that year an election for county officers and 
to locate the permanent county seat was held. A spirited rivalry sprang 
up. On the west side of the Verdigris, where the county was more sparse- 
ly settled, Independence, then less than six months old. was an active 
candidate : a projected city called Tipton, located just east of the present 
Elk City, divided the vote on the west side of the river. On the east 
side of the river, in the beginning, three formidable candidates were pre- 
sented. These were Montgomery City on the north side and near the 
mouth of Drum Creek; Liberty on the hill, about three-fourths of a mile 
east from the present "McTaggart's Bridge" across the Verdigris; and 
Verdigris City (the temporary seat) located about the same distance 
southeast from the present "Brown's Ford'' on the river. 

Liberty was located between and about an equal distance from each 
of its competitors on that side of the river, and, during the campaign, 
its advocates, by a shrewd piece of political diplomacy, secured the vote 
theretofore divided between the three aspirants, and by that means ob- 
tained more votes than either of its comjtetitors on the west side of the 
river. 

A bitter contest was begun in the Probate Court of Wilson County^ 
to which Montgomery was then attached for judicial purposes. The court 
before which such contest had been instituted decided there had been 
no authorized election and hence no contest could properly be enter- 
tained. 

Mr. Ooodell Foster, then but twenty-six years of age. was a leading 
attorney on the side in favor of maintaining the validity of the election. 
•He had been elected county attorney but declined to qualify after the 
adverse decision of the court. 



l64 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

After the trial had progressed two days, Mr. Foster retired at night, 
confident of victory on the next day. He had, late on the second day, 
presented a legal jirecedent that seemed to turn the "tide of battle" in 
his favor. 

Few law books had been appealed to as authority to sustain the 
views presented by counsel on either side ; indeed law books were a rare 
luxury here in those days. In legal fights, arguments and oratory ren- 
dered in loud and aggressive tones, were the weapons relied upon. 

Many hours before sunrise on the third day, L. T. Steidieuson arrived 
on the scene of contiict. He had, during the night, ridden horseback, 
with bis attorney, F. A. Bettis, from Oswego, a distance of fifty-four 
miles. Mr. Bettis brought an Iowa "case in point," and on that author- 
ity the invalidity of the election was judicially declared; and then and 
tliere the fond hopes of the friends of Liberty vanished never to return. 

The site selected in 1869 for the i)ermanent county seat is now an 
uninviting spot. Clusters of low sumac, dwarf persimmon trees and 
other illgrown bushes nourish on those portions where short grasses fail 
to grow between the lime rocks that peep from beneath the surface. 
Near the west line of this projected townsite is the point of a high hill 
from which can be seen a most beautiful landscape, which extends for 
miles up the timber-fringed Verdigris and over broad acres of rich bottom 
lands and fertile uplands and valleys; and to the north and east, some 
two miles or more from the same townsite, is a spot at the summit of a 
hill from which one can look upon Indei)endence, Cherryvale and Lib- 
erty ; the latter the siiccessor of her departed namesake. 

The decision of the Wilson County Probate Court, so fatal to the 
prospects and hopes of old Liberty, was quietly acquiesced in, until the 
vexed question of the location of the permanent county seat was settled 
at a legal election held in November, 1870. At this election Independence 
was selected by an overwhelming majority. 

At its annual session in 1870, the Legislature passed an act, which 
was, on the 2nd day of March, in that year, ap])roved by the Governor, 
creating the Eleventh Judicial District, comprising the counties of 
Crawford, Cherokee, Labette, Montgomery and Howard. By this law 
the (lovernor was authorized to appoint a judge for the newly created 
district, whose term of office should commence April 1st, 1870. It also 
provided for the election of a judge, for four years, at the annual election 
to be held in November of that year, and fixed his term to commence on 
the 2nd Monday in January, 1871. 

This act, by its terms, was to take effect and be in force from and 
after its ])ublication in the Kansas Weekly Commonwealth, a newspaper 
then published in Topeka. 

On the 16 day of March. 1870. the Governor appointed Hon. Wra. C. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 165 

Webb, of Fort Scott, Judge of the District, notwithstanding the law- 
creating it and conferring the power to make tlie appointment was not 
publislied and hence did not become operative until tlie 2->fth day of that 
montli. 

While the appointment was premature and unauthorized, a better 
selection could not have been made, either at the time or after the law 
went into force, seven or eight days later. 

One of the novel features of the law was that by its first section it 
made Howard county a part of the district, and in its next section pro- 
vided "the County of H,oward is hereby attached to the County of Mont- 
gomery for judicial purposes." 

The law makers may have been influenced to the inconsistency in 
the first and second sections of the act, by the impi'ession that Montgom- 
ery county afforded the mily convenience to be had, in the two counties 
suitable for holding court and in that view were doubhless correct, yet 
they may not have fully realized the lack of commodious, not to say lux- 
urious, aiipointments for such purpose, that they obtained in this, now 
the sixth county in the state. 

The law also fixed times for convening the terms of court "on the 
second Monday of May and the second Monday after the third Monday 
of October in each year." 

On the second Monday in May, 1870, which was the 9th day of that 
month. Judge Wm. C. Webb prom])tly appeared in the county to open 
his term of Court. This, under the law, must be held at the County seat ; 
and Judge Webb was always unusually technical in the strict observance 
of all laws, so much so, had he known the weakness of his title to the 
oflSce, he probably would not have attempted to exercise its duties. 

On his arrival, he was confronted with a peculiar state of affairs 
respecting the location of the county seat. The Governor, in his pro- 
clamation creating the county, had designated Verdigris City as its 
temporary county seat ; the canvas of the vote cast at the election in 
1869 attested that the permanent county seat was fixed at Liberty, and the 
election resulting in favor of Liberty had been judicially declared a 
nullity. 

Ordinarily, this disturbing problem would have been easy of 
solution in the well trained legal mind of Judge Webb. Logically, the 
county seat would have been where the Governor located it. unaffected 
by the futile efforts to change it. However, other complications inter- 
vened. It was the duty of the County Commissioners to provide, at the 
county seat, a suitable i)lace for holding court; and it was likewise the 
duty if the commi.ssioners to hold its sessions at the same seat. The 
crude and diminutive court room that had been constructed at Verdi- 
gris City no longer remained there. Under the compromise between the 



i66 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY/ KANSAS. 



three asi)irants ou the east side of the river, the primitive court house 
had been i-enioved from its former site to Liberty, and the few inhabi- 
tauts wlio lind dwelt ou tlie laud platted as tiu' teuiporary couuty seat 
luul li(>|K'lessly abaud(Uied it aud linked their fortunes with those who 
lived ou the site of its former rival, after its barren victory at the polls. 

Besides, the new Board of County Commissioners (W. W. Graham, 
S. B. IMooreboUvse aud Thomas H. Brock) was friendly to Independence, 
at which place it held its sessions, and on May ."itli, ISTO, made an order 
as follows: "Be it known that, fludiug no suitable jilace at Verdigris 




FIRST COURT HOUSE 

City in which to hold the District Court of MKintii'oniery County, it is 
hereby ordered tiiat said <ourt shall be held at liKlejiendence." 

These were the conditions when .Iud|ie AVm. C. Webb, iu company 
with his former law partner, ^Mr. R. J. Uill, arrived, with the team of 
their law firm, at the log structure that had been known at Verdigris 
City as the court house of the county, aud moved to and re-erected at 
Liberty for the same i)urpose. This small log house still stands, where 
it then stood, neglected and in a sad state of decay. 

After tiie team in which .Indge ^^'ebb came was hitched, he walked 
into <lie supposed court house aud at once, in the most emjihatic manner, 
declared to its empty walls that it was wholly untit for the purpose de- 
signed and he positively declined to oi)en court under its roof. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 67 

When Judge Webb and Mr. Hill ari'ived, there was no one at the 
building, but in a few moments a t-rowd was attracted to the spot — more 
from idle curiosity than otherwi.se — and in a short time Sheriff White 
arrived from ludejiendence ; the clerk of the court, L. T. Stephenson, a 
powei'ful friend in those days of Independence, had remained where his 
love and friendship centered. 

After a short consultation between the judge, sheriff and Mr. Hill, 
these gentlemen drove on to Independence when the order of the board 
was made known to the judge and a new school building located on lot 
17, block 52, the present site of the United Brethren church, was tender- 
ed for a court room. 

After some hesitation, the judge opened his court there and directed 
the order of the board of county commissioners to be spread upon the 
records, where it will now be found copied on the first page of the first 
journal of the first term of the District Court ever held in the county. 

This was the only term of court held in the county by Judge Wm. C. 
Webb, and at that term but little business of importance, beyond the ad- 
mission of attorneys to practice, was transacted. Court adjourned on 
May 17th. 1870. after having continued most of the cases and admitted a 
number of the earliest members of tlie bar to practice. 

At this term of court. Charles White was sheriff, J. N. Debruler, 
under sheriff, L. T. Stephenson, clerk, and Clate M. Ralstin, county at- 
torney. 

Section III. 
The Judges of the District Court 

The gentlemen who have pi'esided over the District Court of Mont- 
gomery county since its creation, have, for the most part, been men of 
far more than ordinary al)ility; and when the comparison is indulged 
with judges in this and other states, who have occupied the same exalted 
positions, there could be little or nothing found to complain of or criti- 
cise in our judges. It is well known in the legal profession, that the of- 
fice of judge of a trial court of general jurisdiction is one that is most 
difficult to acceptably fill. To jirojicrly ]>erform its duties requires accu- 
rate knowledge of the law, and of the rules of pleading and of evidence, 
together with business tact and administrative ability. 

HON. WILLIAM C. WEEK, of Fort Scott. Kans.,\vas the first judge 
of the District Court. He held but one short term in the county and that 
was in a new schoul house on Kast Ma]»le street in Independence. Suf- 
ficient allusion has been made to this feature in the preceding section of 
this article. 

^^'hen .Judge Webb convened the first district court here he was a 
man about fortv-six vears of age and had before been recognized in this 



l68 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

State as well as in the state of Wisconsin, from whence he came to this, 
as a lawyer deeply learned, accurate and profound in the profession. 

After his first and only term in the county, he, on November 17th, 
1870, resig;ned the office and shortly after became the official reporter of 
the Supreme Court of Kansas and, as such, thereafter produced fifteen 
volumes of the reports of the court (Vols. G to 20 inclusive.) 

After retiring from the responsible and arduous duties of that office, 
he, with great credit to himself, filled various high public positions in the 
state and, at times, was, in a professional way, engaged in many impor- 
tant legal controversies. He became well known throughout the state, 
and was everywhere recognized as one of its most distinguished lawj'ers. 

Before coming to Kansas, -Judge Webb had served in the Civil war 
as colonel of a Wisconsin regiment, and had been a member of the Legis- 
lature of that state. Among the public places of trust he has filled in 
this state, outside of those already mentioned, may be named those of 
state senator, member of the lower house of the legislature, state super- 
intendent of insurance and judge of the Superior Court of Shawnee 
county. 

In his old age, while bending under the burden of the heroic strife 
of a well spent life, he, in 1890, undertook and accomplished the compila- 
tion of the laws of Kansas. This was a herculean task and better fitted 
to the energy and physical endurance of the man as he was twenty-five 
years before. 

Judge Webb died in 1898, at Topeka, at the ripe age of seventy-four 
years, lamented, honored and respected by all who knew him. At the 
January, 1898, term of the Supreme Court, it adopted and spread upon 
its records a handsome tribute to his memory. 

HOX. HENRY G. WEBB, at about the age of forty-five years, suc- 
ceeded his brother, Wm. C. Webb, on the bench. He was elected to the of- 
fice at the November, 1870, general election, and the term of his office be- 
gan in January, 1871. Under the law, as it then existed, the second term 
of court was to convene in the county on the "second ^londay after the 
third Monday in October." At the appointed time Judge Wm. C. Webb 
failed to appear and open his court, whereupon the members of the bar 
selected Judge Henry G. Webb as judge pro tern, and he, as such pro 
tem judge, held the October or November, 1870, term of court, in a room 
upstairs on the east side of I'ennsylvania avenue in this city, in a build- 
ing about 100 feet south of Main street. 

At the time of his selection as such pro tem judge, he was a candi- 
date against Hon. Wm. Mathena, of Cherokee county, for the office and 
at the election held a few days after convening court, was chosen by a 
large majority. 

After the election and while Judge Webb was serving as judge in a 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 169 

temporary capacity, he disposed of at least one highly important matter 
arising out of what is now conceded to have been a fraudulent and cor- 
rupt election, held June 21st. 1870. It had been voted to issue county 
bonds in the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, to secure the build- 
ing of the Leavenworth. Lawrence & (Jalveston Railroad, from near the 
northeast cornei' of the county, via ('lierryvale and Coffey ville. to the 
south boundary of the state. One of the first suits brought to question the 
validity of that election in the District Court of the county was the case 
of Asa Hargrave vs. Charles White. The court appointed Mr. A. G. 
Darlow, an attorney of Oswego, a commissioner to take testimony and re- 
port. Mr. Darlow. in a very brief time, made his report, whereupon, on 
Xoveinber lind, 1S70, the court rendered its judgment, finding, among 
other things, that said election held on June 21st, 1870, on the question of 
voting 1200.000 to said railroad company was a valid and legal election. 
Without venturing a criticism on the soundness of that ruling, it may 
be remarked, that shortly afterward the bonds were issued and now, 
after much litigation and the expediture of a large amount of money, 
in vain efforts to defeat them, a large portion of the debt still hangs as 
a burden on the county. 

On the 9th day of November, 1870, Judge Webb pronounced, perhaps, 
the first divorce decree in the county. It was in favor of the wife, who 
was jilaintiff, and on the grounds that the husband had been willfully 
"absent from said petitioner for more than one year prior to the filing 
of the petition." 

At the same term of court pro tem Judge Webb made an unique 
order in reference to the papers and files in the clerk's office, which, 
among other things, provided they should not "be loaned, borrowed, 
taken away, purloined, stolen or kidnapped from the office" and also 
that any person or attorney "wishing copies may have the same by giv- 
ing ample notice to the clerk and paying for the same at the price per 
folio allowed by law;" the order then made an exception in favor of the 
county attorney, who was allowed "to borrow papers by receipting for 
and returning the same in three (3) days." 

Any of the early members of the bar who knew the clerk of the court 
in those days and his peculiar and aggressive style of composition, will 
not hesitate to ascribe the authorship of this positive order to L. T. 
Stephenson, who was always an intimate friend and a great admirer 
of the judge. 

The May. 1871, term of court was held in the same room on Pennsyl- 
vania avenue and at that term Frank Willis appeared as county attor- 
ney. Judge Henry (1. AVebb was then "a full fledged" official with a term 
of about four years licfore him and had formed close social relations with 
a coterie of members of the bar and others. These friends of the judge, 



lyO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

for some reason, so it was claimed bv Mr. Willis, had formed an un- 
friendly feeling for the county attorney, which was shared by the judge. 
Out of this antagonism disputes arose that were sometimes aired in open 
court. 

On Novemljer 30th, 1871. the court ordered the arrest of Mr. Willis 
for contempt of court. The specification stated that Mr. Willis had ut- 
tered the following insulting language in open court : "If the court 
wants to do so and dismiss the cases here publicly just for the purpose 
of stigmatizing me, why you can do that'' and further it was specified 
that Mr. Willis had used in open court the following contemptuous lan- 
guage- "If you want to do such things in that way and dismiss these 
cases just because Bennett says so why just do it." What became of the 
contemi)t proceedings against Mr. Willis, the records do not show. 

At this term of court, on December 2nd, 1871, in the case of the 
State vs. L. T. Stephenson, the defendant was tried and convicted of an 
assault, and by the court fined twenty-five dollars and the costs of the 
prosecution. Neither this fine nor the costs was ever paid, and no com- 
mitment issued. Long afterward and on August 30th, 1872. Mr. Stephen- 
son appeared in court, and, on his motion, the fine was remitted. 

By an act of the Legislature, which went into effect on March 6th, 
1872, three terms of court were provided for the county. These were to 
convene respectively on the first Monday in April, August and December. 

On the first day of the April, 1872, term of court Judge Henry G. 
Webb and the clerk, L. T. Stephenson, were absent. There were present, 
however, besides some of the memliers of the bar. J. E. Stone, sheriff; J. B. 
(/raig. deputy clerk; and Frank Willis, county attorney, and the sheriff 
adjourned court 'till the next day. 

On the next day, which was April 2nd, 1872. court, with a full corps 
of officers, convened in Emerson's hall, which was on the north side of 
Main street and just west of the present court house grounds, and re- 
mained in session for several weeks. The conveniences in these new 
quarters were much superior to those afforded in the rooms formerly 
u.sed for court, but in some respects, in the opinion of Judge Webb, were 
still lacking; and to supply the needs, which, under the law, it was the 
duty of the county commissioners to provide, the court, on the 17th day 
of April, 1872, made an order directing the sheriff, at the expense of the 
connti,, to provide by the next term "sufficient matting of the best qual- 
ity to cover the bench and bar and also the aisles in the court room and 
that he lay the said matting securely on the floor • • • an^j oausc 
to be erected in said court room a platform of sufficient length and width 
to comfortably seat twelve jurors, and also a witness stand, and also a 
table six feet long and three feet wide and three and a half feet high for 
the use of the Judge of this Court." 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. l"]! 

While public officials often in the discharge of their duties, inno- 
cently overstep the bounds of the law, an order of this character, ema- 
nating from a court which is charged with the interpretation of the law 
and with defining its limits, becomes of serious import; in other words, 
it usurped j)0wers that belonged to the county commissioners. 

At the August, 1872, term, and on the 22nd day of that month, in 
a case then jiending, in which a former county attorney was plaintiff 
and the board of county commissioners was defendant, it was, in open 
court agreed that the plaintiff should recover the amount that would 
result from dividing the aggregate of the amounts named by the mem- 
bers of the bar present, by the number of such members. The court ren- 
dered judgment against the county for the amount (|.300) thus obtained 
on this unheard of proceeding. At the December, 1872, term of court a 
highly important murder case was pending; it being the case of the 
State vs Oliver P. Cauffman, George W. Eipley and Jasper Coberly. 

On December 13th, 1872, the county attorney asked a continuance 
on account of the absence of an important witness, which request was 
denied, and on the next day he asked leave of court to nolle the case, and 
this application was also overruled, whereupon, after a brief trial, de- 
fendants Cauffman and Ripley were acquitted. The other defendant, 
Coberly, was never a])])rehended. This case arose from the claim that 
some one charged with, or suspicioned of, being guilty of some offense, 
had been lynched near Havana, in the county. 

At the time rumors of corruption and bribery on the bench, were 
rife, in connection with this case. Whether there was any foundation 
for such rumors, will probably never be determined, and being mere 
rumors, it is but fair, in the absence of authentication, to say they were 
groundless, so far as the court was concerned. At all events, this oc- 
curred at the last term of court ever held in the county bv Judge Henry 
G. Webb. 

On January 21st, 1873, the lower house of the Kansas Legislature, 
adopted the following resolution: '^'Resolved, That a committee of three 
be appointed to investigate charges againts H. G. Webb, judge of the 
11th Judicial District, with power to send for persons and papers." 

On January 22nd, 1873, the same body passed an amendatory resolu- 
tion, increasing the number of the committee to investigate such charges 
to five instead of three. 

On January 23rd, 1873, the lower house adopted the following reso- 
lution: 

"Resolved, The committee heretofore appointed by resolution of this 
house to investigate charges against H. G. Webb, Judge of the Eleventh 
Judicial District of the State of Kansas, be and is hereby authorized and 
required to investigate all charges of bribery, corruption and misconduct 



J-J2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

in office against said H;. G. Webb and to report to this liouse as soon as 
practicable whether the said H. G. Webb has so acted in his judicial 
capacity as to require the interjiosition of the constitutional power of 
impeachment of the house, and for the purpose of this investigation the 
committee is hereby authorized and empowered to subpoena and send for 
all necessary persons and papers and each member of said committee is 
hereby authorized and emi)owered to administer oaths and aftirmations, 
and said committee is hereby authorized to employ a clerk." 

On February 15th, 1873, the committee, therefore, appointed to in- 
vestigate the charges againts .Judge Webb, made a report as follows: 

"]Mr. Speaker. Your select committee to whom was referred the in- 
vestigation of accusations against H. G. Webb, Judge of the Eleventh 
Judicial District, of the State of Kansas, beg leave to report that Judge 
Webb has tendered his resignation to take effect on the Hist day of Feb- 
ruary, 1873, and the same has been filed and accepted by His Excellency 
the Governor; therefore, the committee asks to be discharged from any 
further investigation of the case, and recommend the testimony taken in 
the investigation, be filed with the Secretary of State, subject to the or- 
der of this House." "W. H. MAPES, Chairman." 

"The report was adopted." 

On the same day Mr. Hutchings offered the following resolution : 

'■Resolved, That the committee heretofore appointed to investigate 
charges against H. G. Webb, .Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District, be 
discharged from further consideration of the subject and that the testi- 
mony be not printed, but filed in the office of the Secretary of State sub- 
ject to the order of this House." 

•'\Miicli was, on motion, adopted." 

Judge Henry G. Webb was a most remarkable man. Nature had 
endowed him with a lavisli hand. He was a nmn of powerful physique 
and possessed of a natural mental power that rarely falls to the lot of 
man. H* was well equipped to fill any high station in life. 

In the discussion of a legal jiroposition, or in the elaboration of any 
subject he chose to talk upon, he was most instructive and entertaining. 
Hte always sjioke in a deep, deliberate and sonorous voice, softened by a 
musical melody that was charming to hear. His language on such oc- 
casions was chaste, well chosen and refined. He was a man whose name 
might have lived prominently in history a century or more after his 
death. With his great and brilliant mind, he lacked ambition beyond 
his inclination to gratify the tastes of the hour. 

JUDGE BISHOP W. PERKINS, at the age of thirty-one years was, 
in March, 1873, appointed by Governor Thomas A. Osborn, .Judge of the 
District Court to fill the vacancv occasioned bv the resignation of Judge 
Henrv G. Webb. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 73 

At the next election for judge, Mr. Perkins was the Republican can- 
didate to succeed himself against Mon. John M. Scudder, an attorney of 
Cofteyville, Kansas, an independent candidate. His large district then 
coni[i()sing four poiiulous counties, was overwhelmingly Kepublicau and 
he was elected by a safe majority, notwithstanding his own county 
(Labette) which was thoroughly Republican, voted in favor of his op- 
ponent. The adverse vote in Labette county was occasioned by the fact 
that a few years before the election, while Judge Perkins was Pi-obate 
Judge of the county, the large estate of one Ames, deceased, had been 
diverted from the rightful heirs and given to a spurious claimant, who 
had fraudulently secured a record of the Probate Court showing his 
adoption as the son and heir of said deceased. Bitter litigation arose 
over the event during the time Judge Perkins was serving the remainder 
of Judge AYebb's term. It was boldly charged during Judge Perkins' can- 
vass that he was a party to the fraud, and as boldly denied by the judge, 
who had in a short time he had served on the bench, become very popular, 
and had won the confidence of the people, to such an extent, that the 
afifair exercised but little influence in the election, outside of Labette 
county. 

Four years afterward Judge Perkins was again elected for another 
term of four years, and at the end of his last term, entered upon his 
duties as one of the four congressmen-at-large from the State, to which 
office he had been elected while serving on the liench. 

When Judge Perkins first went upon the bench, he possessed neither 
the natural ability nor the legal learning of his predecessor, but in many 
other respects was far superior in fitness for the position. While he was 
young and of somewhat limited experience in the practice, he at once 
demonstrated administrative ability of a high order. This, with his un- 
flagging energy and tireless industry, aided by the fine bars, particularly 
in this and Labette county, enabled him during his entire term to dis- 
pose of the court's business satisfactorily to the public generally. 

Judge Perkins on the bench was courteous and fair and developed 
an unusual ability to clearly instruct a jury and also become a fine 
chancel hir. 

AA'hile the judge left a fine record after his ten years' service on the 
bench, he was distinctly a politician. As a political leader, he was rare- 
ly, if ever, excelled in the State. 

He was jioidilar, adroit, diplomatic, energetic and uncompromising 
in his political convictions; and these <pialities, with a boundless ambi- 
tion to serve in a i)ublic position, kejit him almost constantly in office 
from the time he came to Oswego, in April. 18tJ9, 'till he was defeated in 
ISIKI, for congress, by Hon. Penjamin Clover, of Cowley county. After 
this inglorious defeat, the first he had ever met, he seems to have lost his 



1^4 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

political iirestige. and never again served in a imlilic office except for a 
few months in 1892 in the United States .*;enate, to which office he had 
been appointed by Gov. L. V. Humphrey to fill the vacancy occasioned by 
the death of Senator Plumb. The next legislature elected in his place 
Senator Wm. A. Peffer. a Topnlist, and at the same session his party 
friends refused his recpiest to nominate him as the candidate for the 
minority party. This was perhaps the most galling and humiliating 
defeat he ever suffered. 

Judge Perkins was born at Kochester, Loraine county. Ohio. October 
18th, 1842. In July. 18(!2, he enlisted in the I'nion army and became a 
sergeant of his company. lie was aftmward detailed to act as lieuten- 
ant in a company of cavalry f(U' sjiecial guerilla duty, in which he served 
'till December, 1863. Hie remained in the service 'till mustered out at 
Nashville, Tennessee, in ilay. 18(i(i. During his term of service after 
December, 1803. he filled successively the following army offices: Adju- 
tant of the Kith Colored Infantry and Captain of Conii)any "C" in the 
same regiment. He was also, for a year. Acting Adjutant General of 
the post of Chattanooga and served as Judge Advocate on the staff of 
General Gillem and also in the same position on the staff of General 
Steadman. 

After leaving the army he resumed the study of law, and was, in 
1807, admitted to practice; and in the same year located at Pierceton, 
Indiana, where he remained until he came to Oswego in 1809. 

In the spring of ISOl) he was ai>|)()inted county attorney, and after 
his term had expired, became assistant county attorney, and afterward 
filled the following positions: Probate Judge of Labette county. Judge 
of the 11th Judicial District, Member of Congress and United States 
Senator. 

He then settled in Washington, D. C, wliere he died on the 20th 
day of June, 1804, after a short illness. 

JUDGE GEO. CHANDLER succeeded Hon. B. W. Perkins on the 
bench. He was born at Hermitage. Wyoming county. New York, on Sep- 
tember 20, 1842, and in 1848 moved with his family to Monroe, Wisconsin, 
where he remained until 1854. and then went to Shirland. Illinois, and 
spent his time for the next six years, working on a farm. 

In 1860 he went to Beloit College in Wisconsin, and after pursuing 
his studies there for three years, entered the University of 5I\ichigan, at 
,\nn Arbor, and three years later was graduated from the famous law 
school of that renowned institution. He was then, in 1806, admitted to 
practice by the Supreme Court at Detroit, Michigan, and afterward in 
the same year, went into the law office of Messers. Conger & Hawes and 
began the practice at Janesville, Wisconsin, which he continued unlil 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 1 75 

early in 1872, when he removed to, and entered the practice of law at, 
Independence, Kansas. 

On the 3rd day of Aj)ril, 1872, on motion of J. IK McCue he was ad- 
mitted to practice in the District Court of Montgomery county, on the 
certificate of his admission to the Circuit Court of Wisconsin. 

Shortly after coming to Independence he formed a co-partnership 
with George R. Peck, a close friend, whom he had known at Janesville, 
Wisconsin, and who had, late in 1871, preceded him here. This new 
firm, under the style of Peck & Chandler, in a very short time establish- 
ed a lucrative practice, and its members very soon became well known 
as fine lawyers. The first oiSce of this firm was upstairs in a frame 
building over Page's bank, at the corner of Main street and Pennsyl- 
vania avenue, and at the site of the present First National bank. 

In 1873, the partners moved their office to the second stoi-y of a brick 
building recently completed by them on the east side of North Pennsyl- 
vania avenue and three doors south of the well known drug store of that 
early pioneer, J. H. Pugh. 

When they came to this county, neither Mr. Chandler nor his part- 
ner "was abundantly blessed with this world's goods" and each was 
burdened with the necessity of providing a home for himself and wife. 
Each had youth, energy, good health, strength, a good library and bril- 
liant prospects. 

Mr. Peck built a small plain, two room cottage, at the edge of the 
bluff on the Verdigris, at the east end of Myrtle street, and Mr. Chandler 
another, scarcely more pretentious, on the opposite side of the same 
street, nearly a mile west; these modest dwellings, which have been but 
slightly changed in the thirty years, or more, since they were erected, 
are often pointed out to strangers as the original habitations of the two 
bright and brainy young lawyers, who joined our bar in its infancy. 

In January, 1874, Mr. Peck assumed the duties of the office of 
United States Attorney for the District of Kansas, to which he had been 
recently appointed, and the co partnership theretofore existing between 
him and Mr. Chandler was shortly after dissolved. Mr. Chandler soon 
afterward formed a partnership with his younger brother, Jo.seph Chand- 
ler, and this firm, under the name and style of Geo. & Jos. Chandler, con- 
tinued in the practice until January, 1883, when he went upon the bench, 
and thereafter served as Judge oif the 11th Judicial District until in 
April, 1888, when he became First Assistant Secretary of the Interior 
at Washington, under (ieneral Noble, and served with distinction in that 
position to the end of (Jeneral Benjamin Hai-rison's administration in 
1893. Since then Judge Chandler has remained in Washington in the 
practice of the law. 

Judge Chandler was, in many respects, a remarkable man. It were 



176 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

useless, in the limited space allotted to us to attempt more than a very 
imperfect description of him as he was during his active practice and 
service on the bemh here, for a period of more than sixteen years. 

He was an imposing figure. Xatuie had moulded for him a massive 
frame, symmetrically constructed, and fully six feet tall, ov more, with 
broad shoulders, and had given him a lofty yet somewhat awkward car- 
riage. It had also furnished him a very large and perfectly formed head 
and strongly carved features that at once marked him as a man of ex- 
traordinary physical and mental powers. 

He was well ](rei)ared when he entered the practice here, early in 
1872. and liy assiduous reading and stndy and the aid of a very retentive 
memory, he, in a short time, became a learned and profound lawyer. 

With all her lavish gifts, nature had imposed upon him some faults 
that detracted from that success which might have Ijeen his in the prac- 
tice, and shaded his career on the bench, where he displayed great ability. 

During his thirteen years of active practice here his exceedingly 
sensitive nature, impetuous disposition and untutored temper, often 
made him unpleasant to opposing counsel, and, at times, disagreeable to 
his own clients, whom he sometimes severely lectured for getting into 
the trouble he was employed to extricate them fro>n. The high esteem 
in which he was held by members of the bar and the implicit confidence 
his clients had in him — together with his undoubted sincerity and in- 
tense devotion to the interests of those whom he served — furnished am- 
ple reasons in court, bar and clients, to overlook these faults. 

-ludge ("handler never entertained a very exalted opinion of the 
ability of a jury to settle "as of right it ought to be settled" complicated 
questions between litigant parties, and for that reason had a pitiable 
dread of entering upon the trial of a hotly contested case to a jury — 
be always made every case he tried a "hotly contested" one. 

During any term of court at which he had cases involving enarnest- 
ly disputed questions of fact, he would dismi.ss, for the time being, the 
hilarious and rollicking ways with which he was accustomed to regale 
his many friends during vacation, and clothe himself in an armor of im- 
patience, petulence and irascibility and enter the struggle and fight the 
battle or battles with all the vehemence of a nature "filled to the brim" 
-with courage, industry, energy, aggressiveness and unusual ability. 

In the practice ;^^r. Chandler was exceedingly i)ainstakiug in thor- 
oughly posting himself on all questions of law involved in each of his 
cases; and under the prevailing practice, in the early days, the argu 
luents of attorneys to the jury always preceded the general instructions 
of the court. Often one or more jdvotal questions of law went far in de- 
termining the issues; and when that fact was brought to the attention of 
jurors, they eagerly watched for the instructions of the court to enlighten 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I 77 

-their understanding on such important quest .<<n or questions. Judge 
Chandler in those "days of long ago" sometimes began to "sum up" his 
case by addressing his remarks to the court on the questions of law in- 
volved and in that way influence the court in its instructions, which he 
rightly concluded would be of vital importance. To his credit it may be 
said, that he never, in that unsafe practice that was indulged by his pre- 
decessor on the bench, misled the court. The law authorizing the pecu- 
liar proceedure was amended in 1881. and since then the "beacon lights 
of the law" are given by the court to the jury and opposing counsel in 
advance of argument. 

Judge Chandler's career on the bench began in January, 1883, and 
ended in A]iril, 1889, and was distinguished by an unselfish devotion to 
duty, great energy and industry and signal ability. He carried to the 
bench the same impetuous disposition, quick temper and inclination to 
make unguarded i-emarks that were characteristic of him in the practice. 
While the jury was in attendance upon his court he rigorously exacted 
from the ofHcers of the court the utilization of every moment of time. 
He was punctual to the instant, himself, and denumded the same prompt- 
ness from the members of the bar. The failure of an attorney to strictly 
observe this unyielding rule, rarely failed to draw from the court a 
severe lecture, that sometimes consumed more time than had been lost 
by the attorney's delay. In these lectures the topics of taxation and 
court expenses were often discussed and in their delivery the court fre- 
quently neglected to discriminate and applied his suggestions to all 
members of the bar instead of the one whose conduct had induced the 
scolding. On account of the frequency of these censures and admoni- 
tions they lost much of their force with the attorneys; yet they served to 
greatly increase the popularity of the judge with the unsophisticated 
who felt they never before could understand the "law's delays." 

While such frequent outbursts from and unseemly conduct on the 
bench might seem to have emanated from a spirit of petty demagoguery, 
nothing can be more remote from the truth. In justice, it may be said, 
he never, by these, intended to wound the feelings of or do a wrong to 
another for his own aggrandizement. While it was somewhat foreign 
to his nature to offer an excuse or apologize for a wrong once done, he 
was absolutely senseless to any pain or sacrifice inflicted on himself in 
the jierformance of any public duty he undertook; and his sterling in- 
tegrity, self sacrificing devotion to duty, magnificent ability and the 
known absence of any intention to do wrong, furnished ample excuse to 
iIh' sometimes tortured members of the bar, to overlook and forgive. 

Judge ("handler is now in Washington, 1). C, practicing law, full of 
vears, honors and experience and kindly remembered by his old friends 
of the Montgomery county bar. 



lyg HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

JUDGE JOHN N. RITTER. of Coluinbus, Kansas, was, in May, 1889, 
appointed by Governer L. U. Humphrey, Judge of the 11th Judicial Dis- 
trict, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge George 
Chandler, to accept theoffice of First Assistant Secretary of the Inter- 
ior at Washington. At that time the terms of the District Court of the 
county were required to convene on the first Tuesday in Miarch, June and 
November. When Judge Ritter opened his first term of court in the 
county, on the first Tuesday in June, 1889, there were on the bar docket, 
as follows: Four cases standing on demurrer, eighteen criminal cases, 
sixty-seven civil jury and one hundred and sixty-four cases on the court 
docket; or a total of two hundred and fifty-three. Judge Ritter was 
without experience on the bench, and. of late years, had devoted much of 
his time to banking and was not in very robust health. Notwithstanding 
the great number of cases on the docket and the great district he was 
called upon to preside over, being the largest in the state, and his frail 
health, he acquitted himself creditably and gave general satisfaction. 

At the fall election of 1889, he was the Republican candidate for the 
office, against Hon. J. D. McCue, who was elected. Judge Ritter, after 
his defeat at the polls, held a short term of court in the county in No- 
ber, 1889, after which his health continued to decline and in a short time 
he died at Battle Creek, M|ch., whence he had gone seeking a restoration 
of his broken health. 

JUD(5E JEREMIAH I). McCUE, the successor of Judge Ritter on the 
bench, opened his first regular term of court in the county on the first 
Tuesday of March, 1890. At that time, outside of the attorneys, the oflS- 
cers of his court were, John W. Simpson, clerk ; Oliver P. Ergenbright, 
county attorney; Thomas F. Callahan, sherifl"; John Callahan (after- 
ward county attorney for two terms), under sheriff; and George Gled- 
hill, reporter. 

The bar docket of that term showed three cases standing on de- 
murrer, fourteen criminal cases, thirty-five civil jury cases and 152 cases 
on the court docket, a total of 2(t4. The election of Judge McCue was a 
surprise, notwithstanding his eminent fitness for the position was well 
known to the members of the bar. He had been in the active practice in 
the county for about twenty years and had ever entertained an aspira- 
tion to "don the judicial ermine." Yet. inasmuch as the Republican par- 
ty, which he had always opposed, had, before that time, easily elected its 
candidates to the high position, to which his laudable ambition led, it 
seemed to go without the saying that he could not successfully combat 
its nominee and the same party had also, in a race for the office several 
years before, mercilessly defeated him. A still greater surprise awaited 
the members of the bar and Mr. McCue's friends. In the practice and 
in his personal affairs he had been somewhat slack and improvident, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 179 

while on the bench he was at once a ni(«lel judjie. He was courteous 
and kind to the officers of his couit, patient with all, prompt and thor- 
ough in the discharge of his duties; and in the thorough knowledge of 
the law and in the appreciation of the duties of the office, he had never 
been excelled by any who have performed its duties. His rulings on evi- 
dence and pleadings were rea(ly and accurate and his instructions to 
juries, brief, clear and comprehensive. 

^Vhile filling the remaining one year of the vacancy created by the 
resignation of Judge Chandler, he became a candidate for the office 
against Hon. A. 15. Clark, who was the nominee of the Reitublican party. 
At the election, .Judge McCue was successful, having '"run ahead of his 
ticket" and carried each county in the district. During the latter part 
of his second, or rather regular term, he was again a candidate and un- 
wisely made the race as an independent, without the endorsement or 
nomination of any political party, and was defeated by Hon. Andrew H. 
Skidmore, of Columbus, Kans., the Republican nominee. Shortly after 
his retirement from the bench, .Judge JJ^cCue removed to Kansas City, 
Mo., and there entered the practice of his profession, where he is now 
-engaged in that pursuit. 

The life of Judge M;cCue typifies, in a high degree, the successful ca- 
reer of a self-made num. Hie was born of Irish lineage, at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, on ifarch 3, 1843, and left, by the death of both parents, a home- 
less and friendless orjihan, at the age of five years. When nine years old 
he was taken to Indiana and shortly after to the State of Hlinois, where, 
he has said, he was "butteted from place to place without a pernmnent 
home or kindred until the breaking out of the Civil War." 

Just thirteen days after Fort Sumpter was fired upon and on the 
25th day of Ajtril, 18*>1, he, then a diminutive specimen of scarcely one 
hundred pounds in weight, enlisted in the Union Army, and thereafter, 
as a private soldier, served until honorably discharged on June 5, 1865, 
because of serious wounds inflicted in battle at Fort Blakely, Ala., on 
April !), of that year. His enviable record as a soldier does not belong 
to his career as a lawyer, and for that reason I refrain from further jmr- 
suing his military life. 

On his return from the war, he at once began the study of law, in 
the office of Amos F. Watterman, at New Boston, 111., largely under 
Judge John S. Thompson, a lawyer of eminent qualifications. 

In the spring of 18(!7, at the age of twenty-four, after a searching 
examination, before the Supreme Court at Ottawa, 111., he was admitted 
to practice law and shortly afterward, alone and almost penniless, he 
started west and landed among s( rangers, it is said, barefooted and in 
scanty habiliments, in Oswego. Kans., in July, ISII". While there he soon 
won lor himself a place in the front rank of the renowned bar of thai 



I So HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

3'oung city. Here he met and conteiHled in the oourts with .such lawyers 
as Webh, Glasse, Kettis, Kimble. Perkins. Bishoj). Ayers and other well- 
known and learned attorneys. 

In 1870, Judge McCiie formed a i)artnershij) with Hon. J. B. Ziegler, 
under the firm name and style of McCue & Ziegler and entered the prac- 
tice at Indejiendence. This cojiartnershij) was shortly afterward dis- 
solved and tliereafter ^Ir. Jlct'ue continued in the practice alone until 
he was elected Judge of the District in 1889. During his jiractice he was 
widely known as an accomplished lawyer and a man of extensive infor- 
mation. 

He was always, after coming to Kansas, a great reader and was pos- 
sessed of a remarkable memory, which enabled iiim often in the trial of 
causes, to cite, unerringly, cases in point, giving the title of cases and the 
volume and page of the reports where they could be found. 

In the practice. Judge McCue was somewhat careless in fully in- 
forming himself on his evidence before going into trial, and sometimes 
indulged in the dangerous experiment of placing a witness on the stand, 
after but slightly informing himself of what such witness would testify 
to; he. however, more than compensated for this lack, with his thorough 
knowledge of the law on eyery feature of his case. In the practice, he 
was fair and honorable and never resorted to any of the little devices or 
trickery that sometimes serve to deceive and to unfairly win a case. He 
ever scorned to engage in a case that contained a purpose to blacknuiil 
or extort or to needlessly blacken a reputation or assail a character. 

While Judge McCue's early education was sadly neglected his as- 
siduous reading of standard works and his fine natural talents had given 
him a ready command of the English language and made him an excep- 
tionally fluent orator. His speeches were clothed in chaste language, 
constructed of true logic and filled with thoughts on a high plane and de- 
livered in a pleasing voice and presence and generally with telling eft'ect. 

JUDGE ANDREW H. SKIDi^RE convened his first term of .ourt 
in the county on March 5. 1895. He had been elected as the Ilei)ublican 
candidate in the fall election of 1894 over Judge McCue, by a decisive 
majority. When Judge Skidmore opened court thei-e were on the trial 
docket 208 cases of which 13 stood on dumurrer, 11 were criminal, (!9 civil 
jury and 115 court cases. At this time the district comprised three rap- 
idly growing counties (Montgomery. Labette and Cherokee) which then 
had an aggregate pojiulation of about 77,000 and this had increased to 
nearly 1(10,00(1 when, by an act of the Legislature, which went into effect 
on the 22d day of February, 1901, a new district (the 14th) was created, 
comprising Labette and Montgomery counties, which left Judge Skid- 
more presiding over the Eleventh District, then comprised of Cherokee 
County only, with a population of about 40,000. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. l8l 

After Judge 8kidinore's term as judge expired, in Janu.ary, 1903, 
he at once resumed the practice at Columbus, Kans., in co-partnership 
with S. L. Walker, under the firm name and style of Skidmore & Walker. 

Before going on the bench, .Judge Skidmore had, for years, been in 
the active practice at ("olumbu.s, Kans.. where he had b>iilt up an exten- 
sive and lucrative business, and had met with unusual success as a prac- 
titioner. While, at the time he first convened his court in the county, 
he may not have possessed the profound knowledge of the law that some 
of his predecessors had acquired, he demonstrated executive ability 
that luid not Ix^en excelled in the office. In the trial of cases he promptly 
overruled or sustained objections to the introduction of testimony, 
without spending time to furnish reasons for his rulings and he generally 
disposed of motions and demurrers in the same summary manner. This 
course often occasioned severe complaints from some of the members of 
the bar, who had Ijeen in the habit of being favored with the court's 
reasons for its rulings and had often indulged the habit of combatting 
such reasons; yet such complaints did not serve to dissuade the court 
from its course, which undoubtedly saved much time. While a more 
mature consideration of many of the cjuestions might have resulted in a 
safer interpretation of the law, yet by the adoi)tion of the course suggest- 
ed, the ])oi)ularity of the .Judge was greatly increased with the public, 
and he was generally sustained by the Sui>reme Court in such cases as 
were appealed. 

At the November, 1898, general election, .Judge Skidmore was the 
Republican candidate, as his own successor and was ojiposed in the race 
by Hon. Thomas H. Stanford, a prominent member of the bar in Mont- 
gomery County, who entered the race as the nominee of the two opposing 
parties (Democratic and Teople's). 

At the preceding annual election the combined vote in the district 
of the two opjiosing i)arties had far exceeded that of the Kepublican par- 
ty, and for that reason Mr. Stanford and his friends felt confident of his 
election, and were much astonished at the returns, which showed that 
Judge Skidmore had carried every county in the district. 

Judge Skidmore served out his term in Cherokee County and was 
succeeded in January, 1903, by Col. W. B. (Jlasse, a distinguished lawyer 
of Columbus. Kans. 

Judge Skidmore was born in Virginia on February li, 18.55, and re- 
ceived a liberal education at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, 
in that State. He was admitted to jn-actice on September 15, 187G, be- 
fore he had arrived at the age of majority and in the same year settled 
and commenced to practice law at Columbus, Kans., which he contin- 
ued, until elected Judge of the District Court as before stated. 

JUDGE THOMAS J. FLANNEIJA', the present incumbent on the 



71 82 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

bend), was appointed to the office by Gov. Stanley, in February, 1901. The 
Legislature, by an act that went into force on the 22fl day of February, 
1901, had created the Fourleenth Judicial District out of that part of 
the Eleventh conijiri^jini; the counties of Labette and Montgomery, leav- 
ing Cherokee County only, in the Eleventh. 

Judge Flannelly liad not sought the office, to which a number of 
prominent attorneys in this and Labette County were earnest aspirants. 
To these, as well as the peojde generally, his ajipointment was a sur- 
prise, and to many of the active candidates and their friends, a disap 
poinrment. He, however, had presided over the court but a short time, 
until his peculiar fitness for the high office was universally conceded. 
He was elected as his own successor in the fall election of 1902 and be- 
gan his full term of four years in January, 1903. 

Judge Flannelly was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 23, 18G8, 
and thereafter lived at Newport. Kentucky, until 13 years of age, when 
he moved to Kansas with Ids jiarents, who settled at Chetopa in Labette 
County. He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws at the Uni- 
versity of Kansas in June, 1890, having previously taken the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts at the St. Louis University. He was, upon his gradua- 
tion at the Kansas University, admitted to the Bar of Douglas County 
and has since, until his iippointment as Judge, pursued the practice. 

The Judge first entered the practice at Topeka, in 1890, and contin- 
ued there for two years, when he moved to Kansas City, Mo., and became 
a member of the law firm of Beardsley, Gregory & Flannelly. After prac- 
ticing four years in Kansas City, as a member of this firm, he, in Jan- 
uary. 189(>, located at Clietoi)a, in Labette County, Kans., where he pur- 
sued his ])rofession for four years and then, in January, 1901. located at 
■Oswego, where, in partnership with Judge Ayi'es, he was pursuing his 
profession .when appointed Judge of the District Court. 

Section IV. 

County Attorneys 
GOODELL FOSTER was elected the first couty attorney in Novem- 
ber, 1809. At the same time a permanent county seat was selected and f> 
full corps of county officers chosen. Afterward, in a contest growing 
out of that election, before the Probate Court of Wilson County, to 
which Mjontgomery was then attached for judicial purposes, the court 
declared the election unauthorized and void. After that, none of the 
county officers so elected, (jualified, except Edwin Foster, who had been 
elected county surveyor. He took the oath of office and entered upon the 
discharge of its duties. At that time a most urgent and popular demand 
■prevailed for the services of a comjtetent civil engineer to locate the cor- 
ners and lines of the various claims. Mr. Foster qualified in response 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 1 83 

to thi« demand and his work was generally satisfactory and cheerfully 
acquiesced in, until the official survey of the lands by the government. 

Early in 187(1, (ioodell Foster moved to Indepenence and shortly 
afterward formed a copartnership for the practice of the law with O, 
P. Smart, under the firm name and style of Smart & Foster; and while 
this firm existed, it was prominent in the litigation carried on in those 
early days. Mr. Foster, however, from the beginning, had an aversion 
to the practice and developed a decided propensity to deal in real estate, 
and soon after beginning the practice here, retired from it and became 
engaged in buying and selling real estate on his own account and as the 
agent for others, which business he has successfully carried on at Inde- 
pendence for about thirty years, during which time he has bought, soldor 
exchanged a vast number of tracts of land. 

CLAYTON M. RALSTIN was the first county attorney who ever per- 
formed the duties of the office in the county. He was appointed to fill the 
position in the spring of 1870 and served until Frank Willis was chosen 
at the regular November, 1870, election. Mir. Ralstin was a notable and 
highly esteemed man among the early pioneers of the county. He was 
born in Brown County, Ohio. November 14, 1840, and afterward moved 
to Fulton County, 111., where he lived on a farm and was educated at 
the High School at Lewistown in that county, and afterward vend law 
at the same place in the offices of Judge Hope and I. G. Judd. He was 
then, in May, 1863, admitted to practice law at Springfield, 111. 

The next year, and on December 15. 1884, he began the practice at 
Prescott, Ariz., and remained there till 1869, when he came to Independ- 
ence, and was the first attorney here. H;e remained here until in April, 
1890, when he moved with his family to Stillwater, Oklahoma Territory, 
where he was admitted to practice law in April, 1891, and died at that 
place January 2, 1892. 

Mr. Ralstin was a man of medium height and slender build and wore 
an immense beard. He was very active and industrious and had a va- 
ried experience in life. He had been a farmer, a merchant, a real estate 
agent, an abstractor, a lawyer and an official, and, at times, pursued 
more than one of these useful vocations at the same time. 

He had practiced law and farmed in Arizona, at Independence he 
dealt in lumber and hardware and pursued his profession ; and at the 
same place was at one time Register of the United States Land Office, 
and at times farmed, made abstracts and bought and sold realty. In 
a closely contested suit Jjr. Ralstin was a valuable man on account of 
his ability to look up and arrange the evidence in the case. Few, if any. 
members of the bar ever excelled or equalled him in learning thefactsper- 
taining to the controversies in the courts. He was also a most genial 
man and the hospitality of his home was ever open to his many friends. 



1184 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

HON. FRANK WILLIS was elected eounty attoiuey in November, 
1870, and served two years. He was a large, tleshy young man, awkward 
in his motions and had a deep, droll voice. lu many things he was inno- 
cent and easily imposed upon, yet nature had provided him with a natu- 
ral analytical mind and he was a man of sterling integrity and of great 
enei'g.N. After serving his term as county attorney, he embarked in the 
drug business at Independence and then, finding himself unqualified 
for that untried vocation, sold out and emigrated with his family to the 
Pan Handle of Texas and entered the practice of his profession with 
varying results. 

.\1 the time Mr. Willis went to Texas the country there was. in the 
main, ])eopled with cattle men who were aggressive and somewhat domi- 
neering. He was, in a short time, elected Judge of the District or Circuit 
Court and his rulings failing to accord with the views of the controlling 
element of the country, measures were inaugurated to depose him. The 
lower house of the Legislature of Texas presented articles of impeach- 
ment against him and these seem to have been su])]iorted by such evi- 
dence, that Mr. \MlIis' attorneys became discouraged and feared it use- 
less to argue the case, whereujton, on a broiling hot day, Ml*. Willis made 
the closing speech of two hours duration in his own defense, which is 
said to have been masterly, and so logical, and delivered with such mag- 
niflcenl sincerity that he was at once acquitted and thereafter returned 
to his duties as Judge, with the respect of all, till his death, about 1897. 

HON. JOHN I). HINKLE was elected county attoreny in November, 
1870, and served two terms, ending in January, 1881. At the time of 
his election to this important otiice he was but twenty-five years of age 
and had not yet distinguished himself at the bar, to which he had been 
admitted about two years before (September 12, 1874) after having read 
law in the ofMce of Judge J. D. McCue. He succeeded A. B. Clark, one of 
the most vigorous prosecutors the county has ever had. He was natural- 
ly a modest and retiring young man and at that time, beardless and 
boyish looking, and did not impress the public with the real ability his 
close friends at the bar knew he possessed. It was, however, soon learned 
that he was endowed with fine judgment and that in his quiet and unas- 
suming way, he was a very successful prosecutor. It was also recog- 
nized that he used sound judgment in disposing of such of the financial 
affair.'-- of the county as were intrusted to him. At the end 
of his first term, he was reelcted and after having served four years, left 
a tine official record and then located at Cherry vale, where he divided 
his time in the practice of his profession and in editing a paper in 
which he had acquired an interest. 

In 1883, :Mr. Hiukle moved to the Tei'ritory of Wyoming and in 1885, 
was selected and served as prosecuting attorney for a term of two years. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 185 

He then located at the city of Spokane, where he served four years as the 
city justice of the peace aud was afterward elected to the important and 
responsible ofiice of Judge of the Municipal Court of Spokane, Wash., 
on a salary of |2.o(l() per year, which position he now tills to the satis- 
faction of the public and with credit to himself. 

Mr. Hinkle was born at AYest Salem, in Edwards County, 111., on 
December 31, ISol, and was reared on a farm. He attended school in his 
boyhood days and before beginning the study of law had taught in Kan- 
sas. 

Mr. Hinkle is now 52 years old and in i>rime health and has but 
slightly changed from what he apjicared when he left the State some 
twenty years ago. 

EDWARD VAN GUNDY was the next county attorney. He was 
elected to the office in November, 1880. and served one term, ending in 
January, 1883. 

Mr. "\'un (lundy was born in Fountain County, Tnd., January 22, 
18~)5, and moved to Independence with his parents, who were among the 
first settlers here. His father, Samuel Van Gundy, at an early day, built 
the brick residence at the east end of ilain street, now owned and occu 
pied by Ca])tain L. C. Miison and family, and was at one time treasurer 
of the county. 

Edward Van Gundy spent his youth here till about 1875, when he 
went to Texas and became secretary to JIcDonald & Co., contractors 
of public buildings in that state. He spent about two years in that po- 
sition, during which time he began the study of law under Governor 
Davis, of Austin, Texas, and subsequently returned to Independence and 
spent his time teaching district schools and studying law, till he was 
admitted to the bar, about 1878. 

Shortly after vacating his office he located and began the 
practice of his profession at Pittsburg, in Crawford County, Kans., and 
was soon elected county attorney of that county and tilled the of- 
fice one term. He then became actively engaged in the general practice 
and became one of the most prominent members of the Crawford County 
bar, and had built uj) a lucrative business, when, in 1894, he went to Hot 
Springs, Ark., in a vain effort to recover his broken health and, at that 
famous resort, died on September 26, of that year. 

Mr. Van Gundy was by nature, a talented man. He posses.sed a fine 
arid well-cultivated legal mind. Aided by these qualities, he could, by 
close apjdicatiim, have made of himself a brilliant lawyer. During his 
professional career at Indejiendence, he was inclined to spend too much 
of his time in the indulgence of the passing jileasures of the hour. Af- 
ter going to Pittsburg, he married and settled down and devoted himself 



I86 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

more closely to the pursuit of his profession and before he died had es- 
tablished a fine practice. 

HOX. JEREMIAH O. McCUE was the sixth county attorney, having 
been elected as the successor of Edward Van Gundy, in November, 1880. 
Mr. Mc(_'ue .served but one term, during which he exercised his recogniz- 
ed ability in the administration of the duties of the office. Inasmuch 
as I have already written of him. under the chapter devoted to the Judges 
of the District Court, I deem it unnecessary to add anvthing further 
here. 

SAMUEL C. ELLIOTT was elected county attorney in November, 
1884, and served two successive terms, the last of which ended in January, 
1889. During the four years that he served in the office he won the re- 
spect and confidence of all, and after retiring, contrary to the usual ex- 
perience of lawyei's who serve as public oflScers, he at once established 
and for several years, while his health lasted, maintained a lucrative 
practice. 

Mr. Elliott was born at Paris, Edgar County, 111., on March 10, 
1857, and when ten years of age, moved with his parents to Oswego, 
Kans., where he was educated in the schools of that city. Several years 
before he had attained the age of majority, he aided the Clerk of the Dis- 
trict Court of Lal)ette County, where he acquired a familiarity with the 
duties of that oflQce, which afterward became very useful to him in the 
practice. 

He then, at about the age of 18, entered the office of Messrs. Webb 
& Glasse, attorneys at Oswego, Kans., and began the study of law, and 
in about two years or less, had become well posted in the rudiments of 
the science, but being a minor, was not entitled to admission to ])rac- 
tice. In 1S7G, while waiting to come of age, he entered the office of Wm. 
Dunkin as a clerk and continued his studies till the June, 1877, term in 
Labette Comity, when he was thoroughly examined in open court, and, 
having passed an unusually fine e.xamination, was admitted to practice. 

After his admission to the bar, Mr. Elliott located at Independence 
but did not at once acquire a paying ])ractice, and for several years de- 
voted most of his time assisting the county clerk and the clerk of the dis- 
trict court as de]>uty. The reputation he won while county attorney 
created a demand for his ju'ofessional services outside of his publicduties 
during liis oHirial career and at the end of his last term he met no diffi- 
culty in building up a handsome practice, which he retained as long as 
his health permitted. 

Mr. Elliott was a warmhearted and genial man, that is, toward his 
friends, but he never exerted himself to please those he did not like. He 
was a man of very positive opinions on all subjects he had investigated 
and when he first began the duties of a useful life, was very dogmatic 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 1 87' 

and combative, and ever ready to argue his side of the question with 
all comers. As he grew older and his time was more taken up with his 
legal business, he became more diiilomatic 

He had a clear, analytical mind, good judgment and a quick, keen 
insight into legal questions. He was usually ready, on the spur of the 
moment, to give an accurate opinion on the law of a case. He was en- 
abled to do this, from his thorough knowledge of I'.lackstone's Com- 
mentaries — which he acquired early in life — and his talent for quick ap- 
plication. 

He had and deserved the implicit confidence of his clients, to whose 
interests he was devoted. He was successful in the practice and rarely 
lost a suit, as he had wisely adopted the policy of settling by compro- 
mise, such of his cases as he thought he could not successfully litigate. 
In the trial of a case, he was earnest and able and never stated to the 
court a proposition of law he did not believe, and presented to the jury 
only s-uch facts as he thought were true. These qualities, with his evi- 
dent sincerity and earnest and logical presentation of his cases and the 
well known probity of his character, very generally brought him success. 

Mr. Elliott, after a lingering and painful aflliction, extending over 
several years, died on ^lay oO, lOOO, sincerely mourned by a host of ad- 
mirers and friends. 

All of the seven remaining county attorneys are in the active prac- 
tice in the county, except -John Callahan, who is at present at Kansas 
City. Mo., and he may return here. In view of this, it is deemed more 
proper to iin-bide them in the list of practicing attorneys, who have not 
closed their respective professional careers at the bar of the county and 
who will be treated in the next chapter of this article. 

It may be observed that all the county attorneys who served in the 
two decades from 187n to 1890, exce])t A. b". Clark and O. P. Ergenbright, 
who served in 18S9. none remain in the practice here;andthatall whohave 
served since 18!l(l to the j)resent time, except .lohn Callahan, are active- 
ly pursuing their jirofession in the county. 

A list of all the county attorneys is as follows : 

Goodell Foster, elected in ISGO, and the election declared void. 

Clayton M. Ralstin, ajipointed in 1870. served nearly one year. 

Frank Willis, elected November, 1870, one term till .lanuary, 1873. 

Arthur K. Clark elected Novendter, 1872, served two terms till Jan- 
uary, 1877. 

John D. Rinkle, elected November, 1870, served two terms till Jan- 
uary. 1881. 

Edward Van Cundy, elected November, 1880, served one term till 
January, iss:{. 

Jeremiali 1 >. .M(<"ue, elected Novend)er, 1882, served one term till Jan- 
uarv. 1885. 



l88 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Pniimel C. Elliott, elected November, 1884, served two terms till 
January. 1889. 

Oliver P. Ergenbright, elected November, 1888, served one term till 
January, 1801. 

Jnines R. Charlton, elected November, 1890, served one term till Jan- 
uary, 1893. 

■\\'i]liani Edward Ziegler, elected November. 1892. served two terms 
till Jfauiary. 1S9T. 

John Callahan, elected November, 1896, served two terms till Jan- 
uary, 1901. 

James Howard Dana, elected November, 1900, served one term till 
January, 1903. 

Mayo Thomas, elected November, 1902, present incumbent. 

Section V. 
Attorneys 

Since the organization of the county there have been admitted to 
practice law at its bar, over 170 members. It would be an endless task 
to find and record, with jterfect accuracy, the antecedents of each; and it 
may be truthfully said that such events as have transpired in the pro- 
fessional lives of many of them, furnish but little or no information that 
would be of interest in a history of the bench and bar of the county. 
The loose restrictions and disregard of the law that have prevailed with 
at least one of the judges who presided over our courts, opened an easy 
way for admission to the bar; and as a consequence of this, many have 
been accepted who had but little or no preparation and without being 
required to submit themselves to the usual tests as to their qualifica- 
tions. These unprepared yet formally, qualified members have gener- 
ally borne their honors in silen(>e in the district court, where they have 
sometimes exercised their prerogative to a seat among the active mem- 
bers, and have always, in their discretion, been exempt from duty on a 
petit jury. In justice to many of them it may be said that notwithstand- 
ing the proud distinction they have enjoyed of being among the elect, 
whose science they have not practiced, they have been useful and honor- 
ed citizens in other pursuits. 

In writing a sketch of each member I feel the best course to pursue, 
is to briefiy note the antecedents of each before his admission to the bar, 
and refrain from commenting at length on any of those who are yet in 
the active practice here. However pleasant and inviting it would be to 
write of many of the present practicing members and record their 
achievements in the profession, such a course would manifestly be in- 
vidious and embarassing to many of the active practitioners, whose ca- 
reer a{ the bar is not ended. It would be equally objectionableunderstrict 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. l89 

rules of propriety to comment upon the characteristics, mental qualifica- 
tions and legal attainments of a local practicing attorney, as that would 
tend to shock the liner sensibilities and appear as an advertisement 
rather than a history, which can only be properly written as to each 
member at the end of the subject's career in the profession. 

A list of all members of the Montgomery county bar, with the 
date of the admission of each to the bar of the county (so far as I have 
been able to ascertain the dates) alphabetically arranged, is as follows: 

Andrews, Lindlay M., admitted October, 1870. 

.Armstrong, Benjamin M., admitted May 7, 1871. 

Ayres, Thomas (i., admitted autumn, 1880. 

Begun. Edward L., admitted about 1885. 

Barwick, J. J., admitted about 1870. 

Barr, t^amuel H., June 29, 1889. 

Banks, William N.. September 1, 1894. 

Bartlett, W. F., admitted 1871. 

Bass, Nathan, admitted May 9, 1870. 

Beardsley. E. M., admitted August, 1871. 

Bellamy," J. F., admitted 1891." 

Bennett, Mnrtin V. B., admitted about 1870. 

Bertenshaw, John, admitted March 27, 1894. 

Biddison. A. J., admitted about 188.5. 

Billings, Arthur, admitted Septeml)er 1.5, 1902. 

Black, George A., admitted about 187.3. 

Blackburn, J. W., admitted May, 1871. 

Blair, A. V., admitted May, 1871. 

Bristol, Norris B., admitted August, 1872. 

Brown, D. B., admitted Mlay 9, 1870. 

Brown, Joseph D., admitted September, 1896. 

Brown, C. S., admitted about 1871. 

Broadhead, J. F., admitted about 1875. 

Brown, Robei't, admitted April, 1872. 

Burchard, Oeorge W., admitted November, 1871. 

Burnes. R. E., admitted May, 1871. 

Campbell, E. L., admitted about 1871. 

Cass. Phillip H., admitted November 3, 1899. 

Callahan, John, admitted March 25, 1893. 

Cavenaugh, Patrick, admitted 1887. 

Chandler, George, admitted April 3, 1872. 

Chandler, Joseph, admitted March, 1875. ; 

Charlton, James R., admitted March 1, 1884. 

Clark, Arthur B., admitted November 27, 1871. 

Clark, Edgar M., admitted 1879. 



I go HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

Clark, W. G., admitted ^fay. 1870. 

Cox, Albert, admitted 18114. 

Cox, Ira E., admitted 1894. 

Cotton. .John S., admitted April. 1873. 

Courtrijiht, Percy L.. admitted August, 1899. 

Craig, -Joseph B.. admitted M4iy. 1870. 

Cree. Nathan, admitted October. 1872. 

Cutler, E. R.. admitted October 30, 1870. 

Darnell. D. Y.. admitted about 1871. 

Davis. .John M.. admitted :Miay 5. 1902. 

Davis. C. M.. admitted April. 1872. 

Devore, Benjamin F., admitted 1871. 

DeJjong, James, admitted about 1871. 

Donaldson, Samuel, admitted August, 1872. 

Dooley. Henry C, admitted 1890. 

Duukin, William, admitted Ajiril, 1873. 

Dunuett. Daniel W., admilted 1870. 

Dempsey, T. E., admitted May, 1885. 

Elliott. Samuel C, admitted 1877. 

Ellis, C. W., admitted 1870. 

Elliott, D. Stewart, admitted 1885. 

Emerson, J. L>., admitted October, 1870. 

Ergenbright, Oliver P., jidmitted 1883. 

Evans. Elijah, admitted April 7, 1872. 

Fletcher, Charles, admitted 1901. 

Fay. Elmer W., admitted 1870. 

Fitzpatrick, G. W., admitted 1897. 

Foster, Goodell, admitted .May. 1870. 

Foster, Emery, admitted August, 1888. 

Fritch, Felex J., admitted 1890. 

Freeman, I>uther, admitted -June 20, 1895. 

Gaines, Bernard, admitted August, 1871. 

Gamble, James D.. admitted 1870. 

Gardner. Napoleon B., admitted November 1, 1870. 

Giltner. Barsabas. admitted in 1898. 

Cifford. . admitted about 1880. 

(lilmore. George E.. admitted November 18, 1898. 

Grass. Daniel, admitted Mhy. 1870. 

Grant. H. D., admitted 1871. 

Hall, S. A., admitted November, 1871. 

Harrod, William J., admitted August, 1872. 

Harrison, Thomas, admitted ^Jjay 9. 1870. 

Hasbrook, L. Benjamin, admitted August, 1871. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 19I 

Hastings, Elijah D., admitted September, 1878. 
Helpliingstine. Jolin A., admitted May 0, 1870. 
Henderson, Benjamin F., admitted June, 1879. 
Heudrix, W. R., admitted May, 1871. 
HeiTing, Ebenezer, admitted 1871. 
Higby, A. T., admitted October, 1870. 
Hill,'Rufus J., admitted May 9, 1870. 
H inkle, .John !»., admitted September 12, 1874. 
Holdren, Joseph W., admitted July, 1898. 
Humphrey, Lyman U., admitted May. 1871. 
Jennings," T. B., admitted May 9, 1870. 
John. James Jf., admitted September, 1876. 
Judson. L. C, admitted M\iy 13, 1870. 
Kountz, James, admitted 1888. 
Kercheval. R. P., admitted about 1880. 
Keith. John H., admitted November, 1893. 
Light, Mi B., admitted May, 1870. 
Locke. William M., admitted April, 1872. 

Loring, , admitted about 1871. 

Jtartin, W. W.. admitted about 1870. 
:Sfatthews. Elmer E., admitted December 30, 1884. 
Matfhews, Selvin V., admitted December, 1880. 
Merrill, William A., admitted March, 1898. 
Mills, J. A., admitted August, 1872. 
Moon, J. J., admitted December, 1871. 
Moore. Yin W., admitted March 28, 189.5. 
Moorehouse, S. B., admitted October, 1870. 
McCue, Jeremiah D., admitted 1870. 
McEniry, MSchael, admitted April 17. 1874. 
McVean, J. H.. admitted about 1870. 
McFeeters, W. S.. admitted May. 1S7(). 
JlcClelland. George W.. admitted 189t>. 
McWright, W., admitted October, 1870. 
McDermott. S. F., admitted M|irch 9, 1880. 
Nichols, Reuben, admitted November 1, 1870. 
Orr, J. A., admitted 1894. 
O'Connor, William T., admitted about 1880. 
Osborn. Roy, admitted March 2, 1901. 
I'age, John Q.. admitted August. 1871. 
Parsons. Alzamou M.. admitted March 0, 1897. 
Parks, B. F.. admitted about 1878. 
Peacock, Thomas W., admitted Auguf^t, 1872. 
Peck. George R., admitted Ai)ril 3, 1872. 



192 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

PeckbiUii. Charles J., admitted about 1871. 
Peflfer, William A., admitted 1875. 
Perkins, Luther, admitted .June 28, 1895. 
Pettiltone. S. H., admitted about 1881. 
Piper. Seth H., admitted -July .3. 1880. 
I'orter, Samuel M., admitted March. 1881. 
Pureell, George W., admitted about 1805. 
Rossiter. -J. P., admitted -June 28. 1808. 
Ralstin. (Mayton M., admitted May 9, 1870. 
Salathiel. Thomas S., admitted 1804. 
Scott. Howard, admitted .January, 1808. 
Scudder, John M., admitted 1870. 
Shannon, Osborn, admitted about 1871. 
Showalter, .John W., admitted August, 1871. 
Sickafoose, Michael, admitted April, 1873. 
Smart, Oliver I'., admitted May 9, 1870. 
Suelliuo. George H.. admitted about 1800. 
Spencer, Samuel F., admitted 1870. 
Stanford. Thomas H., admitted March 18, 1885. 
Stephenson, L. T., admitted 1870. 
Stewart, .Joseph, admitted about 1889. 

Sweeney, , admitted December 12, 1872. 

Swatzeil, Philip L., admitted 1802. 

Sylvester, W. O., admitted April, 1872. 

Soule, Martin Bradford, admitted March, 1884. 

Shewalter, M'. ("., admitted December 16, 1887. 

Taylor, Wilbur F., admitted about 1880. 

Thomjison, .J. M.. admitted about 1882. 

Thompson, Calvin C., admitted I>eceniber 23, 1880. 

Thomas, Mayo, admitted 1807. 

Tibbils, W. H., admitted April 17, 1874. 

Turner, William F., admitted 1870. 

Vau(tundy, Edward, admitted September 10, 1879. 

Wagstatf, Thomas E.. admitted August 12, 1809. 

V. ade, Richard A., admitted Sei»tend)er 4, 1879. 

Waters, L. C, admitted about 1878. 

Wagner. Marshall ().. admitted about 1871. 

Warner, George W., admitted May, 1871. 

Watkins, W. H., admitted about 1870. 

Weston. Samuel, admitted March, 1879. 

Wiggins, S. T.. admitted about 1897. 

AVillis, A. D., admitted August 1871. 

Willis, Frank, adndtted 1870. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. I93 

WrigliT, (Jreenbuiy, admitted August, 1871. 

Wilson, Albert L., admitted September 9, 1882. 

\\y(koff, ("oriieliiis. admitted M'ay 0, 1870. 

York. Alexander M„ admitted August, 1871. 

Ziegler, William E., admitted March, 1880. 

Zenor, Wintield S., admitted about 1880. 

Ziegler, Josej)!! B., admitted 1870. 

LINDLAY ^r. ANDREWS was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
County in October. 1870, on a certitiiate of his admission to practice in 
the Courts of Record in Missouri. 

He never afterward engaged here, to any extent, in the practice 
and for a time was engaged in editorial work and also particii)ated in 
some litigation over the title of lands situated near the southeast corner 
of the city, in which he was interested. Some time in the 70's he left In- 
dependence and has never returned. 

r.EN.TAMIN M. ARMSTRONG, at one time a leading member of the 
bar, juirsued his i)rofession here until a few mouths before he died, on the 
0th day of Manli, 1889. He was born at Sheridan, in Lasalle County, 
HI., on December 25. 1842, and was reared on a farm in that county. He 
pursued farming in the country of his nativity until he arrived at man's 
estate, when he took u]) the study of law and thereafter was graduated 
from the (Mnciiinati. Ohio. Law School, in 1807. In 1S()8 he was admitted 
to the bar at Ottawa, 111., and ^\as the same year chosen city attorney of 
Ottawa, which ottice he satisfactorily tilled for two years. 

I.ate in 1870, he moved to Kansas, in the rush of i)ioneers who were 
then rajjidly jieopling the country. At first he selected a claim north- 
west of Independence, near Elk River, to which he afterward acquired 
the title. During the time of his jtractice at Independence, from 1871 to 
1889, he was city attorney for four years. 

Mr. Armstrong was by nature a strong man, and possessed those 
elements that would have enabled him to have become a fine lawyer. He 
lacked, alone, that close aj)plication to study, that is so essential to rise 
to disinction in the jirofession. He was a genial, comi)anionable man 
and inclined to enter u]pon the trial of his cases without thorough prep- 
ration, and with too much dejiendence ujion the gifts witli which nature 
had endowed him. The analyzing character of his mind was very appar- 
ent in his cross examination of an adverse witness, where the display 
of his discriminating powers clearly marked him as a man who could 
have won fame as a scientific lawyer of high order. 

He died on March 9. 1889, after a lingering illness, in the prime 
of his life, resjiected and regretted by the early members of the bar, that 
had known him as a man, who, by nature, had possessed a fine legal 
miixl. 



194 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

THOMAS G. AYRES was born at Andover, 111., on May 7, 1842, and 
resided there until he was admitted to the bar at Cambridge, 111., Febru- 
ary 2.5, 1871. He moved to Coffey ville May 25, 1880, and there engaged in 
the banking business in company with Mr. Steele, under the firm name 
of Ayres & Steele. This firm was afterward dissolved and in its stead 
The First National Bank of Coffeyville was organized, and Mr. Ayres 
continued in the business for some .years with the new organization. In 
1893 he retired from banking and went to Sioux City, Iowa, where he 
became engaged as treasurer of a wholesale grocery company till Decem- 
ber, 18!)4, when he resigned and returned to Coffeyville, and. in that 
place, in the spring of 1895, resumed the practice of law, which he has 
foHo\*ed since. He is now a member of the law firm of Ayres & Dana, 
of Colfeyville. He has never held any public office, except he served one 
term as mayor of Coffeyville. 

EDWAKI) L. BEGUX was located in the practice at Cherryvale dur- 
ing several years, about 1885 to 1888. He was a man of marked ability and 
was a fluent and impressive speaker. His frail health during the time 
he practiced here, furnished an effective obstacle to that success which 
otherwise might have been his. He died about 1888 or 1889. 

J. J. BAKWICK was one of the early members of the bar of Mont- 
gomery County and did some practice extending over a number of years. 
In the practice he was technical and inclined to be contentious. He died 
here s\ few years ago at a very ripe age. 

SAMT'IOIy II. BARK was actively engaged in the jii-actice at Caney, 
Kans., after his admission to the bar, and pursued the same until recent- 
ly, when he became interested in enterprises connected with natural gas 
and oil development of the country, which for the time, engages most of 
his time. 

Mr. Barr was born at Mrginia, in Cass County, 111., and afterward 
lived with his parents successively at the following places: Beardstown 
and Rock Island, 111., and on a farm just northwest of Independence, 
Kans., where they located in the spring of 1878. While living on this 
farm, Mr. Barr attended and taught school and in vac:i*:i'— '■■''■\red most 
of the time at farming, until he began the study of law and was admitted 
to pi-actice. Shortly after being admitted he settled at Caney. where he 
practiced for twelve years. He still resides there, where he is now the 
office manager of The Caney Gas Company and The Caney Brick Com- 
pany, in both of which com])anies he is a stockholder and an officer. 

WILLIAM N. B.\XKS is now in the active practice as the senior 
memlier of the law firm of Banks & Billings. He was born at Hobart.Ind., 
on August 1.5, 18(i5. and at the age of six years moved, with liis [)arents, 
to this county, where he has since resided. He was reared on a farm 
until lie was about twenty-seven years of age, when, on Octover 1, 1892, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTYj KANSAS. 195 

lie went into the office of Hon. A. B. Clark and liefjan to study law. He 
acquired a j;ood education during his residence on the farm by attending 
and teaching the local schools during the winter months, and when 
nineteen years of age he entered, and studied for two years, at the Per- 
due I'niversity at I'urdue. lud. 

Mr. Banks has never served in any public office, except as clerk of 
Fawn Creek Township one term, and as member of the Board of Educa- 
tion of Independence two terms. 

\\. F. BAKTLETT came to Independence from Washington, D. C, 
aboui 1871 and joined our bar and entered the practice, which he pur- 
sued but a short time, when he returned to the National Capital. Be- 
fore coming here he had had considerable experience in the practice in 
some of the <TOvermental Departments at Washington, and that which he 
had learned in the General Land Office "stood him well in hand" here 
at tlie time, as many of the decisions there were applicable to conditions 
here. He was a man of abilily. highly educated and of engaging address 
and a brilliant conversationalist. 

NATHAN BASS was admitted at the first term of court in the coun- 
ty, on the certificate of his admission to practice in Missouri. He began 
the practice in partnershiji with Elmer Fay, at Old Liberty, under the 
firm name of Bass & Fay, and was one of the attorneys in the unsuccess- 
ful suit brought to compel the county officers to move their offices from 
Independence to Liberty where he was located. 

The defeat of this litigation paved an easy way for Independence 
to acquire the un(|iiesti(uied county seat. Mr. Bass did not long remain 
in the [iractice. and after retiring from it he served one term as county 
superintendent of schools and then moved to Colorado, where he died. 

E. M. BEARDSLEY was a conspicuous character at an early day in 
the county, owing to his active i)articipation in its financial affairs. He 
was at one time clothed with the most important jiowers by the board of 
countA commissioners, in connection with the •|!2(I0.0()0 in bonds that had 
been voted to the L. L. & G. R. R. Co. The recital of his principal acts 
and a review of his record more properly belong to another portion of 
the county's history. It may be said that in the heyday of his power and 
influence he was admitted to the bar. He never became a learned mem- 
ber of the jd-ofession nor indulged in the practice, and. sometime in the 
70's, left the county. 

JOHN F. BELLA.MY was born in Switzerland County. Ind., in 1843, 
and was afterward graduated as Master of Arts from I>ePauw Universi- 
ty at (iieencastle. Ind. He then, for several years, taught in the higher 
brandies. He was successively ])rinci]ial of Wilmington Acjidemy at 
Wiiiiiiiigton. Ind.. Mt. Carniel Union High School at Mt. Carniel," 111., 
and Spring Street School at New Albany, Ind. He then, owing to fail- 



196 " HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ing health, abiindoned teaching and took up the study of law, and, in 
1870, was admitted to the bar at Madison, Ind., where he then settled 
and pursued his profession until 1885, when, owing to ill health, he 
moved to Girard. Kans., and subsequently, in 1891, to Cherryvale, Kans., 
where he has since practiced law. While in Indiana Mr. Bellamy was 
twice elected and served two terms as prosecuting attorney of the Fifth 
Judicial Circuit, from 1877 to 1881; he also, at Girard, Kans., filled 
one term as ])olice judge and is now serving his fifth year as city attor- 
ney of Cherryvale. 

MARTIN V. B. BENNETT, now living at Columbus, Kaus., was ad- 
mitted to practice law, in the county, at an early day, and at one time he, 
in partnership with J. D. Gamble, under the firm name of Bennett&Gam- 
ble. did a flourishing business in the practice, and as real estate agents. 
Mr. Bennett, in some resi)ects. was a very remarkable num. He had a 
quick, alert mind and a command of language that was wonderful. He 
was fond of public sjieaking, and in the practice and in his speeches, was 
aggressive and assertive and often abusive, and always eloquent and en- 
tertaining. 

Some time in the 7()'s he retired from the practice and went on the 
rostrum as a lecturer on temi>erance where he was very successful. He 
addressed large meetings at various points over many of the States, and 
was very jtopular and in great demand with the friends of the cause he 
so eloquently pleaded. 

JOHN BERTENSllAW was admitted to practice, after having pre- 
viously read law since September '21. 1801, in the office of Wm. Duukin. 

Mr. Bertenshaw was born in Franklin County, Ind., on December 
14, 1872, and shortly afterward moved with his parents to Montgomery 
County, Kans., where he spent his boyhood days until thirteen years old, 
working on a farm, and attending school in the winter. He then moved 
to ]']lk d'ity, where he attended the city schools from which he 
was graduated in 1890. While a student at Elk City, he spent his vaca- 
tions clerking in stores there, which he continued after graduating, until 
he began the study of law. Since his admission to the bar, he has been 
in the active jii-actice at Indeitendence, and is now a member of the law 
firm of Fritch & Bertenshaw. He served as deputy county attorney un- 
der John Callahan for four years, from 1897 to 1901. 

A. J. HllHUSOX was a member of the bar of the county and prac- 
ticed several years at Cotleyville during the 80's. He moved to Oklahoma 
where he continued the jiractice. 

AKTHrU I!lI.LIX(iS is one of the latest accessions to the Montgom- 
ery County bar and may claim the distinction of being its only member, 
now iu the i)ractice born in the county, except A. L. Courtright, who was 
born in Independence in 1873. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTT^ KANSAS. 197 

He was boru uear Libertv on October 15, 1874, where he was reared, 
spending his youthful days working on his father's farm and attending 
and teaching the neighboring schools. He then entered the University 
of Kansas fi'oni which he was graduated as Bachelor of Arts and also as 
Bachelor of Law on June 11, 1902. 

Afterward, and on September 15, 1902, he went into partnership 
in the practice with Wni. N. Banks and this firm under the name of 
Messrs. Banks & Billings is now in the active practice of law at the coun- 
ty seat. 

GEC). A. BLAf K Ijecame a member of the bar in the early 70's but 
never engaged extensively in the practice here. He afterward moved to 
Girard. Kans., where he died about eighteen years ago. 

For a time after his admission he was a member of the firm of Black 
& Hall who created some notice as the projectors of a railway, they 
strenoiisly advocated the building of, to some indefinite point in the 
very far west. It was called the "Sunset Railway" and never material- 
ized. 

J. W. BLACKBT'RN was admitted to practice at the May, 1871,term 
of the district court, on his certificate of admission by the Supreme Court 
of Illinois. Uv shortly after left the country and has never returned. 

A. Y. BLAIR was adnntted to the Montgomery County bar in May, 
1871, but did not afterward engage in the i)ractice here. 

XORRIS B. BRISTOL is the oldest living member of the Montgom- 
ery County Bar. At the age of nearly 53 he was admitted to practice 
on the examination by and the report of a committee. He has lived here 
ever since but has never engaged in the practice of his profession. He 
was born at Fulton, Oswego County, X. Y., on August 12, 1819, and lived 
a greater jiortion of his life, before coming to Kansas, in 1870, at Ottawa, 
Lasallo County, III., where he followed the mercantile business. He lo- 
cated at Independpiice, Kans., late in 1870. and soon afterward ei-ected 
the finest residence then in the county. Since Mr. Bristol located here 
he has been a T'nited States Circuit Coui't Commissioner and has also 
filled the office of justice of the peace. Under the weight of his venerable 
years, he is the same genial and jolly man he was over thirty years ago. 

I). B. BRO^VX was admitted to the bar on the certificate of his ad- 
mission in the Sujireme Court of the District of Columbia. He came toTn- 
pendence from Indiana and was a brother of Mrs. Theodore Filkins, one 
of the early settlers of the country. He was a young nuin, about 
twenty-four years of age and of fair attainments and dis])layed great 
energy, industry and perseverance, and it was fi-eely predicted by the 
lawyers who knew him that a bright future awaited him in the profes- 
sion. He contracted a severe cold from exjtosnre in efforts to erect a 
Jbuilding on I'enn. avenue, near where is now located the harness store 



IgS HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of John Cramer, which developed into pneumonia and ended his career 
on earth. 

JOSEPH D. BROWN was born in Morgan County. Ind., on Nevem- 
ber 9, 18G1, and in the county of his birth followed farming and teaching 
until he began the study of law. 

Afterward, and on May 31, 1887, be was, at Valparaiso, Ind., admit- 
ted to the bar, and thereafter practiced his profession in his native 
State until he moved to Kansas in 181»G. In the fall of that year he was 
admitted to practice in Montgomery County, and shortly afterward 
formed a partnership with Hon. A. B. Clark, under the firm name of 
Clark & Brown, which continued in the practice until Mr. Clark went to 
Oregon and since then Mr. Brown has continued in the business here. 

JUDGE J. F. BROADHEAD became a member of the bar of Mont- 
gomery County in 1875 and as a member of the firm of Hill & Broadhead 
did an extensive practice until about 1881, when he retired from the firm 
and returned to his former home in Linn County. Kans., where he contin- 
ued ill the practice until his death, about ten years ago. 

.Judge Broadhead jiresided over courts of the Sixth Judicial District 
for some months, he having been appointed judge to fill the vacancy 
occasioned by the resignation of Judge D. P. Lowe, in March, 1871. 

The judge was past middle age when he located at Independence 
and had devoted many years to the practice in Linn Couuty. During 
the time he sjient at the bar here he was a tireless worker both in his of- 
fice and in the court room. He often took an active jtart in political cam- 
paigns and in 1878 was a candidate for the judgeship of the Eleventh, 
Judicial District against Judge Perkins, the Republican nominee, and 
was defeated by a large majority. Two years later he I'eturned to the Re- 
publiian party, and advocated its princijiles on the stump. In the cam- 
paign of 1878 he had sincerely and confidently predicted the disasters 
that must follow the r('sumi)tion of sjtecie payment that had been sched- 
uled to take place on January 1, 1870, and said it could not be done; and 
the efforts to accomplish it would result in worse than failure. In 1880 
he began each of his political speeches with an acknowledgment of his er- 
ror, which he conclusively jtroved by saying, "I then said it could not be 
done and I now say it has been done.'' 

C. S. Brown was an early jiractitioner in the county. He was lo- 
cated at Cofleyville and after pursuing his profession at that place for a 
few years moved to Washington. D. (\. where he secured, and has since 
retained, a res])ons)ble ])osition in the service of the Government. 

EOTiERT BROWN did not engage in the jiraclice here after his ad- 
mission to llie bar. 

GEO. W. BURCIIARD becanu' a member of the bar of Montgomery 
county on the certified record of his admission to jtractice in the Su- 
preme Court of Illinois. Before his admission here he had well (pialified 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 199 

himself in the science of the law but never entered the general practice. 
His tastes and inclinations tended to other pursuits, and about the onl.v 
attention he gave to his profession while here was in looking after such 
matters in court as grew out of his business of loaning monej' and specu- 
hitinj; in realty. From 1873 to 1882 he was the attorney for Austin Cor- 
bin of New York, who did a very extensive business over many of the west- 
ern states in loaning money and dealing in tax titles. Mr. Burchard's po- 
sition as such attorney gave him much professional business in the 
courts of this and adjoining counties for Mr. Corbin. 

Mr. Burchard was born at Litchtield, Hillsdale county. Mich., June 
8, ISU, where he resided, was educated and in June, 1866, was graduat- 
ed in the classical course from the Hillsdale College. He took up the 
study of law in his native city, in the law ofiBces of Judges I'ratt & Dick- 
ernian and was afterward admitted to the bar at Hillsdale on May 12, 
1868. He entered the law office of Messrs. Miller & Van Arman, in Chi- 
cago, and on October 21, 1871, was admitted to practice by the Supreme 
Court of Illinois. 

Mr. Burchard came to Independence late in 1871 and during the 
next year purchased a one-half interest in the South Kansas Tribune, 
of which he was the editor in chief from June 12, 1872, to January 1, 
1874, and afterward for several months did some editorial work for the 
same pai)er. He then disposed of his interest in the nauer and did no 
more editoi'ial work until he purchased the Independence Kansan, which 
he edited with marked ability and independence for about one year, com- 
mencing .January 1, 1879. 

In 1882 he located in Chicago where he has since lived and been en- 
gaged in handling real estate, loaning money on mortgage security and 
prom(>ting the building of railroads and in other important enterprises. 

While living at Independence he always evinced a lively interest in 
its public affairs, and was elected its mayor in 1878 and served till 1881. 
During his administration the present city building was constructed. He 
is an ;ible man. well educated and of extensive reading. Among the con- 
spicuous traits of his character are his independence in thought and ex- 
pression, his true friendship for his friends and his uncompromising ad- 
herence to princi])le. 

E. E. BI'RNS was admitted to the bar here on motion of J. B. Zieg- 
ler, on his certificate of admission in the State of Iowa. 

E L. CAMlMiELE was one of the early i)ractitioners at the bar here. 
He was a i>artner of Col. Charles .J. Peckham and for several years, dur- 
ing the 70's, the firm of which he was a member (Peckham & Campbell) 
did a profitable law practice. Mr. Campl)ell went from here to Denver, 
Colo., and engaged in the jtractice there. 

I'HILIP H. ("ASS located at Coft'eyville upon his admission, where 
he has since actively engaged in the practice of law. He was born at Buf- 



200 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

falo. Heart. 111., on June 24. 1809, and lived there on a farm till February 
11, 1881. when he moved to a farm near Nebraska City, Neb., where- 
he remained until November 11. 1881. and then located on a farm near 
Brownsville. Chautau(iua county. Ivans., and afterward, on September 
26, 1890, went to Beatrice, Neb., where he engaged as bookkeeper and 
stenographer for William Sculley until May 4, 1893, when he went to 
Washington, D. C, and entered the Govermental service as stenographer 
in the Record and Pension Office, from which he resigned October 3, 
1899. and was admitted to the bar by the Court of Appeals of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. About a year later he located at Coffeyville. He is 
a graduate and post graduate of the law department of the Georgetown 
University at Washington. D. C. and was a special student in the law de- 
partment of the Columbian University at the same place before com- 
ing to Coffeyville. 

JOHN CALLAHAN was born in Lake County. HI., in 1858, and mov- 
ed with his jtarents to Montgomery County, Kans., where they located on 
a farm in the Onion creek valley in March. 1873. Here Mr. Callahan 
worked on the farm, attended and taught school until about 1877, when 
he went to Grenola, Kans.. and was employed there as clerk in the store 
of Messrs. Hewins & Titus, which position he held for about four years. 
He was then appointed postmaster at Grenola and served four years in 
that office. After his term as jiostmaster ex}jired, he, about 1885, began 
the study of law, and shortly after — and before he was admitted to prac- 
tice in the court of recoi'ds in the State — looked after business and tried 
cases in the justices of the peace courts. For about five years he devoted 
his time to the study of law and to the practice in the inferior courts 
until about 1S9() when he moved to Inde](endence and soon after l)ecame 
deputy sheriff under hisbrother,ThomasF. Callahan, in which capacity he 
seined for two years and then went into the office of Samuel C. Elliott 
where he studied law and was admitted to practice in the district court. 
He then liecame a partner of Mr. Elliott, under the firm name of Messrs. 
Elliott & Callahan, where he continued until lie was elected county attor- 
ney in 189(5. He was reelected as his own successor in 1898 and shortly 
after having served two terms, the last ending in January, 1901, his 
health Ix^coniing impaii'ed, he quit the practice here and went to Kan- 
sas City, Mo. 

PATRICK CAVENAUGH, after practicing at Independence a short 
time, settled in the far west. 

JOSEPH CHANDLER began the study of law at Independence. Ks., 
in the office of his brother. Hon. Geo. Chandler, in 1874. and wasadmitted 
to pr.-'ctice here and in the Supreme Coiirt of the State. After his admis- 
sion he at once entered the practice in partnership with his said brother, 
under the tirm name of Messrs. (leo. & Jos. Chandler, which he continued" 
till early in 1883, when he formed a law i)artnershii) with Win. Dunkin,. 



HISTORY OF MONTtiOMERY COUNTY;, KANSAS. 201 

which con (i lined for two years, after which lie continued in the practice 
alone until his death at Independence, on October Hi, 1902. A sketch of 
his early life appears elsewhere in this volume. 

No nieniber of the bar was more devoted than Mr. Chandler to the 
profession, during his tweuty-seven years of practice here; and none ever 
had the implicit confidence of his clients in a greater degree than he. He 
was painstaking and conscientious in the discharge of his duties to his 
clients', and often rendered to them his professional services for inade- 
quate conijjensation. His weakness was in his custom to defer closing 
out, without unnecessary delay, each matter placed in his charge and 
his fearless, tedious and uncompromising contention for every right of 
his chent. however insignificant. In the trial of a case he was aggressive 
and unyielding, and his evident earnestness, honesty and sincerity, won 
the admiration of the bench and bar as well as that of his clients. 

He was a fluent talker and always presented his views to the court 
and jury with much earnestness and power. He left a stainless charac- 
ter, after a long career at the bar of the county, and a host of friends and 
admirers whom he had unselfishly and devotedly served. 

JAMES R. CHAKLTOX was born at Saleiii, in Marion Co., 111., on 
July 21, 1S5S, and afterward resided successively in the county of his 
birth and at Sedan, Kaus., until he was admitted to practice law by the 
district court of Cowley county, on August 12, 1880. 

Before his admission to the bar, ^Ir. Charlton's life had been spent 
farming, attending and teaching school, clerking and reading law. He 
became a member of the bar of this county on March 1, 1884, and located 
at Elk City in the practice. Since then he was police judge of Elk City in 
1889, justice of the peace in Louisburg township the two succeeding 
years and was then in 1890, while justice, elected county attorney, which 
offlce he filled for two years ending in .January, 1893. Since ^II". Charl- 
ton's admission to the bar he has spent much time preaching the Gospel, 
especially at revival meetings, where, by his well-known eloquence, he has 
exercised a potent influence for Christianity. 

Mr. Charlton is now located in the practice of hi-s profession at Ca- 
ney, Kans. 

HON. ARTHCR H. CLARK has been a member of the bar and in the 
practice of law for a longer jieriod than any other jiracticing attorney at 
our bar — he having been admitted to both State and Federal courts in 
Ohio in 18(5.5 — except L>. Giltner, recently located at Coffeyville, who was 
admitted in 1856. 

He was liorn in Geauga County, Ohio, Octolier 1.5, 184.3, and spent 
his boyhood days there, attending school during the winter months and 
in summers working on a farm, until he was about grown, when he im- 
I)roved his education by a course of studies at Burton Academy and then 
a1 til" Western Reserve Seminarv in his native State. 



202 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

He then entered the kiw department of the Ohio State and Union 
Law College of Cleveland, Ohio, and was graduated from the latter in 
1865 with the degree of L.L. B. 

He entered the practice in 18t;7 at Mattoon, 111., where he pursued 
his profession about four years, and then, in August, 1871, moved to Cof- 
feyville and began the pursuit of his profession. He took a leading part 
in organizing the city of Coflfeyville and was selected as its first mayor. 

At the general election in November, 1872, he was chosen county at- 
torney and in January, 1873, moved to Independence and entered upon 
the discharge of the duties of the office in which he continued until 
January, 1877 — he having been elected as his own successor in 1874. 

After his last term as county attorney had expired, Mr. Clark at 
once entered the general practice at Independence, which he continued 
until about 1001, when, on account of the health of his family, he moved 
to Portland. Ore., where he l)egau the practice of his profession, which he 
continued until May, 1903, when he returned to Independence and re- 
sumed the practice here. 

Mr. Clark represented Montgomery County in the lower house of 
the Kansas Legislature in 1877 and 1878; and was a meml)er of the 
State Senate four years from 1880 to 1884. In 1890 he was the Bepub- 
lican candidate for Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District which then 
included Montgomery County, but was defeated by the candidate on the 
fusion ticket. 

EDGAR M. CLARK, after reading law with his brother. Hon A. B. 
Clark, was admitted to the bar of the county and afterward entered the 
jiractice at Independence as the junior member of the law firm of Clark 
& Clark which he continued 'till 1888, when he moved to Oklahoma, 
where he has since pursued his profession. He is now located at Pawnee, 
Pawnee county, Oklahoma, where he is filling the office of county attor- 
ney with marked ability.. 

Mr. Clark is the youngest of a large family of brothers, all of whom 
have become prominent attorneys and he is ranked among the best in 
Pawnee county. He was born at Huntsburg, Oeauga county, Ohio, 
July Kith, 1856, and reai'ed on a farm and taught school in Ohio and 
Illinois before taking up the study of law. 

W. G. CLARK was about thirty years of age when he was admitted 
and while of limited education, displayed much natural ability during 
the short time he remained in the county. He was especially effective in 
the trial of cases in the lower courts. 

ALBERT T. COX was admitted to practice in Douglas county, Kan- 
sas, in June, 1894, after reading law and graduating from the University 
of the State. He, afterward, in partnership with his brother, under the 
Jirm name of Cox & Cox, practiced at Independence, Kansas, about eigh- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 2O3 

teen niontlis. until 18!»0. when lie retired from the practice, and about 
November 1st of that year purchased an interest in the "Star and Kau- 
san." a weekly newsjjaper which he, in comjiany with Hon. Hfenry W. 
Youn^, under the tirni name of Young & Cox. ]iulilished at Independence 
'till May 1st, 1S!)8. Mr. Cox then purchased the jiaper which he has con- 
tinued to publish here and on June 5th, 1900, started, in connection with 
it, "The l>aily Evening Star," which has a wide circulation in the city. 
In the publication of his daily and weekly papers he uses a linotype and 
other modern machinery and appliances. 

Mr. Cox was born at Morgantown, Johnson county, Indiana, October 
2nd, I860, and in February, 18C!), moved with his parents to a farm in 
Montgomery county, Kansas, where he was reared until he began the 
study of law in 1892. 

IRA E. COX was born at Morgantown, Johnson county, Indiana, 
February 2(ith, 18()8, and was, in February, 18t)!t. brought by his parents 
to Kansas, where they settled on a farm in Montgomery county, on which 
he was reared 'till he was twenty-four years of age. In 1892 he entered 
the University of the State and took up the study of law, and was, in 
1894. graduated as a Bachelor of Law from that institution. He shortly 
after began the practice at Independence with his brother, Albert T. Cox, 
and, after continuing in the business over two years, moved on a farm 
and then, in 1902, went into the banking business at Anadarko, Okla- 
homa, where he now resides. 

JOHN S. COTTON practiced his profession in Independence until 
about 1882 when he moved to Kansas City, Mo., and went into the real 
estate business, which he continued 'till his death there a few years ago, 

Mr. Cotton was born at Millersburg, Ohio, in 1821, and subsequently 
moved to Indiana where he lived, first at South Whitney and then at 
Columbia City, until he came to Kansas in 1873. While residing at Co- 
lumbia City he filled the office of auditor and treasurer of the city and 
was a mend)er of the Indiana Legislature five terms. 

During a portion of the nine years he was in the practice here he 
was associated with M. Sickafoose under the firm name of Sickafoose & 
€otton. 

PERCY L. COURTRIGHiT was born at Independence, Kansas, 
J?arcli 12tli, 1873, and, except Arthur Billings, is the only member of 
the bar born in the county. 

Mr. Courtright was reared on a farm about three miles west of Inde- 
pendence until he entered the LTniversity at Lawrence in 1897, from 
whicii he was gradvuited two years later, in the law class. He then, on 
June 8th, 1899. was admitted to practice by the District Court of Doug- 
las county and on the same day, by the Sujireme Court of the State. He 
has lived in Moutgomerv countv since his admission here. 



204 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

JOSErH B. CRAIG, a son of Saiimel Craig and Jane Miller Craig, 
his wife, was born in Colnmbia county, Pennsylvania, January 29th, 
1814, and at the age of four years was taken by his parents to Clark 
county, Ohio, where he learned the bhuksniith trade, but had to aban- 
don it on account of his eyes. He afterward engaged in trade, i"ead law 
and was admitted to the bar at Springfield, Ohio, and then, in March, 
184!), at the age of thirty-flve years, located at Wapakoneta, where he 
served as justice of the peace from 18.51 to 1853. He was also county 
surveyor from 1851 to 1854 and during the last year was elected i)rose- 
cuting attorney, and after serving out his term, was, in 1858, elected 
county auditor, and served in that capacity until 1804. In the fall of 
1864 he located at Muncie, Indiana, where he, in partnership with his 
brother, William, engaged in the drug business. 

In 186C he moved to Hartford City, Indiana, where he was in the 
drug business 'till he moved to Independence. Kansas, in 1870. Mr. 
Craig was admitted to the bar of ^Pontgomery county but never engaged 
in tli<^ active practice of his profession. 

He was the first Mayor of Indejiendence, and afterward served as a 
justice of the peace of the city. Judge Craig (as by that title we all 
knew him) died at Independence on the 4th day of July, 1894, honored 
and resjiected. He was a genial, honorable man and a courteous gentle- 
man of "the old school;" and on one occasion in Ohio, refused a nomi- 
nation that would have placed him in Congress rather than betray a 
friend for whom he was working in the convention. 

NATHAN CREE located at Independence in October. 1872, and in 
the same year became a member of the bar of Montgomery county, he 
having been, in June, 18C8, at Lawrence, Kansas, admitted to practice 
by the District Court of Douglas county. 

After his first admission he remained at Lawrence in the practice 
until he moved to Montgomery county, where he continued in the same 
pursuit until January, 1877. when he moved to Kansas City. Kansas, 
where he has since practiced his profession. 

Mr. Cree was born in Adams county. Ohio, on July 28th, 1841, came 
to Kansas in 1859, lived on a farm and taught school in I>ouglas county 
until April, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in the 5th Kansas regi- 
ment and served in the Union army until he was honorably discharged 
in April, 1865. He then returned to I>ouglas county where he resumed 
his former occupations until he was admitted to the bar. 

In the early days of the practice in ^Montgomery county, Mr. Cree 
was a marked character at the bar. He was well read in the science of 
his profession and technical in its practice. He was recognized in the 
profession as a man of fine natural ability, and the possessor of a well 
■culti\ated mind. He was a man of positive convictions and fearless and 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 205 

siiicert' iu the advocacy of them, and not at all inclined to compromise or 
maiiiiMilate to meet the exigencies of the hour; and while he was always 
willing to accord an adversary his legal rights, he was ever persistent 
iu claiming his client's dues. 

He was forceful with his i)en iu discussing a legal question, and a 
trenchant writer on the political topics of the diiy, and, often, during his 
residence here, in a political paper published by Mr. Peacock, his father- 
in-law. exercised his powers with telling effect. 

\Miile here Mr. Cree si)ent much time in the production of an able 
treatise on the jirocedure and jiractice before justices of the peace, but 
discovered it would not be profitable to publish such a work, as in the 
])ractice in that inferior court, scientific principles of law are not gen- 
erally of controlling influence. 

While residing in Wyandotte county Mr. Cree has served as county 
auditor for two years, ending in 1887, and then as county attorney for 
the same length of time, ending in 1889, with honor to himself and credit 
to the profession. 

E. R. CUTLER, although admitted, never parcticed the profession 
in the county. 

D. Y. DARN ALL was one of the pioneer members of the bar and 
located at Elk City about 1871, after having been admitted. He prac- 
ticed there about three years and then left the county. 

JOHN M. DAVIS was admitted to the bar of the county on the re- 
port of an examining committee and on certificates of his admission from 
several courts of record in other states, and from one or more different 
circuit courts of the United t^tates. He, however, did not engage iu the 
practice after his admission. 

C. M. DAVIS was admitted on the certificate of his admission to 
practice in the circuit court of the State of ^'iscousiu. He did not re- 
main in the county. 

BENJAMUN F. DEVORE has never engaged in the active practice 
of the law here although he had, for a number of years, pursued his pro- 
fession in Ohio before coming to Kansas. 

He was born iu Washington county, Ohio, on February 11th, 1828, 
and in ISotJ was taken by his jiarents to Marion county, Ohio, where they 
settled on a farm. He remained on his father's farm working, attend- 
ing school and teaching until 1S4!» when he entered the Wesleyan Uni- 
versity of Ohio, and for the next eight years spent his time studying and 
teaching, and then attended the Cincinnati Law College during the ses- 
sion of 18.j7 and 1858 and was graduated from that institution as 
Bachelor of Law in April, 18o8. He then began the practice at Wapako- 
neta, Ohio, the same year, and continued to practice until 18<i(J when he 
moved to iitirtford City, Indiana, where he engaged in the drug business, 



2o6 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

wlii.-li he contimied 'till 1870, when he located at Indepeiuleiice. where 
he has since resided. 

Durinji ^Ir. ]>evore"s residence here he was a merchant from 1870 to 
1880, farmer from 188(1 to 1884, justice of the ])eace during 1884 and 
1885, i)0stmasTer from 188.5 to 1889, police .judfje in 188!» and 1800 and 
has since been in the general insui-auce business. He was also a meud^er 
of the Legislature from this county in 1872. In 1880 he was nominated 
for Congress by the Democratic party but declined to make the race. 

^^'hile he is now ])ast seventy-five years of age he still takes an active 
interest in the jmblic affairs of the county and is a highly respected 
citizen. 

JUDGE JA5JES DeLON(;, in the early 70's became a member of 
the bar of ^lonlgoiiiery county, and in co-i)artnership with his son-in- 
law, Osborn Shannon, did some practice in the courts under the tirm 
name of DeLong & Shannon. For several years Judge DeLoug (he had 
been probate judge in Ohio before coming to Kansas) was the most con- 
spicuous character in Independence. His prominence arose out of the 
enti-y and disposition of the townsite, and the judge's {)eculiar methods 
in hautlling the matters connected therewith. The townsite, as originally 
platted, contained about 1,500 lots besides several tracts known as out- 
lots that were located along the noi'th side. Under the law this town- 
site became subject to purchase from the General Government for one 
dollar and twenty-flve cents per acre by the corj)orate authorities of the 
city in trust for the use and benefit of the occupants, as their several in- 
terests might apjiear. After being elected mayor of the city the judge 
made the entry in his own name in trust. The Independence Town Com- 
pany at once laid claim to the lots, contending that the trust under 
which the lots were held was in its favor, and brought suit against Judge 
DeLong to secure a judicial declaration of the trust in its favor and a 
conveyance to it of the lots. 

With his characteristic energy and determination the judge success- 
fully resisted the claim of the town company. The case was finally de- 
cided in the Sui)reme Court of the State, where the judge's views were 
fully endorsed. He at once become very poi)ular with the lot occupants, 
whose rights to the lots were doubtful while the litigation was pending. 
This popularity, to the extent it had begun, did not long survive, after 
the judge announced his intention to make deeds, for a consideration, to 
such lot occupants as in his judgment owned the lots they respectively 
claimed. This considei'ation in no case was to be less than fO.lio ]ier lot 
and an additional dollar for making out the deed. This, at the minimum 
charge per lot, would yield about |10,000.00 and the charges were excused 
on the grounds that they were to be used to liquidate the judge's ex- 
penses and attorney's fees in resisting what he asserted were the law- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 207 

less claims to the lots. Many willingly paid the judge's charges and con- 
tinued to be his friends, while others denounced the charges and the 
judge, and begnidgingly yielded to his demands and generally ever af- 
terward fought him in his aspirations for public office. At the end of 
the judge's first term he still held the title in trust, to many of the lots 
and also made application to enter some school land mostly in the third 
ward and also a strip joining the city on the south claimed by L. T. 
Stephenson, Wni. Maddaus and others. The bold, aggressive and cease- 
less fight he made to recover for the city these lands ,added to his popu- 
larity and he was, after one of the most bitter campaigns ever waged in 
the city, elected mayor for a second term. It then became somewhat 
more difficult for those who were not special friends and admirers of the 
judge to secure from him deeds to lots, and in many cases they had to 
pay an increase over the regular charges to secure their coveted deeds. 
This increase was justified by the judge on the ground that he was "wear- 
ing out his life" in making the fight for the lot owners, and they ought 
not to hesitate to make the payments and if they complained he was not 
slow in denouncing them in the most public and vigorous manner. 

The judge kept up the warfare over the title to various lots he had 
entered and had not conveyed and over the contests for more land that 
he had inaugurated as long as he renmined in office. His successor after- 
ward, with but little trouble and less agitation, carried the contests to 
a successful conclusion and secured the issuance of the patent to the 
townsite after it had been held up, on account of the pending contests, 
'till 1878. However, the purchase from the State of the tract of school 
land mostly in the third ward by Mayor Wilson, in his individual name, 
caused much litigation afler the issuance of the patent. 

Shortly after the patent was secured. Judge DeLong moved to 
Wichita, where he died a few years later. 

S.\M:UEL DONALDSON never entered the parctice here. He went 
to Chautauqua ccmnty where he practiced, and where he is well known 
as Colonel Donaldson, and is a jirominent man and highly respected. 

TO WILLIAM DUNKIN reference is made later on iu this article. 

HENRY C. DOOLEY, before being admitted here, was admitted to 
]iractice by the District Court of Coffey county, in July of the previous 
year. He was born in Davis county, Iowa, on February 11th, lS(!n, and 
at the age of fourteen years moved to Coft'ey county, Kansas, and there 
worked his way through the public schools at I^eroy. He then for two 
years applied himself to the study of law at Burlington, in that county, 
'till the date of his admission and the next year located in the practice 
a1 Cdffeyville, which he has since continued and where he has built up an 
extensive practice in this and adjoniing counties, in the Supreme Court 
of the State and the Federal Courts in Kansas and the Indian Territorv. 



2o8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Dm-iiifi' the last few years Mr. Dooley has given iinich attention to 
corporation cases. He is now a nicnilier of the law firm of Dooley & 
Osborn. formed about a rear ago ami which devotes its entire time to 
the jn-actice. 

Ml. Dooley represented the 29th district in tlie Lower House of the 
Legislature of Kansas at its session of 1001, and while he entered that 
body without legislative experience, he at once became, and continued 
during its session, one of its leading members. 

DANIEL W. DUXNETT was admitted to the bar of the county in 
the early 70's and for several years was located in the practice at Coffey- 
ville. where he at one time ])racticed as a partner of Hon. A. B. Clark, 
under the firm name of Clark & Dunnett. Mr. Dunnett. some twenty 
years ago. moved to the western part of the state and died about two 
years ago. 

THOMAS E. DEMPSEY was born at I'rbana. Ohio, where he re 
sided before coming to Kansas in 188.5. He was admitted here at once 
and entered the practice, which he continued for about one year, when 
he located at (ireensburg, Kansas, where he i)racticed for about a year 
and then moved to Illinois. Before his admission he was graduated from 
till' Cincinnati Law School at Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Mr. Deuipsey possessed a good legal mind, which had been well 
trained, and he was a diligent student and successful in his jjractice. He 
was a young man of excellent habits, of a quiet and unassuming de- 
meanor, and yet of true courage when aroused. He approached a trial 
with considerable timidity and was always fully prepared on the law of 
his cases. 

C. W. ELLIS located at Verdigris City in 1S09, and the next year 
went to Parker, Westralia or Coffeyville. where he entered the practice 
■with Hon. John M. Scudder, which he continued until, in 1872, he went 
to Wellington and afterward to MIedicine Lodge, in Barber county, where 
he located and jmrsued the practice "till elected Judge of the District 
Court. 

During his short residence in this county he was known to jiossess. 
in a high degree, the qualities essential to a fine lawyer. He possessed a 
strong, clear mind and was a close student and painstaking in the prepa- 
ration and trial of his cases. He has made an honoi'able record in the 
profession in Barber county, where most of his jirofessional life has been 
sj)ent. 

CAPTAIN DAVID STEWART ELLIOTT became a member of the 
bar of Montgomery county in 1885 and located in the practice at Coffev- 
ville. 

He was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, December 23rd, 1843 
jind at the age of about fifteen years entered a newspaper oflice to leain 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 209 

the business. In April, ISfil, lie enlistod in Co. "G." 1.3fh Penn. Volun- 
teers, and at the end of his tliree months' term re-enlisted in Co. '>E," 
76th Tenn. Volunteers, and served therein over three years. 

In 1868 he assumed the editorship of the Bedford County Press, at 
Everett, Pennsylvania. \Ylii(h lie continued "till 1873. On February nth, 
1860, he was admitted to the bar of Bedford county. Pa. He was editor 
of the Everett. Pa., Press from 1881 to ISSo, and in May of the last vear 
located at Colfeyville. where from June oth, 1885, to September 1st, 1897, 
he edited the Coft'eyville Weekly Journal and early in 1892 he establish- 
ed the Daily Journal and edited it 'till 1897. 

On April 5th, 1898, Captain Elliott enlisted and was commissioned 
<"aptain of Co. G, 20th Kansas regiment and entered the Spanish-Ameri- 
can war, and engaged in active warfare with the Filipinos early in 1899. 
While in line of duty, on February 28th, 1899, he was shot by a Filipino 
sharjishooter, and died a few hours later. His remains were brought 
home and buried at Cofl'eyville on April 11th, 1899, with military honors. 
After locating in the county Captain Elliott devoted only a portion 
of his time to the practice of law. His tastes led to the formation of his 
fellow men into associations, political parties and other organizations 
and the promulgation and advocacy of their principles, rather than to 
the irksome and methodical work demanded in the practice of law. For 
this work of his choice he was by nature admirably equipped. He was 
a fluent and pleasant speaker and at once took a leading part in meet- 
ings to effect such organizations, or to advocate their tenets. As a writer 
he was terse, graceful and effective and as a solider, enthusiastic and 
courageous. 

lUiring his residence at Coffeyville Capt. Elliott was its attorney 
for one or more terms and a member, one term, of the Lower House of the 
Kansas Legislature, where he was at once a conspicuous member. 
At his death he was a member of sixteen lodges. 
J. I). EMERSON became a member of the bar of the county, and af- 
terward practiced law with Judge E. Herring at Independence. He then 
became interested in United States mail contracts in Louisiana and 
Texas and abandoned the practice. 

He resided at Independence for some years after retiring from the 
practiie and finally returned to Ohio. 

OLIVER P. ERtiENBRIGIIT was admitted to the Montgomery 
county bar (m July Kttli, 1883. His life sketch appears in the department 
of biog!a])hy in this work. 

ELLJAK EVANS did not, after his admission, engage in the 
liractice of the profession in the county. 

CHARLES FLETCHER was born at South Royalton, Vermont 
January lltli. 1S44. and admitted to the bar at ICmporiii in Lvon countv 



2IO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Kansas, in September, 1879. Before becoming a member of the bar Mr.. 
Fletcher resided for a time at IMainfield, Vermont, then at Ware. Mass., 
where he was employed in a woolen mill, and was afterward in the same 
biisiness in Boston, Mass., and at Norwich, Rockville and Hartford, Con- 
necticut. He then moved to Brooktield. Mo., where he was a locomotive 
engineer and subsequently settled at Emporia, Kansas, and engaged in 
the same vocation, until his admission to the bar. He then entered the 
practice at Emporia, which he continued at that place 'till October. 1901, 
Avhen he located at Cherryvale, where he has since resided and practiced 
his i)vofessi()n. 

0. W. FITZPATRICK was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county about 1897. and shortly afterward entered the practice at Coflfey- 
ville as the senior member of the law firm of Fitzpatrick & Wiggins, and 
continued in the pursuit of his profession for two or three years, when he 
removed to the Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory, where his prac- 
tice still continues. The memliers of this firm were the first and only 
colored men that ever became members of our bar and while they prac- 
ticed here, were, by court and attorneys, freely accorded all rights and 
privileges that belong to the members of the profession. 

ELMER W. FAY located at Old Liberty as a lawyer in 1869— be- 
fore any court existed in the county — and afterward entered the prac- 
tice as a partner in the law firm of Bass & Fay. and, later, he became 
"wheel horse" in the suit brought to compel the removal of the county 
ofiices to Old Liberty as a recognition of its claim to being the county 
seat. The stone was too ponderous to be moved to Mtihomet's head and 
Old Liberty died in its infancy, without honors, and its eloquent cham- 
pion shoi'tly after moved westward. After remaining at Peru, Chau- 
tauqua (then Howard) county a few years, Jlr. Fay went to Texas where 
he engaged in the real estate business and came to grief. 

Mr. Fay, before coming to Kansas, had been a minister of the gospel, 
but finding the restrictions imposed upon those who pursue that calling 
too distasteful for his jieculiar temperament, came to Kansas, and sought 
to fill one of the grades in the legal profession; and it is said by those 
who have heard him speak, that he filled the oratorical features of it to 
perfection. 

EMiERY A. FOSTER was born at Dayton, Missouri, on July 17th, 
1868, and the next year moved with his parents (Mr. and Mrs. Goodell 
Foster) to Montgomery county. Kansas, and, in 1870, located at Inde- 
pendence. He grew up in this city and sjient his time attending the city 
schools and in reading law, 'till August, 1888, when, on a thorough ex- 
amination in open court in which he evinced remarkable proficiency, he 
was admitted to the bar of the county, before he was twenty-one years 
of age. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 211 

He shortly afterward moved to Oklahoma where he began, and has 
since continued, the practice of his profession. At the November, 1002, 
.election in that territory he was chosen county attorney of Lincoln 
comity and he is now performing the duties of that otKce. 

F1-:LIX .1. FITCH located at Independence in 1890 and reference to 
him will l)e found on another page herein. 

LUTHER FREEMAN was born at Fort Shaw, Montana, on Novem- 
l)er 27th, 1872. His father. General Freeman, had spent his life in the 
regular army and, hence, Luther, while a boy, was moved from one mili- 
tary post to another where his father's duties called him. He became a 
member of the bar of ilontgomery county and practiced here until June, 
1902, when he took charge of a cattle ranch near Douglas, in Converse 
county. Wyoming, where he is now located. 

Mr. Freeman was a student at Kenyon Military School at Gambier, 
Ohio, read law one year in the office of Judge J. D. Vandeman in Dela- 
ware and was a student of law for two years at the University of Michi- 
gan, from which far-famed institution he graduated in 1894 with the 
degree of L. L. B. 

BERNARD GAINES was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county on the certificate of his admission to practice in the courts of 
record in Kentucky. He never entered the practice here. 

JAMES D. GAMBLE was one of the earliest members of the bar of 
the county and was. in the early 70's, a member of the law firm of Bennett 
& Gamble, which, for several years, did a thriving business in the prac- 
tice of law and as real estate agents. Some time before 1880 M^i-. Gamble 
moved to Knoxville, Iowa, where he subsequently became Judge of the 
Circuit or District Court. 

NAPOLEON B. GARDNER was admitted as a member of the bar 
on the report of an examining committee appointed by Htm. H. G. Webb 
while he was presiding as judge 2)ro tciti. Mr. Gardner never pursued 
the practice in the county. 

BARSABAS GILTNER was born at New Washington, Clark 
county. Indiana, on June 9th, 1832, and spent his boyhood days on a 
farm 'till he was thirteen years of age, when he entered Hanover Col- 
lege in his native state, where he studied for the next five years. He mov- 
ed to Indianajiolis and taught school in and near the city, the next four 
years, and then studied law and was admitted to the bar at Danville, 
Indiana, in 1850, and at once entered the practice, which, except tho 
years 18G3 and 1864, which he spent in teaching school at Richland, 
Iowa, he has since continuously pursued. In 180.") he located in the 
practice at Fairfield, Iowa, and after jiursuing the profession there for 
-about eight years, in 1873, he moved to Marshall county, Kansas, where 
he continued in the jtractice 'till he moved to Coffey ville in 1897. Owiuf 



& 



212 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

to a jiliysical disability in the shajie of a broken ankle, he did nothing in 
his profession at Cotieyville until 1S08, when he joined the bar of Mont- 
gomery county and has since practiced law. Mr. Giltner has never oc- 
cupied any public ofHce. except that he served as conuuon pleas attorney 
in Indiana from 1857 to 18G3. 

Mr. (iIFFORT* became a member of the bar of Montgomery 

county in the 80's and for about three years was located in the practice 
in partnership with E. L. Begun at Cherryvale, Kansas. About 1888 he 
located in the j)ractice at Kansas City. Missouri, where he now resides. 
While living at Kansas City he has served as police judge. 

GEORGE E. GILMORE has, since his admission, j.ursued his ].ro- 
fession at Independence, where he now resides, practicing law, handling 
real estate, writing insurance and is a pension attorney. He was ad- 
mitted to the Supreme Court July 3rd, 1901. 

Mr. Gilmore was born at Grove City, Pennsylvania, on November 
17th, 1861, and resided with his parents on a farm there until he was 
sixteen years old, and from that time until 188(5 he attended the Grove 
City College and taught school. In July of that year he located at In- 
dependence, where he has since resided. 

Since Mr. Gilmore came here he has successively clerked in the pro- 
bate court (under Col. Brown, probate judge) taught school, filled the 
office of justice of the peace five terms, handled realty on commission 
and been an insurance agent and has filled the ofiice of city attorney for 
three successive terms. 

COLONEL DANIEL GRASS was admitted to the bar of Mont- 
gomery county and jiracticed law in the county until his death at Cof- 
feyville, Kansas, on the 24th day of December, 1894. 

He was born in Lawrence county, Illinois, on Sejttember 21st, 1825, 
and thereafter lived in his native county, attending and teaching school 
and farming until 1800, when he was admitted to the bar at Lawrence- 
ville, Illinois, and entered the practice at that place, which he pursued 
until the breaking out of the civil war, when he entered the Union army 
as a cai)tain in the 8th Illinois infantry, which was recruited for the 
three months' service. At the end of his term of enlistment he resumed 
the practice which he continued until early in 18G2, when he re-entered 
the military service as a first lieutenant in the (ilst Illinois infantry. 

At the end of the term of his second enlistment ,by an eloquent 
speech, he induced nearly every other member of his regiment to remain 
in the war, that continued for a long time thereafter. He stayed in the 
army until the close of the war, and rose to the rank of colonel of his 
regiment. 

Colonel Grass was a remarkable man. By nature he was endowed 
with many fine qualities "of heart and mind" and possessed an "iron con- 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 213 

stitiition." He was generous and good to everyone, but himself. In his 
own affairs lie was careless and iniiirovident, to others in trouble his 
generous hand was ever ready to extend relief. He was all his life a 
great reader of the choicest works of literature, and had a well stored 
mind, which, with his natural gifts, enabled him to talk on many sub- 
jects most intelligently and entertainingly. His disjiosition was genial 
and happy, his manners polite, courteous and attractive — even in his 
most careless attire and to the humblest. He was a keen judge of human 
nature and an accurate critic of literature, and ever entertained a pro- 
found contempt for a deceitful or an unworthy man and never hesitated 
to dissect and expose the weaknesses of a literary production that may 
have been having a season of undeserved popularity. He loved his coun- 
try as he did his friends — patriotism and friendship were a part of him. 

While Col. Grass was a well read lawyer, he was never technical in 
the application of its principles and was sometimes careless in those 
minor details that so often intlueuce the result in a trial. His strong 
forte was his oratory, in which he excelled before a jury, and as a lec- 
turer and political speaker. His appeals to the jury were earnest, sin- 
cere and eloquent and his lectures and political speeches entertaining, 
instructive and effective. The colonel always evinced a keen interest in 
politics and was always one of the "wheel horses'" in each compaign. For 
years he annually stumped the county for the Republican ticket and in 
expounding the princi])les of the party and enthusing its members, never 
sought for himself any public office, although any in the gift of his po- 
litical friends was ever within his reach. The only jiublic office he ever 
filled in the state, was that of State Senator from Montgomery county 
from 1876 to 1880. 

IIA.IOR H. I), (iraiit was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county 
in 1871 but never engaged in the practice of law. He was born in Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, on JIarch 2(Jth, 1835. He was reared 'till he 
was eighteen years of age, in Herkimer county. New York, and moved 
to Illinois where he worked for a short time on a farm and then entered 
Central College at Jackson, ^lichigan. Shortly afterward he assisted in 
recruiting Co. "I," 4th Michigan, and in .July, 1802, entered the mili- 
tary service as first lieutenant of that company, and, a month later, was 
promoted to the captaincy of the same. Two months and a half later he 
was assigned to the comnmnd of a battalion in the army and continued in 
that position 'till May 27th, 18(»4. when he was taken prisoner near 
Kingston, Ceorgia. He was taken to Charleston, S. C, where he was one 
of the fifty officers of the U. S. army placed under fire to prevent further 
bombardment of the city. Two months later he was exchanged and there- 
upon returned to the army and served 'till December 11th, 1804, when he 
was mustered out. While in military service he particijtated in battle at 



;2I4 HISTORY OF JIOXTGOMERV COUNTY, KANSAS. 

I'cn-yvillc. Stmic Ki\('i-. ( 'liiiaiiiuu.na ami .Missiouiii'v Kidge ami was 
■sligiili.v wmiiided at Spaita. Teiin.. in August, l'.)(J3. 

After the war the major held several responsible positions in rail- 
road service in Tennessee, and also several important jmblic offices at 
NasJiville. He removed from Nasiiville to ]Miontg(»merv county, Kansas, 
locating in what is now known as ^^'est Cherry Township, on February 
5th, 1870. He came to Independence in 1873, wliere he has since resided. 
Since living in the county he has filled a number of responsible publii- 
offices, including deputy T'. S. ]\Iarshal for Kansas and the Western Dis- 
trict of Arkansas, county commissioner, justice of the peace and police 
judge. The major has been in frail health for a number of years and has 
retired from all kinds of business and is now quietly living at his home 
in this eitj. 

S. A. HAIJj was admitted to the ))ar of Montgomery county, Kansas, 
at the Movendjer, 1871, term of court on tlie certificate of admission to 
practice in the Supreme Court of Illinois. He was past middle life when 
he came to Montgomery county and practiced here four or five years, a 
part of the time alone and a jiortion of it in company with W. O. Syl 
vester. 

Mr. Hall did not have an extensive legal business and during the 
later years of his practice he unsuccessfully played the double role of at- 
torney aud client in most of liis cases. 

WM. J. HARROD was admitted to the bar of the county on exami- 
nation and report of a committee. 

He lived on a farm some years after, about two miles southeast of 
the present '■McTaggart's Bridge" across the Verdigris, but never entered 
the practice, although he was a bright, active and well known man and 
might have been a success in the profession had his inclinations led him 
to jtursue it. 

THOMAS HARRISON was a conspicuous character among the first 
pioneers of the county, aud one of its first members of the bar. He was 
admitted to practice on the first day of the first term of the District 
Court in the county, held May 0th, 1870, aud thereafter pursued the 
practice "till March, 1877, when, on account of failing health, he retired 
from the jtrattice and moved to his farm about three miles southwest of 
Inde]iendeuce, where he remained until his death on May 13th, 1894, ex- 
ce]it during tlie four years he served as probate judge ending in 1887, 
while he lived in the city. More extended reference is made to him else- 
where in this volume. 

■ludge Harrison was a mau of lofty character and was ever held in 
the highest esteem for the many noble qualities he possessed. He was 
Jionest and sincere in his convictions and a nutu without guile and pos- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 215 

Bessed both moral and physical loiirage and could neither be driven nor 
led into anything he did not believe was right. 

L. BENJAMIN H,ASBKOOK was, at the age of about twenty-two 
years, admitted to the bar of Montgomery county, on the certificate of his 
admission to practice in the courts (if record in New York State. He 
was of a highly respected family in the Empire State, and had been ten- 
derly reared by a widowed mother who had spared neither expense nor 
pains to educate him. He did but little practice in this county, although 
fairly well skilled in the science of law. but in a short time went to Win- 
field, Kansas, and undertook the defense of a desperate criminal and, 
in the excitement or rather frenzy of the hour, was hung by a vigilance 
committee. 

ELIJAH D. HASTINGS was admitted by the District Court of the 
county in September, 1878. and located in the practice at Cherryvale, 
Kansas, which he continued for about twenty-two years, and then, owing 
to poor health, quit the practice and took up fire insurance, at which he 
is still engaged. 

Mr. Hastings was born at Grantham, New Hampshire, on November 
2nd, 1831, and spent his time there and at Newport in the same state, 
farming and teaching school, until 1859, when he was, at Newport, N. H., 
admitted to practice law. After practicing less than two years he en- 
tered the army and, after leaving it, located in the west. He settled at 
Cherryvale shortly before his admission to the Miontgomery county bar 
and while residing there has been city attorney for three years and also 
a member of the city council for three terms. 

JOHN A. HELPHINGSTINE wasadmitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county and at once entered the i)ractice here, which he pursued for a 
short lime as a partner of the law tirm of Grass & Helphiugstine. In 1871 
he was elected police judge of Independence and at the end of his term 
was chosen county clerk, in which office he served three successive terms 
and thereafter, in 1880. moved to New Mexico, where he became engaged 
in the practice, and at the same time publisjied a newspaper and was in- 
terested in mining "till 1886, when he went to California and for years 
did an immense business in real estate. 

While in New M'exico Mr. Helphiugstine served as Insjiector General 
of Militia with the rank of colonel. He is still an active and vigorous 
man and is enthusiastic over the mining jirosjiects in New Mexico, and 
contemplates returning to the territory and engaging in the practice and 
looking after some mining interests he has in that territorv. 

BENJAMIN S. HENDERSON, upon his admission to the bar of 
Montgomery county, located and jiracticed hnv at Independence until 
early in 1882, when he moved to Chautauqua county, where he continued 
in the practice for about eight years, during which time he was countv 



2l6 UISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

attorney for five years; one year by appoiutnient and two terms of two 
years each by election. He then moved to Winfield where he became a 
member of the law firm of Teckham & Hender.son, which for several 
years was the "leneral attorneys of the Denver, Mieiuphis & Atlantic 
Railway Company durin<i its construction. He afterward moved to Kan- 
sas (^'ity, Kansas, and entered the general practice under the firm name 
of Anderson & Henderson. 

After several years he moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, and entered 
the practice as a member of the law firm of Beecher & Henderson and is 
DOW i<ursuing the practice at that place. 

Mr. Henderson was born at Crittenden, (Irant county, Kentucky, 
October 1st, 1843, and on October 4th, ISGl, enlisted in the Union army 
and served until he was discharged in February, 18GG. Afterward he 
moved to Washington. Daviess county. Indiana, where he taught school 
until January 1st, 18Tl*. He was admitted to practice at Washington in 
f^ei)tember, 1871. and since January, 1872, he has been constantly in the 
jiractice. 

In the practice Mr. Henderson was exceedingly active and energetic, 
and in the trial of causes aggressive, full of confidence and fearless, and 
in his pleas to the jury earnest, fluent and effective. 

W. R. HEXDRIX was admitted on examination to practice at the 
May, 1871, term of court l»ut did not enter the legal field here. 

EBEXEZER HERRIXG was admitted to the bar of the county 
about 1871 ; and in 1871! was elected probate judge of the county which 
office he filled from January, 1873, to January, 1883. Afterward, on 
INfarch 27th, 1883, he located at Kansas City, in the practice and in the 
real estate business, which he pursued there 'till his death on October 
Kith, 1888. 

Judge Herring was born in I'ennsylvania and went from there, when 
a young nmn, to Des Jl/iunes, Iowa, where he joined the army and was 
captain of Co. "E," 34th Iowa Infantry. At the close of his military life 
he -went into the grocery business at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and then 
entered the University at Iowa City, from which he was graduated, and 
afterward, in June, 187(1, was admitted to the bar of Iowa. 

He then located in Independence, where he was associated in the 
practice with J. D. Emerson 'till elected probate judge of the county. 

A. T. HIGBY was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county on the 
certificate of his admission to practice in Illinois but never entered the 
l)ractice in the county. 

RUFUS J. HILL was born in the city of Ogdensburg, in the State of 
Xew York, on the Kith day of February, 1830, and resided there until he 
was thirteen years of age, when he left home and spent about eight years 
«n the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes. 

lu 1857, he left the river and lakes, and, at the age of twentvone 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 2\J 

years, settled at Chatlield. ^liunesota, where he remained 'till the sum- 
mer of 1863 — during a grPii^er jiortion of which time he acted as the 
agent of ilessrs. Osborn & Sons, who were non residents and owned large 
tracts of land in that state. Mr. Hill's duties extended to paying taxes, 
negotiating sales and reporting to his ]irincipals. During the winter 
seasons he also attended such schools as that new country afforded. He 
also, from August, lS(i2, to December. 18(13, belonged to the state militia, 
which was being trained to be used, when urgent necessity demanded, in 
the Civil war, then raging in the country and for protection against 
threatened Indian invasions. 

In the fall of ]8(!3 he went to the University of MSchigan, at Ann 
Arbor, and began a literary course, and shortly after took up the study 
of the law. at that famous school, which he jiursued 'till nearly the end 
of the school year, in the spring of 18C.5. He then went to Fondulac, 
Wisconsin, where he was examined and admitted to practice law in May 
of that year. He remained in Wisconsin "till the fall of 18G7, when he 
moved to Linn county. Kansas, and began the jiractice in jiartnership 
with -Tudge Henry G. Weblt. who had been his jiartner during a portion 
of the time he lived in Wisconsin after his admission. 

The firm continued in the practice "till the fall of 1808. when it was 
dissolved, and Mr. Hill settled at Fort Scott. Kansas, and continued the 
practice as the junior member of the firm of Webb, Blair & Hill (the 
senior member of the firm being Hon. Wm. (". ^A'ebb. a brother of Mr. 
Hill's former partner) and remained in the practice with this tirni of 
well known lawyers until Wm. (". Webb was appointed Judge of the 11th 
•Judicial District in March, 187(1. In May, 1870, Mr. Hill came in the 
private conveyance of his firm with Judge Wm. C. Webb from Fort Scott 
to Montgomery county, whither Judge Webb had come to hold his first 
term of court. He and the judge drove up to the improvised court room 
at Old Liberty, which the judge inspected, and at once made a very em- 
phatic refusal to open court in a room he considered so unfit for the pur- 
pose. No one was at the court room at the arrival of these gentlemen 
but shortly afterward a crowd was attracted, more from curiosity than 
otherwise, and still later Sheriff White arrived from Independence' where 
the clerk of the court, :Mr. Stephenson, had remained behind. After a 
short consultation between the jndge. Mr. Hill and the sheriff they set 
out for Independence, where the jndge opened and held a term of court 
and Mr. Hill located here. 

Mr. Hill was distinctly a criminal lawyer, in which branch of the 
profession he excelled ; and in the days of his active practice at the bar 
here. ])erhaiis had no sujierior in that bi-andi. During his professional 
career he has defended l.")S persons charged with murder, besides many 
times that number charged with other crimes and misdemeanors. He has 
also done much in the civil pra<'tice, especially in closely contested cases. 



2l8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Generally, he was assioned a leading place in all cases in which he was 
engaged, especially in the cross-examination of opposing witnesses. His 
method of cross-examination was original, nnique and astute. His ques- 
tions were framed in that manner that made them an argument, and 
drew from an adverse witness damaging testimony in a modified form. 
He knew the rules governing the admission of evidence and in the ex- 
amination of a dangerous witness played on the outside boundary lines 
and sometimes stepped over. He rarely suffered, as often lawyers do, 
from imprudent cross-examination. 

In the days of his prime he was a dreaded adversary because of his 
«kill in cross-examination and the fertile resources always at his com- 
mand. The opposing counsel who knew him was always on the alert; 
yet often with every precaution, failed to protect against some move 
coined in Mr. Hill's ingenuity. The methods exercised in one of the 
earliest criminal cases he tried in Kansas will furnish some idea of him. 
A young woman in Linn county, jienniless and friendless, was charged 
with murdering her infant child by throwing it into a lake. That she 
threw the child into the lake was established by abundant evidence on 
the ])reliniinary examination. The young physicians, after a superficial 
examination, and as expert witnesses, gave it as their positive opinions 
that the child was alive when thrown into the lake. Public opinion ran 
high against the supposed murderess. No lawyer could be found anxious 
to undertake the defense; especially as neither glory nor reward was 
promised, and some of them had declined it. In her hopeless predica- 
ment she sent for Mr. Hill, then a young man about thirty-two years of 
age. He offered to defend her on one condition, and that was, she must 
answer truthfully a single question he would ask. .She agreed to this, 
and he asked her if the child was alive when she threw it into the lake, 
and she answered no, and he believed her. He at once, and in the night, 
secretly exhumed the body of the dead infant and took it in a buggy, in 
the box in which it had been buried, to Kansas City, to an eminent phy- 
sician and after relating to him the conditions, the doctor reluctantly 
consented to make a post mortem, and having opened the chest and ex- 
amined the lungs unequivocally declared the child was dead when thrown 
into the lake. Mr. Hill prevailed upon him to promise to attend the trial 
and give testimony, which he did, paying his own expenses. The local 
physicians again testified as before but suffered severely on cross-ex- 
amination which Mr. Hill was enabled to make effective from the train- 
ing his Kansas City friend had given him. 

Mr. Hill had also taken the precaution to re-exhume the body — he 
having restored it to the grave on his return from Kansas City — which he 
had conveniently secreted. On the defense he introduced the Kansas 
City physician and he at once, with the aid of the lungs of the child, 
demonstrated beyond doubt that the child had not met its death by 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 219- 

di'ownino-; and in a very short time the jiirv acrpiitted and the court dis- 
charged the defendant "to go hence without day.'' 

While Mr. Hill was not an orator in the usual acceptation of that 
term, he often made very effective jileas to a jury, and sometimes when 
thoroughly awakened could hold them s])ell bound by impassioned elo- 
quence. He was in the habit, at least one time in each term of court, of 
opening his address to a jury — usually the first he appeared before — by 
advising them with a smile, that he did not intend to flatter them, that 
they were not the handsomest men he had ever seen, and in his life time 
he had met smarter men than they, and that they were just like himself, 
men of fair looks and appearance and of ordinary intelligence and fully 
equal to discharge the duty imposed upon them. After this pleasant 
opening he would then consume about an hour in demonstrating what 
that duty was. Mr. Hill still lives at Independence but spends most of 
his time in Oklahoma, in the jii-actice of the law. 

JOSEPH W. HOLDREN was born at Springhill, Kansas, November 
9th. 1872, and lived there until he entered the University of Kansas, from 
which he was graduated from the law department in June, 1898. 

On the 8th day of the same month he was admitted to the bar of 
Douglas county, Kansas, and then in July. 1898. located in the practice 
at Cherryvale. Kansas, where he has since resided and followed his pro- 
fession, having during three years of that time, filled the office of police 
judge of that citv. 

GOVERNOR LYMAN U. HUMPHREY is an honored and distin- 
quished member of M>ontgoniery county's liar. His thrilling experiences 
as a soldier, his achievements as a journalist and his services to the state 
in high official stations, outside of his long and successful practice of 
law, entitle him to a most prominent notice on pages of a history of the 
Bench and Bar of the county. Since he has now retired from the prac- 
tice it would seem most fitting and due to him, to include in the short 
history of his career as a lawyer a brief resume of that portion of his life 
that has been devoted to jiublic duties; or rather it may be said, the his- 
tory of one who has braved so many of the jierils of war, rendered such 
conspicuous services to his state and country as he has, would be in- 
complete and unjust if confined strictly to his successful career of about 
twenty years' active practice at the bar. 

The Humphreys are of English descent, settling in New England in 
the latter \n\vt of the seventeenth century, where, in 1799, Lyman, the 
father of our subject, was born. In young manhood he emigrated to the 
Western Reserve in Ohio, the then far west, where he engaged in the tan- 
ning business at Deerfield. It is of interest to note that his tannery 
was formei'ly owned by Jesse Orant, father of General U. S. Grant, be- 
fore his removal to Southern Ohio. At a late date in life Mr. Humphrey- 
studied law and became a member of the Stark conntv bar. was a colonel 



220 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^, KANSAS. 

of malitia and a man of affairs until his rather pi'eraature death in 1853. 
He was survived by his wife and two sons. John E. and Lyman U. The 
maiden name of the wife and mother was Elizabeth A. Everhart, born 
in 1812 at Zanesville. Ohio, and married at Xiles, where her parents, 
John and Rachel (Johns) Everhart, were identified with the iron in- 
dustry. Her paternal and maternal ancestry were of Pennsylvania 
origin, the Johns havin<j left their name in the unfortunate, yet flourish- 
ing city of Johnstown in that state. ^Irs. Humphrey lived to the rather 
remarkable age of eighty-four years, dying at the home of her son in In- 
dependence in 1896. She was a woman of splendidly developed faculties 
and a sturdiness of character which gave her strength to assume and 
carry to a successful conclusion the burden of family cares imposed by 
the early death of her husl)and. She was intensely ]patriotic. and gave 
her two sons to her country in its hour of need with an almost cheerful 
assurance. Of the sons. John E. served first as a private in Company 
"I," 19th Ohio Vol. Inf.. and in the battle of Shiloh was so severely 
wounded as to necessitate his discharge from the service. Later he en- 
listed in a battery of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery, and was in the service 
'till the close of the war. He came to Kansas among the early settlers 
and jiassed away in ISSO in Montgomery county, where he had lived. He 
was unmarried. 

Lyman U. Humphrey was born July 25th, 1844, in New Baltimore, 
Stark county, Ohio. He passed the early period of his boyhood in attend- 
ance on the village schools, develoi)ing. under the watchful care of his 
mother, those attributes of character which have made him distinguished 
among men. He was taught early the value and dignity of labor, the 
iron industries of his home locality furnishing him the oi)portunity, and 
he entered the period of young manhood with a splendid physical con- 
stitution. 

He watched the progress of events leading up to the Civil war with 
intense interest and, every word uttered about the home fireside being 
charged with that lofty ]iatriotism, so marked in the mother, it was in- 
evitable that "warV full-lighted torch" should find in him a ready bearer. 
Leaving the High School at Massillon, where he was at the time pursuing 
his studies, he enrolled as a jirivate in Company "I," 7Cth Ohio Vol. Inf., 
the date of his enlistment being October 7th, 1801. three months after his 
seventeenth birthday. 

The seventy-sixth Ohio regiment was attached to the First Brigade, 
First Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps — Army of the Tennessee — 
and participated in much heavy fighting during the continuance of the 
war. The more notable of the engagements in which our subject took 
part were: Fort Donelson, Shiloli. ('orinth. Chickasaw Bluff, Arkansas 
Post, Jackson, Siege of Mcksburg, Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
Eidge. At Ringgold, November 27th, 18(>3, he received his first and only 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 221 

wound, but remained with his command find ready for duty. He also 
partiiiiiated in the hattles of Resaca, I>alh\s. Keunesaw Mountain, was in 
the bloody fi>>ht at Atlanta July 22nd. where the noble ^CcPherson 
''gave the full measure;" tlien at Ezra Chapel, .Tonesl)oro and thence, 
Avith Sherman, to the sea. Tlie triumidiant march from Savannah up 
through the Parolinas, including the Hattle of Bentonville, and the final 
surrender of Johnston's army, completed the four years of splendid ser- 
vice rendered by Lyman X'. Humiihrey to his country. He enlisted in the 
ranks, was promoted for meritorious conduct to first sergeant, second 
lieutenant, then to a first lieutenancy, in which capacity he commanded 
his company on the memorable march to the sea. He was discharged at 
Louisville, Ky., July 19th, 18G5, just six days before the anniversary of 
his twenty-first birthday. 

The war did for young Humphrey what it did not do for many boys 
of less observant mind. He went into the army an unso]ihisticated, im- 
jjulsive youth, with a scant knowledge of men and matters. He came 
out a man schooled in self-control, with settled habits and a practical 
knowledge of men and aft'airs, knowledge gathered in the battle's fervid 
heat and passion, on the long and weary march, at the evening's camp- 
fire. He felt, however, the lack of book-knowledge, and at once devoted 
himself to its acquirement, matriculating at Mount Union College for a 
brief period, and later, in the law department of the University of Michi- 
gan. A year in study here, however, was sufficient to exhaust his limited 
supply of funds, and he was therefore compelled to forego further efforts 
in the educational line. In 18(iG he came west to Shelby county, Mis- 
souri, where he taught school and, in partnership with the Yoe Brothers 
and Col. A. M. York, he published "The Shell)y County Herald." 

While residing at Sheibyville and in 1870, Governor Humphrey was 
admitted to the bar. Early in the next year he located at Independence 
and on the 8th day of ISIarch, 1871, he, in company with W. T. Yoe and 
Col. A. ^I. York, established and published at that place ''The South 
Kansas Tribune," of which he was one of the editors until June, 1872, 
when he and Col. York sold their interest in the pai)er. 

During the time that tiovernor Humphrey and V\'. T. \*oe conducted 
The Tribune it was ably edited, well supported and exercised remarkable 
influence in politics and in the business concerns of the public. While 
the pai)er was always a strictly partisan Republican paper and unspar- 
ing in its denunciation of the iirinciplcs of its political opponents, its 
consistency and apjiarent sincerity won the respect of many who opposed 
its ]>ublic policies. 

Governor Humphrey was admitted to the Montgomery county bar in 
M\ay, 1871, and after he and Col. Y'ork sold their interest in the Thibnne, 
they forn^ed a c(>-]>artnersliip for the practice of law. and. under the 
firm name and stvle of Yoik & Humiihi-ev. at once established an exten- 



222 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

sive and inotitable inofessional business, which was fully maintained 
iintil about 1888 when tlie Governor left the practice to assume the duties 
of the highest office in the state. 

While (iovernor Humiihrey was a well trained, studious and able 
lawyer, he had a distaste for the wrangling, disputes and the application 
of the technical distinctions the practice so often demands. He loved the 
science of the law for its logic and beauty and could easily have been 
eminent in its practice. His inclination to the study of literature, mili- 
tary tactics and to journalism and politics detracted from what might 
have been a more brilliant career at the bar. 

The Governor's services to the State of Kansas were important and 
gave him enduring fame. In 187(5 he was elected to the Lower House of 
the State Legislature and served on the Judiciary Committee where, ow- 
ing to his legal training and native ability, he was a most useful mem- 
ber. Before his term of office had exjjired he was elected to fill the un- 
expired term of Hon. M. J. Salter as Lieutenant Governor of the state, 
and at the end of the term, re-elected to the same office as his own suc- 
cessor. While serving in his I'egular term as Lieutenant Governor he 
l)resided over the joint convention of the two houses that elected Hon. 
John J. Ingalls the second time to the United States Senate, after one 
of the fiercest, most acrimonious and bitter contests ever held in the 
state. The leading candidates, Hon. John J. Ingalls and Hon. Albert H. 
Horton, were trained in the highest arts of political warfare and the 
''battle royal" raged for several days when Mr. Horton went down in a 
defeat, which was brought about by the bitter fight made against him by 
the Keitreseiitatives from Montgomery county. It was charged that in 
the early 7(l"s Mr. Horton had been employed by the county oommisioners 
to jirevent by injunction, the delivery of the .f2()0.()()0 bonds that had been 
fraudulently voted to the L. L. & G. R. R. Co., in the county, and that he,, 
as attorney for the county, permitted the bonds to be put in circulation 
without a legal fight, and received from his client for such conspicuous 
services, a fee of .f2(),(MI(l.()(l. ^^"hatever may have been the merits of the 
disputes between the contending candidates or the fact as to Mr. Hor- 
ton's management of the county's business, it was conceded on all hands, 
that Governor Humjihrey presided with fairness and unusual ability. 

In 1884, Governor Humithrey was elected to the State Senate from 
Mfontgoniery county, for a term of four years, and was elected perma- 
nent president pro tciii of that body, and in 1888 he was chosen Governor 
by the largest majority ever cast in the state for any candidate for that 
office. Hie carried every county in the state, except two, and his plurality 
was over 80,000. At the next biennial election he was chosen as his suc- 
cessor, by a reduced majority'; there having meanwhile come Into exist- 
ence a new political party that so disrujited former political organiza- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 223 

tiousj and hecuine so strong that at the next biennial election (1S92) it 
became dominant in the state. 

Dnriiig (Jovcinor nuni])hrey's nine years' service in the legislative 
de])artment of tlic state, and four years as its chief executive, he dis- 
charjied his duties with fidelity and marked ability. While a member 
of the Senate in ISS" lie was the author of the joint resolution proposing 
an auiendnienttotheStateConstitution relating to the militia of the state. 
The auiendment was adopted in 1888 striking out the word "white" be- 
fore the words "male citizens" with the effect of including all able bodied 
male citizens between the ages of 21 and 45. regardless of color, in the 
militia of the state — the 1.5th amendment to the United States Constitu- 
tion having effectually invested the colored race with equal political 
rights. His administration as Governor was characterized by honest 
and faithful service in all departments, as well as efficient management 
of the different state institutions. 

In his first message he recommended the passage of a law relating 
to banks and lianking and suggested a i)lan wliich was closely followed 
in the enactment of the present law, which provides for the important 
office of State Bank Commissioner. The act providing for the observ- 
ance of Labor Day and making it a legal holiday was enacted in obedi- 
ence to the recommendation of the Governor. The period, 1888 to 1892, 
was a trying one in the number and importance of appointments to of- 
fices made by the chief executive. In this field, however, the Governor's 
excellent judgment of men well guarded him against errors in making 
selections. Among the more important appointments he made were, a 
United States Senator to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator 
Plumb. State Bank Commissioner, World's Fair Commissioners, a State 
Treasurer and eleven District Judges; all of the latter except one, being 
chosen at the ensuing election and six of his appointees are still on the 
bench. 

In 1892, Governor Humphrey was nominated for Congress from the 
Third Congressional District by the Republican party. He was defeated 
at the jtolls by about 2,()0() majority, which was about one-half of the 
anti-Reiiubli( an majority by which .Judge Perkins was defeated, for the 
same office, by Benjamin Clover two years before. 

After the Governor's defeat for Congress he became the financial 
cori-espondent of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, represent- 
ing a dozen counties in Southeastern Kansas, and he and his oldest son, 
Lyman L., are now looking after the extensive farm loan investments of 
that <()m](any, which atVnrds them full, profitable and pleasant employ- 
ment, and him a jileasaiit relief from the toils of public service as well as 
from the necessary annoyance incident to the persistent applications of 
aspirants for public places. The Governor is now living a quiet life at 
Independence, with his wife, whom he wedded here December 25th, 1872, 



224 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and his son. A Lincoln. His oldest son and partner in business, with his 
bride of a few months, lives "next door" to him. 

The Governor's wife was Miss Amanda Leonard, a daughter of 
James ('. Leonard, at one time a prominent citizen and banker at Beards- 
town, Illinois, and later engaged in the same business for several years 
at Indejiendence. She is an accomplished lady, of most refined tastes 
and gentle breeding, and, like her distinguished husband, lives in the 
highest regard of the people of this city, where more than thirty years 
of her life have been spent. 

T. B. JENNINGS was admitted to the bar of the county on May 
9th, 1870, but never practiced here. 

JAMES M, JOHN came to Independence in 1875, and after reading 
law something over one year was, at the September, 187G, term of the 
District Court, admitted to practice after an examination in open court. 
At the date of his admission he was in frail health and at once went to 
Colorado and New Mexico on a sheep ranch to try the effect of the 
climate. After several years on a ranch, his health having very much 
improved, he located at Trinidad, Colorado, and entered the practice. 
He soon established an extensive business in the line of his profession 
and at the same time carried on mining, ranching and speculating and 
accumulated a large fortune. 

He is now located at Trinidad and divides his time between the 
practice and looking after his extensive investments. Since he has lived 
in Colorado he has served in the State Senate four years and has been 
Mayor of Trinidad for three years, and is well known as one of the ablest 
and shrewdest lawyers in the state. 

The history of ilh'. John as a member of the bar belongs to Colorado, 
but having studied and been admitted here, it may be of interest to re- 
cord that he had one of the keenest and quickest minds that was ever 
possessed by any member of our bar and also possessed natural and ao- 
quired elements that would enable him to succeed in almost any vocation 
that he might have chosen to follow. 

L. C. jrnsON was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county on 
May 13th, 1870, but did not enter the practice here. 

JAiI;ES KOCNTZ, after studying law about two years or more at 
Indejiendence, was, on examination in 1888. admitted to practice by the 
District Court of Elk County, Kansas, and shortly afterward moved to 
Topeka, where he entered the railroad service which he has since pursued. 

REUBEN r. KERCHEVAL was a member of the bar of Montgom- 
ery county and located at Coffey ville, Kansas, where he practiced law a 
number of years during the 80's and !IO's. He moved to the Indian Ter- 
ritory several years ago and entered the practice there. 

JOHN H. KEITH was born in Warren county, Kentucky, on De- 
cember 3rd, lS(i7. where he was reared. He taught several terms of 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 225 

school in his luitivc vilhige, Three Forks, before he was admitted to the 
bar at liowliii" (ireen, Ky., November 0th, 1889. Mr. Keith located at 
(\)tt'eyvill(' in 1898 and in November of that year was admitted to the 
bar of Mont<;oniery county and has since actively and continuously pur- 
sued liis jirofession in the county and in the Federal and Supreme Courts 
in this state, and in the Federal Courts of the Indian Territory. During 
his residence at Coffeyville he has served five terms as attorney for that 
city and now represents the 29th District in the Lower House of the 
Kansas Legislature, and is a conspicuous leader of the minority i)arty 
in that body. 

M. B. LIGHT was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county in 
May, 1870, and shortly after located in the practice at Sedan, where for 
years he had a good practice and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of 
all who knew him. While there he filled, to the satisfaction of the pub- 
lic, several important public jiositions. He died a few years ago at 
Sedan. 

MAJOR WM. M. LOCKE was admitted to the bar of ^Fontgomery 
county on the certificate of his admission to practice in the United 
States Courts in Virginia and in Missouri. He had been a major in the 
T'nion army and after his admission here, located at Coffeyville, where 
he ]iursue(l the ])r;ictice for something like two years and then moved to 
Colorado and several years after died suddenly while journeying on a 
trip to the east. Jl'ajor Locke was a good lawyer and a very courteous 
and kind hearted gentleman and during his short stay in the county won 
the esteem of all who knew him. 

MR. I>ORIN(i was at one time, about 1871, a member of the bar of 
Montgomery county, where he practiced his profession a short time and 
then left the (ounty. 

^^'. W. ^L-VRTIN was born at Crawfordsville, Montgomery county, 
Indiana, and, before becoming a member of the bar, lived at Thorntown, 
Indiana, where he pursued farming until he entered the Union army. 
He was admitted to iira<-tice at Lebanon, Indiana, and afterward located 
at Fort Scott, Kansas, where he tilled the office of attorney for that city 
and was, later, probate judge of Bourbon county. He then filled one 
term as Register of the United States Land Office at Independence 
Kansas, and after his term of office had expired he returned to Fort 
Scott, and was there, in November, 1888, elected a member of the Kansas 
State Senate for a term of four years. In August. 1901, .Judge Martin 
was apjiointed treasurer of the National Military Home for Disabled Vet- 
eran Soldiers at Leavenworth, Kansas, which position he now holds. 

ELMER E. JIATTHEWS was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
count} on examination, after having read law at Indejiendence, Kansas. 
After his admission he located at Sedan, Kansas, where he pursued his 
profession aliout ten years and then returned to Independence and tpiit 



226 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

the practice. He was born at Miincie, Indiana, July 20tli, 1800, and, at 
the ajTP of twentv-one, came with his family to Inde]iendence, where he 
has since lived, except during the ten years he was in the practice at 
Sedan. 

SELVIN V. MATTHEWS was born at Muncie, Indiana, on Feb- 
ruary 15th, 1858, and came with his parents to Indei>endence in May, 
1872, and has since resided here. His sketch appears with that of his 
father, on another page herein. 

WILLIAM A. MERRILL was born in Lafayette county, Missouri, 
August 22nd, 18f>l. He taught school in Johnson county. Mo., and there- 
after, in October, 1897. was admitted to the bar at Warrensburg, in that 
state, after which he located at Caney, where he has since practiced his 
profession. He was admitted to the Montgomery county bar at the 
March, 1898, term of court. 

J. A. MILLS was admitted to the bar of the county in August, 1872, 
but never afterward engaged in the practice here. 

J. J. MOON was admitted to jiractice at the December, 1871, term 
of court, but did not practice law here. 

VIN W. MOORE was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on December 
9th, 1871, and was reared on a farm. He came to Kansas with his par- 
ents in October, 1883, and located for a short time at lola, and then 
moved to his father's farm about six miles southwest of lola, where he 
lived 'till November. 1894, when he settled at Coffeyville, where he has 
since resided in the i)ractice of the law. 

S. B. MOOREHOrSE was admitted to the bar of the county in Oc- 
tober, 1870, but never engaged in the practice of law. 

MICHAEL :McENIRY was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1845. He 
came to Kansas in the late OO's and first settled on a claim near Hum- 
boldt, where the local land office was then located. 

He became involved in a contest over the right to make an entry of 
his land and during the pendency of the litigation over the dispute, be- 
came familiar with the law pertaining to the rights of settlers on the 
public domain, and was engaged as a clerk or an assistant in the office 
of Messrs. Cates & Thurston, who had a large business trying contest 
suits and loaning money to settlers to pay for their lands. In 1871, or 
1872, 3lr. .McEuiry moved to this county and took up a <'laim about two 
miles east of the city, and near Morgan City, and afterward moved to In- 
dependence, where he actively engaged in the business of looking after 
the rights of disputants in contest cases in the local land office here. He 
was admitted to practice law by the I>istrict Court of Montgomery 
county, but never actively engaged in the i)ractice outside of office work. 
After his admission to the bar he repeatedly served as police judge and 
justice of the peace in Independence, during the time he resided here. 
Early in the 80's he moved to Cotleyville and took charge of the Eldridge 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 227 

House at that place, and for several years owned and conducted the lead- 
ing hotel of that city. While at Coffeyville he filled the office of police 
judge and was also an officer and stockholder in the First National bank 
there. 

Some ten or nuue years ago Judge Mt-Eniry sold his hotel and went 
to Chicago where he remained a short time and then to Litchfield, Il- 
linois, where he again became engaged in the hotel business. He after- 
ward left Litchfield and returned to Chicago, where he now resides. The 
judgf" was a most genial, free hearted and companionable man, and made 
an efficient and popular officer, and in the administration of the duties 
of the judicial offices he filled, evinced a clear knowledge of the law on 
such questions as were frequently presented to him. 

J. Hi McVEAN became a member of the bar of Montgomery county, 
in its infancy, and located at Elk City, where he practiced law for about 
twelve or fifteen years and died. He was a well qualified lawyer. By 
nature he was talented, and, before his admission to the bar, had thor- 
oughly fitted himself to enter the profession, but after entering his pro- 
fessional career, gradually yielded to excesses that finally resulted in his 
death. 

\V S. McFEETEES was admitted to i.vactii c law at the first term of 
the District Court ever held in the county, in May, 1870. He came to the 
county before its oiganization, and located at Verdigris City, and was 
one of the most active men in the efforts to locate the county seat east of 
the Verdigris. He was a bright, energetic young man, but never ap- 
peared in the courts of Montgomery county after the first term of the 
District Court. During the summer of 1870, while enroute on a trip to 
Fort Scott, then the nearest railroad station, he claimed and took charge 
of a team of mules that were held as estrays by a farmer on the road 
and took them to Fort Scott and sold them. It afterward transpired 
that the mules belonged to a Mr. Hargrave (a brother of Asa Hargrave 
of border warfare fame). The owner set on foot a prosecution against 
Air. McFeeters whii-h resulted in his conviction of grand lai'ceny and a 
sentence to the penitentiary. He never afterward returned to the county. 

GEORGE W. .McClelland was born at Nashville, Illinois, on 
May 18, 185.5, and lived there till 1878, where his time was spent teaching 
and attending school. His education was completed at the Southern Il- 
linois Normal School. He went from Illinois to Missouri where he lived 
for a short time, during which, and in 1880, he was admitted to the bar 
at Nevada. Missouri. The next year he moved to Kansas, and located at 
Chanute. He was afterward, in 1881, admitted to the Labette county bar 
and flien in the same year to the Supreme Court of the State. He was 
afterward located at Kinsley, Kansas, and served one term as attorney 
for that city. He was located for a time at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 
Territory, during the exciting times of its earliest settlement, and while 



228 HISTORY OK JIOXTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

there served as police judge, and in that office spent, perhaps, the bus- 
iest period of his life. In his official capacity he disposed of 4,750 police 
court cases, and on one occasion fined some of the notorious Daltons. 
McClelland joined the Montgomery county bar in 1890 and has contin- 
uously pursued the practice atCheiTyvalc. where he has since the date of 
his location there, served two terms as attorney for that city. 

W. Mc^\'KIflHT was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county at 
the October, 1870, term of the District Court on the certificate of his ad- 
mission to practice in Illinois, but never entered the practice in the 
county. 

S. F. McDERMOTT was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county 
on ilarch 9. 18S0, and located in the practice at Coffeyville. where he now 
resides. 

REUBEN NICHOLS was, on the certificate of his admission in Il- 
linois, admitted to the bar of Montgomery county, at the October, 1870, 
term of the District Court, and shortly afterward located in Howard 
county, and began the i)ractice, which he has since continued. Howard 
county was, after Mr. Nichols went there, divided, and formed into two 
counties (Elk and Chautauqua), and Mr. Nichols, then continued the 
])ractice in Elk county. His practice however was not confined to that 
county, but for years extended over several adjoining counties. He has, 
during his long career, in the profession, been widely known as a promi- 
nent attorney. 

■I. A. ORR, after graduating in 1894 from tlie legal department of 
the University of Kansas, joined our bar and practiced here a short time, 
when he located at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he has become 
prominent in the profession. 

WILLIAM T. O'CONNOR became a member of the bar of Montgom- 
ery county about 1880. and was in the practice here for a number of 
years. He began his professional career as the jimior partner of the law 
firm of Hill & O'Connor and was afterward a partner in the firm of Stan- 
ford & O'Connor and, later, a member of the law firm of Humi)hrey 
& O'Connor. Mr. O'Connor left Independence in the 80's and went 
west where he engaged in other pursuits. 

ROY A. OSBORN was born at Rockport,Missouri,November30,1874, 
and resided there till 1880, when he went to Ness City, Kansas, where, 
after staying about five months, he moved to Wakeeney, Kansas, and 
lived there until 1893. and then located at Salina, Kansas, where he prac- 
ticed law a short time and then, March 2, 1901, he became a member of 
the Montgomery c(mnty bar, located at Coffeyville and has since pursued 
his ]>rofessi()ii at that place. 

.Mr. Osborn was a student at the University of Kansas from which 
he was graduated in the Academic Deitartment in 1897, and in the law 
de])avtiiiciit in 19(»(), and. on .Tune 7, 19(1(1. he was admitted to practice 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY; KANSAS. 229 

by tbo District Court of Douglas county and by the Supreme Court of the 
State. 

JUDGE S. J. OSBORX was born at Eaton, Preble county, Ohio, 
and afterward moved to Mount Pleasant. Iowa, where his time, was, for 
a number of years, taken up in manual labor and teaching school. 

In September, 1872, he, having studied law and qualified himself 
to practice, was admitted to the bar at Rockport, Atchison county, Mis- 
souri. In -lanuary, 1S8(I. he became a member of the bar at Larned, 
Pawnee county, Kansas, and in the same year located in the practice at 
Wakeeny, Trego county, Kansas, and soon after became county attor- 
ney for the county. He reside<l in Trego county till he moved to Salina, 
Kansas, about February, 1895, and entered the practice there in part- 
nership with T. L. Bond, which he continued until he located at Coffey- 
ville ii> 11)(I2. where he has since pursued his profession, as a member of 
the law firm of Dooley & Osborn. 

While living at Wakeeny, Mr. Osborn represented his county in the 
Legislatui'e of the State, in 1885 and 1886, and in the latter year, was ap- 
pointed by Governor John A. Martin, judge of the newly created Dis- 
trict Court, of the Twenty-third .Judicial District, comprising thecounties 
of Rush. Ness, Ellis and Trego and the unorganized counties of Gove, St. 
John. Wallace, Lane, Scott, Wichita and Greely. At the end of his term 
of appointment, the judge served two consecutive full terms in the same 
office, he having been twice elected thereto. While living at Salina, 
he represented Saline county in the Lower House of the Kansas Legisla- 
ture in 1800. and was elected Speaker of that body. 

JOHN Q. I'.\.(il] was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county in 
1871 on the cerliticate of his admission to ]iractirc in the ('ir<niit Courts of 
the State of Missouri. 

When be was admitted here he was in the banking business at the 
site of the present First National Bank in Indei)endence. He never en- 
gaged in the practice of law, but less than two years after his admission 
to the l>ar here, became, for a brief time, famous on account of his sup- 
posed connection with the YorkPomeroy embroglio, early in 1873. His 
name became connected with that exciting affair, by one of the defenses 
urged by Mr. Pomeroy against the charge of attempted bribery, in the 
assertion that the money was paid to Senator York to be turned over to 
Mr. Page for investment in loans at the high rates of interest then pre- 
vailiiio in the country. The soundness of this jiortion of Mr. Pomeroy's 
defense was never c(mclusively determined and was generally doubted, 
although Mr. Page it was thought, was inclined to supjjort it. Mr. Page 
quit the banking business and left Independence in a short time after the 
defeat of Mr. Pomeroy. 

ALZAMON M. PARSONS was born at Effingham, Illinois, on May 
18, 18."i8. He afterward lived in Davenport, Iowa, until about thirty 



230 HISTOHY OF .MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

years of age, when he came to Kansas and taught school and farmed 
till March 0, 1897, when he was admitted to practice by the District 
Court of Montgomery county. Since his admission most of his time has 
been devoted to the practice although he has taught school at times. 

Mr. Parsons, since locating in the practice at Caney, has filled the 
office of justice of the peace two terms and also that of police judge two 
terms. 

15. F. PARKS came to Inde})endence from or near Chicago, Illi- 
nois, late in the Tfl's and entered the practice of law here but did not con- 
tinue in the business here longer than about one year. Judge Parks, as 
he was called, was a very aggressive practitioner and was gifted with 
unusual oratorical ability and possessed a good knowledge of the law. 

THOMAS W. PEACOCK was admitted to the bar of the county at 
the August, 1872. term of the District Court and remained in the county 
a number of years, afterward as editor and proprietor of a weekly news- 
paper, and then moved to Topeka where he pursued the same vocation. 
He never practiced law here. 

GEORGE R. PECK was admitted to practice in Montgomery county 
on April 8. 1872. His long and brilliant career since then, on the highest 
planes in the profession, and the great number of signal triuni[ihs he has 
won in the practice, easily mark him as our most distinguished lawyer. 

A just history of Mr. Peck would contain an account of these, but 
the limited space allotted to this article forbids efforts to enter upon 
such a pleasnnt undertaking. Inasmuch as the present purpose is to 
write more ]>articuhirly of tliose matters that pertain to the county — 
and ihat in a narrow sjiace — we find some excuse for eliminating much 
that would be interesting in the life of Mr. Peck after he left here. A 
true history would also include events outside of his profession, as he 
is not only a profound lawyer but a ripe scholar and a magnificent ora- 
tor. The many classic orations he has delivered to cultured audiences, 
furnish proof of the fact that he is a man of eminence in arenas outside 
of his professional life. 

He practiced less than two years at the Montgomery county bar and 
he often says, that brief jjcriod covers the happiest days of his life. 
While he was fascinated with life in a new country, which he now says 
is "one of the greatest charms of human life," by his genial disposition 
and captivating social qualities, he always made time pass jileasantly 
to the comjianions of his young manhood; and now, after a lapse of thir- 
ty years or more, many easily recall the jileasant hours spent in his com- 
pany. This was the social side of Mr. Peck during his short professional 
sojourn here and while, in history, it may become paled in the light of 
such achievements as lead to enduring fame, it should ever be accorded a 
place. 

Before he had been in Kansas two months, he wrote to a home pa- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 23! 

per in Wisconsin (Janesville Gazette, January 18, 1872), "There is no 
chance for sleigh riding, but if one is fond of mud, he can be accommo- 
dated. Tastes differ, but with the little experience I have had, I must 
say that I had rather put up with the mud here than the intense cold in 
Wis'-onsin. « • » There is only one way in whit-h you can arrive 
at a decision of the vexed question whether 'tis nobler in the mind to 
suffer the slings and arrows of an eight months winter in the north or 
a sh(>rt winter here, and that is by trying it." A few years later, during 
the destructive drought, thei'C was but little, if any, difference in his opin- 
ion or the mud question in Kansas; as more mud was "a consummation 
devoutly wished" from early in the summer of 1874, till late in the win- 
ter ot 1875. 

Mr. Peck was born in Cameron, Steuben county, ^ew York, on 
May 1.5, 184.3. He was the youngest of a family of ten children. When 
about six years old he moved to Palmyra, Wisconsin, with his parents, 
who settled there on a farm, on which Mr. Peck spent his time until he 
was about sixteen years of age, teaching and attending the local schools. 
When about seventeen years old he entered, as a student, Milton College 
in Wisconsin, where he remained three terms, during which he spent his 
vacations teaching. 

He had inttMided to enter an eastern ((illcgc and comjilete his edu- 
cation, but under the call of President Lincoln, for 300,000 more volun- 
teers, he enlisted as a soldier in the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, 
in which he served three months and was then commissioned first lieu- 
tenant of Company "K," Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and 
aftei'ward, in June. 1804, was promoted to the captaincy of the same com- 
pany, and served in that cajiacity until he was mustered out in July, 
1865. n«> then returned to Wisconsin and studied law in the office of 
Hon. Charles (i. Williams, of Janesville. On February 15. IStiO. he was 
admitted to jjractice by the Circuit Court of Rock county, Wisconsin, 
and in the fall of the same year was elected clerk of the same court, in 
which office he served from January 1, 18(57, to January 1, 1869. At the 
expiration of his term of office he entered the practice at Janesville, 
which he continued until he moved to Kansas in 1871 — reaching Inde- 
pendence in I)eceml)er of that year, by stage from Cherryvale. On his 
way from Lawrence he met Edgar Hull, then on his way to open a bank 
at Independence, and arranged to become the attorney for the contem- 
plated financial institution. After his arrival at Independence, he at 
first v.ent into the oilic*' of W. H. Watkins. probate judge of the county, 
and at once a]q)lied himself to the study of the Kansas Statutes and de- 
cisions, which he continued for a month or more, when his friend and fu- 
ture partner, George Chandler, joined him. Mr. Peck and Mr. Chandler 
then formed the well-remembered law firm of Peck & ('handler, and 
opened an office over Page's I'.ank on the corenr of Pennsvlvania avenue 



332 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and Main street, at the present site of the First National Bank, and this 
tirni at once acquired a lucrative j»ractice. 

Early in 1873. Messrs. Peck & Chandler purchased a lot on North 
Pennsylvania avenue, and erected a two-storv brick building thereon and 
occupied the second story as law ofHces. until January, 1874, when Mr. 
Peck retired from the firm and moved to Topeka to assume the duties of 
United States attorney for the District of Kansas, to which office he had 
been ajijiointed by President Grant. 

On locating at Topeka he went into partnership with Hon. Thomas 
Ryan, a former United States Attorney and afterward a member of 
Congress and Minister to Mexico and now First Assistant Secretary 
of tlie Interior. This firm, under the style of Peck & Ryan, did a large 
general practice during the six years Mr. Peck served as United States 
Attorney — he having been appointed as his own successor by President 
Hayes, and after serving two years on his second term, resigned the of- 
fice to devote his entire time to the general practice. 

])i]ring his term of office and for several years after, he had been 
employed as attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Com- 
pany, and, in May, 1881, w'as appointed general solicitor for it. He held 
this responsible position most of the time until 181(3. when he moved to 
Chicago and continued in the same office till September, 18!)o, when he 
resigned to accept the jtosition of general counsel of the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railway Company, which high office in railroad cir- 
cles he has held since that date. 

Mr. Peck was by nature endowed with extraordinary mental force, 
and is a man of extensive information accjuired from reading the works of 
the best authors. He is a "born leader" in any walk in life he may be 
placed. While at Indejiendence he was at the head of our young bar and 
has. so far. wherever located, maintained the same ascendency. 

When he became United States Attorney in Kansas he was about 
thirty years of age and was without experience in the practice in the 
Federal Courts, and a comparative stranger to many of the lawyers who 
conti'ollcd the practice of those courts. These attorneys, for the most 
jjart, lived in the large towns along the Kaw and Missouri rivers, where 
the State was first poi)ulated, and they distrusted Jlr. Peck's ability to 
acquit himself creditably in the important office to which he had been ele- 
vated from the obscure bar recently created on a late Indian reservation. 
His first case in the I'nites States Court was against one Holmes who 
was charged in forty-two counts, with ojiening registered letters and oth- 
er malfeasance in office, and defended by such eminent criminal lawyers 
as Thomas Fenlon, J. W. Taylor and .\lbert H. Horton. Mr. Peck con- 
cluded the arguments in a close, able and logical address of one and one- 
half hours, and easily convicted the defendant and dispelled from the 
minds of those who heard him all doubts of his abilitv to fill the office- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 233 

About a year after, he was associated with such renowned lawyers 
Tis .Tcreniiali S. Bhiclv and William Lawrence, and opposed by George F. 
Edmonds and I', riiilliiis in two cases jjcnding in the Snjn-eme f'oiirt of 
the United States, involvinii' the title to many valuable tracts of land 
on the Osajie Ceded Lands in Kansas: and as some of these were located 
in this county, a short review of the history of one of the cases may, i)rop- 
erly, be biefly noted here. 

One June 2, 1825, by treaty, certain lands were reserved to the great 
and little tribes of Osage Indians which included a strip about three 
miles wide, now on the east border of ^fontgomery county. On March 3, 
1863, Congress ceded to the State from the public lands therein, alter- 
nate sections designated by odd numbers, to be used to secure the con- 
struction of railways within her borders. On February 9, 18G4, the State 
by an act of its Legislature, accepted the grant so made by Congress and 
tendered a portion of such lands to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort 
Gibson Railroad Compay to induce it to build a line of road as provided 
in the act. 

On September 20, 180.5, by treaty with the said tribes of Indians 
they ceded a portion of their reservation (including said strip on the 
east border of Montgomery county) to the United States. 

In 1870 and 1871, The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galvesttm Railroad 
Conip.nny — the name of the company having been changed by an act of 
the Legislature, passed February 24, 1800 — constructed a line of railroad 
through a portion of the Osage Ceded Lands and claimed the odd-number- 
ed sections within the ten-mile limit, and secui'ed a patent to the same. 

A suit was instituted by the United States in its Circuit Court in 
Kansas to vacate such patents on the ground that no portion of the 
lands included in the Osage Ceded Lands was intended by Congress in the 
act of March 3, 1803, to be embraced in the grant to the State, for the 
reason, among others, that Congress could not or would not donate 
lands to which the title of the Indians had not been extinguished. 

The T'nited States was successful in the Circuit Court, and the 
railrc<ads ajijiealed to the Supreme Court, where some of the best legal 
talent in the Union was engaged, and the cases vigorously contested on 
every feature, and the decree of the Circuit Court affirmed. Mr. Peck 
wrote an elaljorate brief, which was a remarkable argument for one so 
young and of such limited experience in the courts of last resort. In it 
the issues were clearly set forth, the authorities aptly and succinctly 
cited and apjdied, and his logic unanswerable. This able brief ended on 
the 33rd, and last page in this language: "I can only look upon the claim 
of the raili'oads to these lands, as a flagrant attempt to secure a magnifi- 
cent domain by the mere force of incorporated audacity. It is not the 
L'nited States alone which is interested in resisting these pretensions; 
other rights are involved. These lands are thickly settled by a people 



234 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

who canie upon them, not as trespassers, lint invited by their govern- 
ment. Tliese are their homes." I'erhaps nothing ever gave Mr. Pe<'k 
more pleasure than to hear his brief complimented by one of the very 
first lawyers in the Union — Jeremiah S. Black^who adopted Mr. Peck's 
theory on all the questions involved. He and his friends as well as the 
settlers on the disjiuted lands, were rejoiced at the great victory he won 
in the case. 

The many other brilliant achievements of Mr. Petk at the bar have 
no particular significance to Montgomery county and for that reason I 
refrain from further following him in them. 

l;i the practice he was quick, accurate and profound. He seemed 
to possess an intuitive faculty of at once grasping and solving the most 
intricate legal ])robIems, and the jiower of elucidation. These qualities 
have long been recognized by many of the greatest corporations in the 
TJnion, and have kept him in enviable professional employment for near- 
ly a quarter of a century. While he has occasionally edified the most ex- 
acting audiences with his almost matchless oratory, his life has been de- 
voted to the duties of his profession. He has ever evinced a keen interest 
in politics, yet has never sought a jiublic oftice. and on one occasion de 
clined to acce]>t a seat in the United States Senate, which was uncondi- 
tionally tendered him; and on another, resigned from an important of- 
fice as before stated. 

I( is a pleasing feature in ^I'lr. Peck's career, to think of him in 1873 
using the poetry of Shakesjieare in describing to his old friends in 
Janes\ille the mud and climatic conditions of his new home; and to see 
him thirty years after, at the head of the legal department of a great 
railwa\ corporation that is being operated where "the slings and arrows 
of an eight-n.'onths' Avinter" prevail. This railroad company is operating 
nearly 7,000 miles of road, and in 1902, its gross earnings were over 
forty-five millions of dollars. 

'rOL. CHARLES J. PECKHAM became a member of the bar of 
Montgomery county about 1871. So far as I have been able to learn, 
the folonel was born in one of the New England States perhaps in 
the 30's. When a boy he spent two years on the seas as a common sai- 
lor and afterward enlisted in the Union Army where, during the Civil 
War, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was admitted to the 
bar in Illinois. After |»racticing some eight years in this county he 
move(" to Sedan about 1878 and a few years later to Winfield and then, 
during the OO's, he went to Oklahoma where he died a few years ago. 
Col. I'eckham was recognized by the members of the bar wherever he 
practiced as a very fine lawyer, and during the time he practiced here 
stood in the front ranks at the bar. 

V>'ILLIAM A. PEFFER was a practitioner at our bar for about six 
jears, from 1875 to 1881. During this time, however, his time was mostly 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERV COUNTY^ KANSAS. 235 

taken up in other pui-snits, and lie never became prominent in the pro- 
fession. From liis other achievements during' his active and industrious 
life, he lias fairly won a ])lace anionn; the distinguished members of our 
bar. 

ITe was liorn in Cumlierland county, Pennsylvania, on September 
]0. 1831. and resided there till 18.'>.3. when he located in St. Joseph coun- 
ty. Indiana, where he remained till 18o9, when he moved to Morgan 
county, Missouri, and stayed there till 1801. 

In 1802, he settled in Warren county, Illinois, and while living 
there, and on August 0, 18G2, enlisted in the T'nion Army and became a 
member of ("omjiany F, Eighty-third II linos Volunteer Infantry, and re- 
mained in the service till he was mustered out on .Tune 2(5,180.3. Beforeen- 
tering the army Mr. Peffer's life was spent working on a farm, attending 
and leaching school, and after leaving the military service he settled at 
Clarksville, Tennessee, where he was admitted to the bar and practiced 
law till in 1869. He then, in 1870, located in Wilson county, Kansas, 
where he divided his time, till 187i">, in jtracticing law and editing and pub- 
lishing The Fredonia Journal, a weekly newspaper devoted to the Eepub- 
lican jiarty doctrines. In 187.5 he was elected to the State Senate as a 
Rei)resentative for Wilson and Montgomery counties, and located at Cof- 
feyville where, during his term of office in the Senate, he practiced law 
and edited and published the Ooffeyville Journal from 187.5 to 1881, ex- 
cept during the "close times" that prevailed in 1878, when he quit the law 
and 1 aught a district school in Liberty township. In 1881 Mr. Peffer 
moved to Topeka where he edited the Kansas Farmer till 1890, meanwhile 
assisting in the editorial department of the Topeka Daily Capital. In 
the fall of 1890. he became a powerful leader in the populist party which 
■elected a majority to the Legislature and he was chosen to repre.sent the 
State in the United States Senate for six years. 

After his retirement from the Senate of the United States, he de- 
voted much of his time to literary work, and to publishing the Topeka 
Advocate during 1897. He is now, at the age of 72 years, actively engaged 
in perhajis the most important work of his life, and that is the preparation 
of a complete index, by subjects, to the discussions in Congress from the 
beginning of 1789 to 1902 inclusive, which work was authorized by an act 
of Congress. For the most jiart. Senator Petfer's life, after leaving the 
army, has been devoted to the discussion of the public questions that 
have from time to time agitated the public mind; and his writings on 
these subjects have shown deep thought and have been trenchant and ef- 
fective. While in the United States Senate he evinced a marvelous 
knowledge of statistics and figures and was a recognized authority by 
even those who did not agree with him in their a[)plication. 

JUIXJF LUTHFR PERKINS was born in Boston, Massachu- 
setts, on April 25, 1844, and lived there and at Chicago before locating in 



236 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Ooffcyville, Kansas, about thirty-three years ago. He graduated at the 
Bosroii Law School in his native city in June. 1804. but never became a 
nieniher of the bar of Monty,(>niery county until June 29. 1895. Since lo- 
cating- at Coffeyville he has always been one of the prominent men of that 
city, and has spent his life in loaning money and dealing in real estate 
on" his own account and as agent for others. Before his admission to 
the bar he did considerable of that character of business that belongs to 
the legal ju-ofession — such as drafting papers, examining abstracts of 
title, rendering advice on legal problems, etc.. and did some prac- 
tice in the justice and police courts. 

Since his admission he has not engaged in the practice extensively, 
as his time has been fully taken up with his personal affairs and in ful- 
filling the duties of the office of Judge of the Court of Coffeyville, to 
which he was elected about one year ago. 

SANFORD H. PETTIRONE was born at Springfield, Illinois, De 
cember 1.3, 1848. In September. 18('.2. when less than fourteen years of 
age, he enlisted in Company "D," Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infant- 
ry. While in the army he lost both legs in a railroad wreck at Butte, 
Louisiana, and afterward remained in a hospital at Xew Orleans until 
July. 18(i.5, when he was taken to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where 
he was discharged August 4, following. 

In 18()7, he entered the Illinois Soldiers' College at Fulton and was 
graduated therefrom in 1871, and then read law in the office of Judge 
Crook at Springfield, Illinois. In July, 1872, he was admitted to the bar 
in Illinois and in the same year located in the prac- 
tice of his !)rofession in Mcl'herson County, Kansas, being the first at- 
torney to settle in that county. In February, 1877, he returned to Illi- 
nois and i)racticed at Vandalia until 1881, when he returned to Kansas 
and located in the practice at Independence as the junior member of the 
firm of Hill & Pettibone, which he continued till about 1887. when he lo- 
cated at Kansas City, whei-e he pursued his profession for a number of 
years and then moved to the South. 

SETH m PIPER was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county 
at the age of twenty-one years and has since been in the active practice of 
the law. He was born in Shelby county, Indiana, May 4, 18C8, and resid- 
ed there till 1878 when he went with his parents to Champagne, Illinois, 
where he spent about three years, and then, in 1881, moved on a farm 
in Montgomery county, Kansas. He worked on this farm till he was 
nineteen years old when he engaged as a clerk in a store and read law for 
two years before his successful apjdication for admission to practice. 

After becoming a member of the bar he at once located at Elk City 
in the practice, which he pursued there until he moved to Independence 
on January 1, 1900. While living at Elk City, Mr. Piper filled to the sat- 
isfaction of the public these offices: member of the school board three 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 237 

yeai'!^, city attorney of Elk City from Januai-y, 1890, to July 1896, mayor 
of the city two terms and dejiuty county attorney for four years; and 
since locating at Indejiendence he has served as deputy county attorney 
for ei<;hteen months and is now serving as city attorney of Independence, 
to which oflBce he was appointed May, 1903. 

Uo is now in the active practice in partnership with O. P. Ergen- 
briglit under the tirm name of Ergenbright & Piper. 

SAMUEL M. I'ORTER was born at Walled Lake, Oakland county, 
Michigan, on December 14, 1849, and lived there on his father's farm 
till he entered the law department of the I^niversity of Michigan at Ann 
Arbor, from which he graduated in 1874. He had, before entering the 
university, taken a literary c(turse at Plillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michi- 
gan, and had also, before graduating at Ann Arbor, and on August 20, 
1873, been admitted to the bar by the Circuit Court of Alpena Co., Michi- 
gan, and at that place actively pursued his profession for several years. 
He tlien came to Montgomery county, and, in March, 1881, was admitted 
as a member of its bar and has since continued in the general practice 
in the county. 

^Vhile at East Saginaw, :Mr. Porter served as alderman for two 
years and .Judge of the Recorder's (Criminal) Court of the city for one 
year. 

For several years, in addition to his jtractice. ^Ir. Porter has lent his 
energies to the promotion and building of a line of railroad from Caney, 
south to Bartlesville and is now successfully promoting the development 
of a rojil field in the Indian Territory, and other important enterprises. 

GEORGE W. PURCIOLL was born in Saline county, Missouri, about 
fifty years ago, and when about grown pursued farming and teaching, 
till about 189."), when he was admitled to the bar of ilontgomery county 
and entered the practice at Caney. which he pursued about three years 
and then located at Bartlesville, Indian Territory, where he practiced 
aboui two years and then moved to Gray Horse, Indian Territory, where 
he now resides pursuing his profession. 

•JOSEPH P. ROSSITER was born at Norristown. Pennsylvania, on 
September 20, 18t)y. Hip spent his childhood at Girard, Pennsylvania, 
and graduated at the State School at Edinboro, i>i the same State in 
1890. He was principal of several different schools, the last being one of 
the ward S( liools in the city of Chicago, Illinois. He also has worked 
at life insurance and been connected with building and loan associations. 

He was admitted to ihe bar of Montgomery county on -June 28. 
1898, and at once located in the practice of his profession at ('otfeyville 
and hivs since devoted his time exchisively and successfully to profession 
al work at that city. 

THOMAS S. SAIuVTHIEL was born at Lawrence, in Douglas 



238 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

county, Kansas, in Octoter, ISCfi, and a sketch of his life and family 
genealoijy is iiresented in another jjlace in this volume. 

CArT.\IN HOWARD A. SCOTT was born near Parker's Landing 
in Butler county. Pennsylvania, on April 7, 1873, and lived there till Sep- 
tember 24. 1S88, when lie moved with his parents to Neodesha, Kansas, 
where they spent about six months, and then settled on a farm in Syca- 
more township in Montgomery county, where Mr. Scott remained, 
working on his father's farm until he was eighteen or nineteen years of 
age. He then attended the high school at Neodesha. Kansas, and after- 
ward took a business course in a college at Kansas City, Missouri. He 
was admitted to the bar of Wilson county, by the District Court in Sep- 
tember, 1897. and to the bar of this county in January, 1898. after hav- 
ing read law with Hon. T. J. Hudson of Fredonia, Kansas, and after 
having attended a course of lectures delivered at Kansas City, Missouri, 
by the leading lawyers of that place. Before becoming a member of the 
bar, Cajjtain Scott had taught four terms of school in this county. At 
first he held a third-grade certiticate, then a second and finally a first 
grade. After his admission to the bar, lie at once entered the practice at 
Independence, Kansas, and continued in it until May 3, 1898, when lie 
enlisted in Company "G," Twentieth Kansas V«)lunteers, and entered the 
Spanish-American War, and spent eighteen months in active military 
life. At the organization of his company he was elected first lieutenant, 
and on February 12, 1899, was promoted to the office of captain and as- 
signed to the command of Company "A" in the same regiment and on 
March 1. 1899, was transferred to the command of Company "G," 

l>iiring his term in the army he served in threegeneral courts martial, 
one in San Francisco, California, one in Mololos, Philippine Islands, and 
another in the city of ^Hanila, Philippine Islands, in which last two he 
presided over the courts. The court in MhIoIos was held in a catliedral 
that had just previously been occupied by the Filipino National Con- 
gress. 

He was also several times detailed to defend parties on trial before 
courts martial and served in the Philippines on Colonel Funston's staff 
as ordnance officer. 

On his return from the war, and in the fall of 1899, he resumed the 
practice of his profession at Indej)endence in which he has continued to 
the jiresent time, and is now deputy county attorney under Miiyo Thom- 
as. 

He was a candidate for the office of judge of the Fourteenth .Judicial 
District at the November, 1902, election and was defeated by Judge Flan- 
nely. the present incumbent. 

JOHN "S\. SCT'DDER was one of the pioneer members of the bar 
of Montgomery county. He came from Tennes.see in the fiO's and first lo- 
cated in Douglas county, and in 18C9 or 1870, came to this countv, where 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY;, KANSAS. 239 

he fiisl settled :it Westiiilia or Parker. He shortly after moved to Cof- 
fe.vville. wliere for three or four years he did an ext(>nsive and i)r()t1tal)le 
jirot'essional business. In 1873. lie was a candidate for Judfje of the Elev- 
enth Judicial District and was beaten in the race by Judge B. W. Per- 
kins and a few months later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he prac- 
ticed for a short time and then located at Virginia City. Illinois, where 
he died about 1STT. Mr. Scudder was a talented man, a fine lawyer, and 
had an eager taste for literature, in which he was well informed. 

OSKORN SHANNON located at Independence about 1871, he hav- 
ing previously been admitted to the bar in Douglas county. He married 
a Miss DeLong, whose father served sevei-al terms as mayor of Independ- 
en<-e, ;;nd as su<-h. made the entry of the townsite. Out of the purchase 
and disposition of the land so entered by the mayor, much litigation re- 
sulterl for several years and Mr. Shannon was actively engaged in mat- 
ters connected with such entry and disposition of the lands and in the lit- 
igation that ensued. 

About 1876 he returned to Lawrence, where his father. Governor 
Shannon, then one of the most eminent lawyers in the west, resided and 
was ]))'acticing. Later Mr. Shannon moved to Chicago, where he died 
a fev,- years ago. He was a genial, companionable and warm-hearted 
man. 

JOHJ^ T. SHOW ALTER was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county in August, 1871. he having, the year previous, been admitted to 
practice at Ashley, Illinois. He was born at Clarksville, Missouri, July 
27, 184(1, and before coming to Kansas had lived with his parents a few 
years in (irant county, Wisconsin, and afterward resided for a time iu 
Ohio, and later in Illinois. After his admission to practice, in 1871, he 
opened an office here but shortly afterward followed the local land 
office to Neodesha, Kansas, to which place it was moved under orders 
from Washington. Shortly after, the land office was returned to Inde- 
pendence and Mr. Showalter came back with it, and located, entered and 
cimtinued in the practice here until about May, 1872, when he moved to 
Wellington, Kansas, where he has since resided and pursued the business 
of an attorney, real estate and loan agent. 

Since he went to Wellington he has served the public in various of- 
fices, among which are, register of deeds of the county from 1877 to 1879, 
member of the Legislature in 1891, deputy bank commissioner from 1891 
to 1893 and is now serving his term as probate judge of Sumner county, 
to which he was elected in November, 1902. 

MICHAEL SICKAFOOSE was born in Whitney county, In- 
diana, June 12th, 1842, where he was a school teacher until 1868, when 
he was admitted to the bar at Columbia City, in that state. He then en- 
tered the jiractice and continued there in the same until the spring of 
1873, when he located at Independence, where he practiced law for two 



240 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

years in jiartnership with John S. Cotton, under the tirm name of Siek- 
afoose & ("otton. He then returned to Oolunibia City where he continued 
the ))ia(li((' until ISSil. wlien, on accoTUit of failing liealth. he moved to 
Lincoln, Nebraska, where he has since lived. Mr. Sickafoose was, while 
here, a talented young lawyer, well read and a courteous gentleman. 

OLIVER P. SMART was born in I'nion county. Ohio, on December 
13th, 1839, and lived there until August, 1868, when he went to Warsaw, 
Benton county, Missouri. Prior to leaving Ohio, his life was spent on a 
farm, except six years, while he was a student at the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, from which he was graduated in a classical course in 1809. He 
was admitted to practice in December, 1869, by the Circuit Court of 
Benton county. Mo., on an examination, after having read law in the of- 
fice of Col. A. C. Barry at War.«aw, Mo. In March, 1870, he located in 
the practice at Independence, and a few months later became a member 
of the law firm of Smart & Foster, which continued in the business until 
Mr. Foster retired, and engaged in real estate business. Mr. Snmrt was 
one of the first members of the bar of Montgomery county, having been 
adniitted on May 9th, 1870. ' 

After Mr. Foster retired from the firm, Mr. Smart continued the 
practice 'till 1890, and then for the next six years spent his time on a 
farm. In 189G he returned to Independence, where he has since resided. 
He was county attorney for a short time in 1870, and a member of the 
city council one term. Since his return to Independence in 1896 Mr. 
Smart has devoted but little time to his profession. 

GEORGE R. SPELLING was from Iowa. He located some years 
ago in the practice of law at Anthony, Kansas, and afterward filled 
the office of Assistant Attorney (ieneral for two years under General 
Boyle, during Governor I^edy's administration, ending in 1899. Short- 
ly afterward he located in the practice of his profession at Cofteyville, 
which he has since pursued at that place. 

SAMUEL F. SPENCER was born at Greensburg, Kentucky, about 
1850, and was admitted to the bar thei-e about 1871, and practiced at 
that place 'till late in 1878, when he located at Independence, Kansas. 
Early in the next year he was admitted to the bar of this county, and 
practiced law until about October, 1880, when he moved to Colorado, 
where he remained about six months and then returned to his old home 
in Kentucky. About 1884 he married and moved to California, where he 
pursued his profession 'till he returned to Kentucky about 1890, and 
died there about two years later. 

Mr. Spencer was a young gentleman of polished address and of fine 
ability. His father, General Samuel A. Spencer, was a distinguished 
lawyer in Kentucky, and practiced his profession at (ireensburg, that 
state, from his early manhood 'till his death a few years ago, at the age 
of over ninety years. 



HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 24I 

Tno:SIAS H. STANFORD wiis boru at New Albany. Indiana, on 
March 7th, 1851, and was reared on a farm near Brookstou, in that state, 
until he was seventeen years of age. He then taught school for four 
years and was afterward, and on June 17th. 1870, atlmitted to the bar 
of White county, Indiana, and since that date has devoted his time ex- 
^•lusively to his profession. After pursuing the practice in Indiana for 
nearly six years, he moved to Kansas and located in the same business 
at Independence, where he was admitted to the Montgomery county bar 
on March 18th. 1885. He was shortly afterward admitted to the Su- 
preme Court of the state and to the Federal Courts. 

Mr. Stanford now gives his whole time looking after his extensive 
professional business in the various courts above named. The only pub- 
lic jiosition he has ever tilled was the ottice of city attorney for Indepen- 
dence. He was the fusion candidate for Judge of the 11th Judicial Dis- 
trict, then composed of Montgomery, Labette and Cherokee counties, in 
1898, and defeated by Judge A. H. Skidmore, who was elected as his own 
successor. 

L. T. STEPHENSON was one of the earliest practitioners at the bar 
of Jlontgoniery county, and was in many respects a most remarkable 
character. He was a man of fine natural ability, indomitable energy 
and industry, aggressive and fearless and generally "in a peck of 
trouble," during which times he never failed to furnish the cause of a 
liberal sujjply of perplexity to his enemies. While his achievements in 
the jiractice (if law. on true scieiilitic lines, were never conspicuous, his 
power and influence were often felt in important cases, especially in the 
numerous land contest suits incident to the settlement of the country 
and in many of the grave criminal cases that arose from the struggles 
between the pioneers. 

Mr. Stephenson wrote a beautiful hand, having spent at one time a 
portion of his life giving writing lessons. He was clerk of the district 
court for one term in the early 70's and performed many of the legitimate 
duties of that office through deputies, while he energetically looked after 
various interests on the outside. He was one of the very foremost men in 
locating and laying out the townsite of Independence, and was ever on 
the alert in looking after the welfare of the city, when it was struggling 
in its infancy. He located on a valuable claim at the southeast corner of 
the townsite and became involved in a number of suits and contests over 
it and adjoining lauds. These contests in the U. S. Land Office and suits 
in the District Court lasted for years and were bitterly fought and very 
expensive, and during their progress Mr. Stephenson was, in the night, 
shot at on two difl'erent occasions, and at one of these times his life was 
pr(!bably jireserved by a large gold collar button against which the bul- 
let lodged. On another occasion he '•horse whipped" on the pnlilic streets, 
.the mayor, with whom he was having a contest in the land office. He 



242 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

flnally built a fine bouse on one of the most sigbtly places near tbe city, 
and traded a lot of his lands south of his home, for a herd of thorough 
bred, short horn cattle, and for several rears peacefully devoted his en- 
ergies to raising fine cattle. This business, as was generally his misfor- 
tune in all he undcitixik. resulted in financial loss, his home burned 
down and he finally lost all his jirojterty and a few years ago, at the age 
of about sixty years, went to the Kocky Mountains, where, through some 
of his close friends, he became interested in mining. He carried with 
him all the appearances of the activity and energy that were character- 
istic of his younger days, and the absolute confidence of rjuickly realizing 
a fortune in the new enterprise. "Colonel Sellers" was never a greater 
optimist than was L. T. Stephenson. 

.MR. SWEENEY was an elderly genlleuian in ISTl'. and lived 

in Wilson county. He was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county 
in December of that year, but never entered the practice in this county. 
He did some practice in Wilson county and died in that county a few 
years ago. 

JOSEPH STEWART was born in Allen county, Kansas, October 
30th, 18-59, where he was reared. After working in the Humboldt bank 
two or three years he, at the age of twenty years, joined his father, Hon, 
Watson Stewart, at Independence, and worked in his office about two 
years, when he went to Washington as the private secretary of Congress- 
man Funston, and served in that capacity "till about 1883, when he went 
into the service of the Government in its Postoffice I»epartment, where 
he remained for about five or six years and then came to Independence, 
where he was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county about 1889. 

After remaining here a few months he located in the practice at 
Kansas City and pursued his jtrofession there and in Allen county, Kan- 
sas, for about two years and then, about 1891, returned to Washington 
and entered the Postoffice Department as an important official and has 
since remained there. 

While serving as private secretary to Mr, Funston, he began read- 
ing law, during his leisure hours, and afterward took a course in the law 
department of the Columbia University at Washington, from which he 
was graduated, and then, in 188."), admitted to jiractice in the courts of 
record in that city and afterward to the Supreme Court of the United 
Staes. 

I'HILIP L. SWATZELL was born in Crittenden county, Kentucky, 
on May 4th, 18fi5. After coming to Kansas he settled at Elk City, in this 
county, where he worked at the carpenter's trade until he accumulated 
suflficient funds to enable him to take a course at the State University 
of Kansas. After having graduated from the law department of that 
institution he was, on the Kith day of June, 1892, admitted to the bar of 
Douglas county, Kansas, and at once entered upon, and has since con- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COL'NTY, KANSAS. 243 

tinued, the practice of his profession at Elk City. He was mayor of Elk 
City oue year, ending April 10th, 1893, assistant postmaster at the same 
j)!ace for four years, ending October 20th, 1894, United States Census 
Enumerator for Louishurg townshif) and assistant to the chief clerk of 
the Legislatures of 1901 and 1903. 

W. O. SYLVESTER was admitted to practice in the District Court 
of Montgomery county in Ajjril, 1872. and practiced here for a few years, 
a portion of which time in partnership with Mr. S. A. Hall, under the 
firm name of Hall & Sylvester. 

JUDGE MARTIN BRADFORD SOULE. the present Probate Judge 
of the county, is extensively mentioned in the department of this volume 
devoted to biograidiies of our citizens. 

M. (\ SHE WALTER located at Cherry vale in the practice of law in 
the 80's, having gone to that place from the State of Missouri. He was 
admitted to the bar of Mnotgomery county December 16th, 1887, and 
practiced law here for several years and then returned to Missouri. Mr. 
Sliewalter was a talented man and a well versed lawyer, and was pre- 
vented from doing a larger professional business by his frail physical 
health. During the time he was at our bar his ability as a lawyer was 
well known by his professional brothers, all of whom held him in the 
highest esteem. 

WILBUR F. TAYLOR was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county about 1880 and located and parcticed at Independence about two 
years, and then went west. He came here from Lafayette, Indiana. 

J. M. THOMPSON was admitted to the bar of the" county about 1882 
and practiced here a few months and then went to McCune, Kansas, and 
shortly afterward moved to Iowa, from where he soon afterward went to 
Oregon, where he now resides. 

CALVIN C. THOMPSON was born in M\ulison county, Indiana, on 
January I'.ltli. 18."i."), and lived there and in LaSallc county. Illinois, until 
September 23rd, 1880, when he was admitted to practice law at Ottawa, 
Illinois, and on December 23rd of the same year became a member of the 
Montgomery county bar. After his admission here he devoted about 
fifteen years to the practice of his profession and then engaged in the in- 
surance and real estate business, which he has since pursued at Cherry- 
vale, Kansas. During his residence at Cherry vale he has served on the 
school board of the city and was president of the board one year. 

MAY'O THOMAS was born in Tipton county, Indiana, on January 
29th, 1869, and is of Scotch Irish descent. When eight years of age he 
moveJ with his jiarents to Reno county. Kansas, where they lived five 
years, and thence to Elk county, where he lived 'till about 1897, when 
he located in the practice of law at Independence. He was admitted to 
the bar of Elk county at Howard, on February 5th, 1897, and to the 
Montgomery county bar in Jlay of the same year, and has, since the date 



244 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of his admission here, devoted his time exclusively to the practice at In- 
dependence, where he now resides. 

In ISST Ml. Thomas enteied. as a student, the Ottawa University, 
where he found employment to sustain him through a four years' course, 
by doing chores and janitor work. While at the university, by the ex- 
cellence of his work, he won the Nash jirize, which had been offered to the 
student, of the Freshman or Sophomore class, passing the best exami- 
nation in Natural History. After leaving this institution he taught 
school, and then, in 1893. entered the law dejjariment of the University 
of Kansas. At the Eleventh Annual State University Oratorical Contest 
on January 20th, 1894. he was awarded the third prize and at the spring 
oratorical contest, at the same institution, he was on April 27th, 1894, 
awarded the second prize. 

He served as clerk of the Distiict Court of Howard county during 
1895 and 1896, and in 1897 was aiijiointed by Governor Leedy, on the 
State Board of Pardons, where he served 'till 1899, when he resigned. 

At the general election in November, 1902, he was elected county at- 
torney — he being the only candidate elected on the Democratic ticket — 
and he is now performing the duties of that office. 

W. H. TIBBILS became a member of our bar April 17th, 1874, and 
located in the practice at Cott'eyville, Kansas, where he pursued his pro- 
fession for a number of years. He then moved to Sedan, Kansas, where 
he practiced several years and then returned to Cott'eyville about 1890, 
and after practicing there some time, located at Vinita, Indian Territory, 
and pursued his profession there 'till about 1900, when he died. At the 
time of his death, he was United States Probate Commissioner and per- 
forming duties similar to those imposed upon our probate court. 

.JUDGE WM. F. TURNER was. at a very early day, a prominent 
member of the bar of Montgomery county. He was born in Milton, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1816, and spent his boyhood in that state, Mississippi and 
Louisiana. His father. Dr. James P. Turner, was appointed General 
Land Commissiouer for the States of Mississippi and Louisiana in 1826, 
through the influence of Henry Clay, then Secretary of vState. His ottice 
was at Bayou Sara, Louisiana, where young Turner served under his 
father for six years. After Dr. Turner's removal by the General Jack- 
son administration — two years of his term being under "Old Hickory" — 
he moved to Mt. Vernon. Ohio, and William entered Gambler College, 
at Gambler. Ohio, from whiih he was graduated in the class of about 
1835. ahmg with ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes and ex-Justice Stan- 
ley Matthews. After graduating, he read law at Mit. Vernon, Ohio, and 
was admitted to the bar in that city, about 1838, where he practiced as 
a member of the firm of Butler, Miller & Turner until 1854, when he 
moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and entered the practice at that place in part- 
nership with Hon. John A. Kasson, who afterward served twenty years 



HISTORY OF JIONTtiO.MEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 245 

in Congress and then became somewhat famous as a dijjloniat in state 
affairs. 

In 1863 Judge Turner was appointed by I'resident Lincoln, Chief 
Justice of the Territory of Arizona, which ]>osition he filled nearly seven 
years. He then, about 1S7U, located in the practice at Independence, 
Kansas, as a member of the law firm of Turner & Ralstin — after having 
lived a short time at Coffeyville. After pursuing his profession about 
ten years he retired from it and engaged in banking business at Indepen- 
dence in partnershiji with Wm. E. Otis, under the firm name of Turner 
& Otis. This new venture was at first very prosperous, but after a few 
years resulted in financial disaster, and a few years later Judge Turner 
and his estimable wife returned to their former home in Ohio, where she 
died, and he then moved to Indianapolis, where three years later, on 
December 24th, 1900, he died at the age of eighty-four years, of senile 
decay. 

"tHO:\IAS E. wag staff was born at Oalesburg. Illinois, July 
23rd, 1875, and at the age of two years moved to Kansas City, 5Io., where 
he lived until April 10th, 1879, when he went to Lawrence. Kansas, where 
he resided until 1897. While at Lawrence he attended the University of 
the state, from which he was graduated just before he was admitted to 
the bar of Douglas county, on June 8th, 1897. He afterward, at the New 
York University, in 1898. took a post graduate course in the law depart- 
ment of that institution, and since then has been in the active practice 
of his profession. 

He located at Coft'eyville in 1899. and was admitted to the bar of 
Montgomery county on the 12th day of August in that year, and has 
since resided in that city. MV. Wagstaft' was graduated from the Kansas 
University on June 8th, 1897, with the degree of L, L. B., and from the 
University of Xew York on June 21st, 1898, with the degree of L. L. M. 
While at the University at Lawrence, he was a member of the Honorary 
Law Fraternity, the Phi Delta I'hi, Green Chapter, whidi was installed 
at the University of Kansas April 10th. 1897. He also belonged to the 
Sigma Chi Fraternity while in college and is a Mason and an Elk. 

Since Mr. Wagstatt' took up his residence at < "ofteyville, he has served 
one year as attorney for that city, from April 3rd, 1900, to April 3rd, 
1901, was judge of the court of Coffeyville from October 1st, 1901, to 
February 7th, 1902, and was, during the last half of 1902, assistant 
county attorney. 

He was recently wedded to Miss Jennie \\'ilson, an estimable young 
lady, who was born and reared in Independence, and was a daughter of 
E. E. Wilson, who, for years before his death, was one of the most promi- 
nent citizens of Independence. 

RICHARD A. WADE came to Independence from Western Missouri 
and joined the bar of Montgomery county, September 4th, 1879. After 



246 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

practicing law here for a few vears, he moved to Chicago and entered the 
practice in that city, where he now resides. 

L. C. WATERS was an active practitioner at the bar of Montgom- 
ery county for nearly twenty years. He was afflicted with a frail con- 
stitution and for years made a heroic struggle with a pulmonary disease 
that carried him away, less than a year ago. 

MARSHALL O. WAGNER was one of the pioneer lawyers at the 
bar here. He came from Cleveland, Ohio, and entered the practice with 
a very fine library for those days in this country. 

While here he became the owner of a very sightly and valuable tract 
of land about a mile west of Indejiendence. which was long after he left 
the country known as the "Wagner Tract," and was purchased by J. H. 
Pugh, and is now owned by some of the heirs to his estate. Mr. Wagner 
returned to Cleveland about 1872 and has since lived there. 

GEORGE W. WARNER was, at the May, 1871, term of the District 
Court of Montgomery county, admitted to the bar. He never after en- 
tered the practice here. 

JUDGE W. H. WATKINS became a member of the bar of Mont- 
gomery county in its infancy, but never engaged here in the practice 
of the profession, for which his natural talents and learning well fitted 
him. He was the first probate judge elected in the county, and served 
in that office one term, ending in -January, 1873, with marked ability. 

He founded the "Kansan" at Independence in the fall of 1873, and 
ably edited and published the same for five or six years when he sold it 
and moved to California. 

SAMUEL WESTON was born at Bangor, Penobscot county, Maine, 
in 1857. He resided there and at Newton and Boston, Massachusetts, 
until he moved to Chicago and studied law in the office of his cousin, 
Hon. Melvin Weston Fuller, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
the Ignited States. 

He afterward located at p]lk City, in the Spring of 1879, and in the 
same year, after having passed a very searching examination in open 
couit, was admitted to the bar by the District Court of Montgomery 
county. After his admission he at once entered the practice of his pro- 
fession at Elk City, Kansas, which he successfully pursued 'till 1893, 
when he moved to Pond Creek, Oklahoma, where he continued in the 
same business. While residing in Oklahoma he filled, for one term of 
two years, the office of county attorney of Grant county. 

A few years ago, on account of poor health, Mr. Weston retired 
fioni the ](racticp and went to Meade. Kansas, whci-c he engaged in the 
iuiiiber business. 

S. T. WIGGINS was admitted to the bar of Mbntgomery county 
;iliout 18'.»7 and pursue<l the practice a few monllis at Coffeyville, when he 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 247 

moved to the Indian Ten-itory where he was afterward joined in the 
practice by his former law partner. G. W. Fitzpatrick. 

A I). WILLIS became a member of tlie bar of Montgomery county 
August. 1871. but did not enter the practice here. 

GREENIU'RY WKIGHT was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county in August, 1871. on the certflcate of his admission to practice in 
Illinois. He did not afterward engage in the practice in this county. 

ALBEKT L. WILSON was born in Anderson county. Kansas, on 
November 12, 18(50. and resided there on a farm until he was seventeen 
years of age. when he ((uiiiiienced teaching school and reading law. Ha 
was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county September 0, 1882, after 
having studied some time in the otfice of Hon. John I). Hinkle at Cherry- 
vale. At the date of his admission he was under twenty-two years of age, 
and in the thorough examination by a committee in open court, he evinc- 
ed a full comprehension of the basic principles of the science of law. 
After his examination he at once located and entered the practice at 
Cherryvale. Kansas, where he soon built up a remunerative business, 
which he well maintained till he moved, a few months ago, to Kansas City, 
Missouri, where he now resides, and is pursuing his profession. During 
Mr. Wilson's professional career here he was one of the leading lawyers 
of th*^ county and a successful yn'actitioner at the bar. In the trial of 
causes, he was cool, deliberate and thoroughly self possessed and his 
cases were very generally well prepared and ably handled. 

CORNELirS WYCKOFF was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county on M'ay 9, 1870. on the certificate of his admission to practice in 
Illinois, but never engaged in the practice of his profession in the 
county. 

COL. ALEXANDER M. YORK was at one time a leading member 
of the bar of Montgomerv countv, to which he was admitted in August, 
1871. 

He was born at Byron, Illinois. -July 7, 1838, and admitted to prac- 
tice ill Carroll county, in that State, on December 31. 1801. and at once en- 
tered the practice at Lanark, Illinois. On September 4, 1803. he enlisted 
in the Ninety-second Illinois Volunteers and remained in the army till 
the close of the war. and was mustered out of the service in April, 1800. 
He entered the army as a private soldier and was then commissioned as 
second lieutenant of Com])any "I" of his regiment and. in 1803. i)romoted 
to the First Lieutenancy of the same company. In 18(14 he was commis- 
sioned as <"ai)tain of (Vimiiany "(i." Fifteenth Colored Infantry, and af- 
terward, in the same year, raised to the rank of colonel of that regiment. 

After leaving the army Col. York began the practice of his profes- 
sion at Shelbina. Missouri, in partnership with Col. J. W. Shaur. and 
afterward, in March, 1871, located at Independence. Kansas, where he. 
in company with Governor L. I'. Humphrey and W. T. Y'oe, established 



248 HISTORY or JIONTGOMEUY COUXTY, ICANSAS. 

and couducted The South Kansas Tribune. A little more than a year 
later the Colonel and the (iovernor. haviuf; sold their interests inthen'ews- 
I)ai)er. formed a partnership to jiractice law. under the firm name of 
York & Humithrey. This firm at once established a profitable practice 
which it firmly held and increased for about five years, when the Gover- 
nor began his political career in which he became distinguis-ied, and the 
Colonel went to Louisiana and remained there two years, where he was 
interested in mail contracts in that State and in Texas. He then went to 
Fort Scott. Kansas, and becatue interested in the "York Nursery." in 
which business he continued five or six jears. Since then he has been en- 
gaged in the real estate business at various places and is now located at 
Denver, Colorado, in that pursuit. 

\Vhile Colonel Y'ork was a man of fine native ability, and possessed 
a well trained mind, and was learned in the law, he lacked some of the 
necessary attributes to a successful life in the most learned of all profes- 
sions. He could never have been the i)lodding. methodical and tireless stu- 
dent, that closely analyzes and rises to eminence in the law. He was too 
active, zealous and enthusiastic for that; he could not "sit down and con- 
teutedly waif for anyrhiug. He was a remarkably fluent and forceful 
jiublir s])eaker. either at the bar or on the rostrum. Indeed on one occa- 
sion his- oratory was su];erb and the stuilcnt of Kansas history will, long 
after he is dead, I'ead with jdeasure and astonishment, his extraordinary 
ex ter.ipore speech made in 1873 to the joint convention of the two Houses 
of the Kansas Legislature, in exposing the attempted bribery by U. S. Sen- 
ator Pomeroy. of members of the Kansas Legislature. Col. Y^ork was then 
representing Montgomery county in the State Senate and closed his won- 
derful effort in the.se words: "I stand in the i)resence of this august and 
honorable body of representatives of the sovereign people; and before the 
Almighty Ruler of tlie Universe, I solemnly declare and affirm that every 
word T have s])oken is God's truth and nothing but the truth." 

jriiGK WILLIA.M E1)^VAH1^ ZIICGLKK was born in Cumberland 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1S')U, and was reared near Mechanicsburg, in 
that State, teaching school and farming till he was about nineteen 
years of age, when he moved to Indei)endence and began the study of law 
in the office of his brother, Hon. J. K. Ziegler. After pursuing his stud- 
ies till March, 1880, be, then scarcely twenty-one years of age, made ap- 
jilication to the District Court of this county for admission to practice, 
and after a searching examinaticm by a committee in oi)en court, was 
adniiltcd without hesitancy, as he evinced a clear conception of the rudi- 
ments of the science, and plainly showed that he was a thoroughly 
trained student of Blaclistone's Commentaries and other necessary text 
books. 

After ills admission, he at once entered the iiractice at Independence 
and has since devoted his time exclusively to his chosen profession. Af- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 249 

ter being in tlic iiractico at ln<le]ieii(lence for al«»ut eifjlit years, he was 
chosen city attorney, wliich otiice he then filled for live and one-half 
years, ending in 1803. At the general election in November. 1892, he 
was elected county attorney, and at the end of his term re-elected and 
served two terms in that public calling, ending in January, 1897. After 
the end of his second term as county attorney, Mr. Ziegler moved to and 
located at Coffeyville, where he at once established for himself a profit- 
able business in his profession, and is now residing there, pursuing the 
practice. 

During the time Judge Ziegler has lived at Coffeyville he filled for 
nearly two years, from AJarch. 1899, to October, 1901, the important of- 
fice of Judge of the court of Coffeyville, which is a tribunal of extensive 
jurisdiction extending over the county. 

WTNFIELD S. ZENOK joined our bar about 1880 and in partner- 
ship with K. S. Ilpiiderson, under the firm name of Henderson & Zenor, 
practiced law here several years. He then returned to his former home 
ill Indiana and subsequently moved to Missouri, where he now resides, 
devoting a portion of his time to teaching. 

JOSEPH K. ZIEttLEK was born in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- 
vania, on the 19th day of May. 184;{, and lived on a farm, in that 
county, until he was seventeen years of age, when he entered Dickinson 
College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from whiih he was graduated in 1864, 
after a classical course of four years. He then enlisted as a private sol- 
dier in Company "A," One Hundred and First Pennsylvania Veteran 
Volunteer Infantry, and served till the close of the Civil War and was 
mustered out the last of June, 180.^. 

He, after leaving the ai-niy, took up the study of law and was admit- 
ted to the bar at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in lSt!7, and the next year 
moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was admitted, in 1868, and en- 
tered and continued the jiractice there till the spring of 1870, when he 
located at Oswego, Kansas. 

A year later he joined the bar of Montgomery county, and since 
then has, for over thirty-two years, devoted all his time and energies to 
his chosen profession at Independence. 

He first entered the practice at Independence as a partner in the 
then well-known law firm of McCue & Ziegler, and after the dissolution 
of that firm, about a year later, continued the ]iraitice alone until about 
188."), when the law firm of •!. P. & W. K. Ziegler was formed, and he has 
since pursued his profession, as the senior member of this cojiartner- 
ship, which has an office under his charge at Independence, and another 
at Coffeyville under the control of his partner. 

In the practice, Mr. Ziegler made a sjiecialty of commercial law, 
and in the early 70's established an extensive business in that branch, 
which extended over a number of counties in Southeastern Kansas anil 



250 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

far south into the Indian Territory. This business was very profitable 
and was maintained and increased from year to year until Congress, in 
1898, passed a banl^rupt hiw, whii-h. in a great measure, had the effect of 
greatly lessening the value of the services of the alert and proficient col- 
lection attorney. This resulted from the fact that under the provisions 
of tha( law the creditor "coming in at the eleventh hour" shared pro rata 
with those whose activity would otherwise have secured to them a valua- 
ble advantage. 

Added to the loss thus sustained, Mr. Ziegler had the misfortune, in 
February, 1899, of losing by a destructive fire, his fine law library and 
his office with its entire contents, including a well devised and thorough- 
ly indexed office brief book, covering about every conceivable question 
that could arise in commercial law, and which he had been compiling for 
a quarter of a century or more. 

Mr. Ziegler enjoys the distinction of having been in the continuous 
practice at the Montgomery county bar for a longer period than any oth- 
er of its members: of having been a member of the county's bar longer 
than any other member now in the practice here, and of being one of the 
two members that practiced here during the 70's, and still in the active 
practice, the other being Hon. A B. Clark who was at the bar during 
nine years of that decade. 

AA'ILLIAM nrXKIX — (rrcjiarcd by ex-(iovevnor Humphrey, at re- 
quest of i)ublisher) — ^Ir. ^^'illiani Duiikin was born at Flint Hill in Rap- 
])aliaiin()ck county, Virginia, April 7, 1S45. His parents belonged to old 
S'irginia families whose record runs back to Colonial days, and on down 
through the jjcriod of the American Revolution. 

The father, though a slave holder, was, in fact, opposed to the insti- 
tution of slavery and. like many other ^^outllern men of his time, hoped 
for its ultimate abolition. During the Civil War, as before, he was an 
unconditional Union man and stoutly supported the Federal govern- 
ment throughout that memorable struggle for its existence. He lived 
to see the Union preserved, slavery destroyed, and died June 23, 1868. 
It may, however, be said that, while the subject of this sketch took no 
part in the controversies of those days, he was not in full accord with 
his father's political views and failed to fully appreciate their wisdom 
until years afterward. 

The son, William, when less than a year old, moved with his father's 
family to Harrison county, Virginia. His father was a physician and his 
familx consisted of his wife and two step-children (W. M. and Mary C. 
Late) and an infant daughter and the subject of this sketch. The doctor 
and his wife and s1ei>childrcn owned a number of slaves, which were 
brought to the new home of nearly one thousand acres, which was pur- 
chased in 1840 and located about four miles from Clarksburg — and ad- 
jacent to Bridgeport — and on which a large stone house was built, 



HISTOKY OF MONTWOMEItV COUNTY^ KANSAS. 25r 

where William Dnukin, Jr., and the familj- of eij^ht chiuldren were 
reared. 

The doctor, soon after his arrival in Harrison coxintv, established 
a lucrative practice which he held for fifteen years, when he retired, and 
resigned his etensive jirofessional business to his step-son, who had 
graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadel- 
phia. 

Up to the breaking-out of the Civil War, in 18(51, William Dunkin, 
Jr., and his brothers and sisters received only such education as the 
priniilive subscrijition schools in that new country afforded, and during 
the war, their home being near the line of hostility between contending 
armies, but slight educational opjiortunities were offered. However, this 
lack was, in a manner, comjiensated for in the instruction received by 
the children from their father and private tutors at their home. 

At the age of eiglitecn years, ^\'illianl Ihiiikin took "French leave" 
of his parents and went to New York City where he S]jent four months 
in the office of Edward P. Clark, a distinguished lawyer in that city, and, 
upon his return home, was forgiven and sent to the academy at Morgan- 
town. West Virginia — the present State University — where he began a 
classical course. Eight months later, he left this school, on account of 
impaired health, and remained at home until 1871, having, in the mean- 
time, administered on his father's estate. Some of the assets af the 
estate being located in the State of ]\Iicliigan. he spent the winter of 1871 
and 1872 there and, having closed up its affairs, he went to Lawrence, 
Kansa?, and began the study of law in the office of Thacher & Banks 
in that historic city. After about one year of prei)aration he was ex- 
amined by a committee and admitted to practice law in the District 
Court of Douglas county, Kansas, and a few months after, in the Su- 
preme Court of the State. In March, 1873, he opened the office in Inde- 
pendence, Kansas, which he still occupies. 

Though remarkably free from personal vanity. 5Ir. Dunkin felt the 
just and laudable i»ride of a true Virginian in the splendid history of his 
native State — the Mother of Presidents; but as a young and ambitious 
lawyer he drew his controlling inspiration from the more enduring fame 
of the Pinckneys, the Marshalls, the Wirts and other great jurists and 
lawyers of Virginia whose brilliant careers have so profoundly impress- 
ed the judicial history of the counti'y, and shed imperishable luster upon 
the American bai-. Indeed he was guided, from the start, by the well- 
known advice of William Wirt to a young lawyer, "to read law like a 
hor.se, jiursue it indefatigably and siitfer no butterfly's wings or stones 
to draw you aside from it.'' Accordingly, he resisted the temptation 
that comes to so many young attorneys to dabble in politics, or other 
lines of business, and confined himself exclusively to the study and jirac- 
tice of his chosen profession. Notwithstanding his unusually thorough 



252 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

equipment, in the way of preliminary studv, he devoted his leisure time 
to his books with remarkable assiduity. 

He did not lonjj \\n\t for clients. Almost from the bejiinninj;', busi- 
ness came to him and in less than a year he was retained in much of the 
more important litigation j)endiun; in our courts. He rapidly acquired a 
practice that kept him busily employed, not only in the District Courts 
of this and neighboring counties, but extending to the Supreme and Fed- 
eral Courts of Kansas. 

His practice grew upon him steadily until it taxed his energies and 
time to the utmost limit, though few men e(pialed him in that peculiar 
faculty of dispatching business rapidly and well done. This practice he 
held for nearly a quarter of a century, down to the last few years, when 
he yohintarily relinquished part of it, in a measure, retiring from active 
professional work; retaining, however, his large library and his old office, 
or "workshop," as he calls it, where he has sjient so many of the best 
and busiest years of a strenuous professional life. 

Of an active temperament, and being as vigorous as ever, both men- 
tally and physically, he seems loth to entirely abandon his work as a law- 
yer and still retains a limited clientage among his old friends — includ- 
ing his attorneyship for the Santa Fe Railway Company — and acts as 
advisory counsel in the more important cases, especially in connection 
with the younger members of the bar, who consult him freely and draw 
liberally upon him for his judgement and advice. 

In addition to this Mr. Dunkin devotes much time and attention to 
his extensive private business concerns, including the care of his large 
and valuable real estate holdings, taking special pride and interest in 
the management of his extensive farm ju'operties in Montgomery county. 

The very marked success of Mr. Dunkin as a lawyer, is easily ac- 
counted for by those who know him best. First, his natural gifts and 
mental endowments were decidedly favorable to the legal profession. 
Second, his preliminary training and education for the bar were thor- 
ough. Third, he supplemented these advantages by devoting his leisure 
to hard and persistent study of the law, after coming to the bar, observ- 
ing AA'irt's advice, before quoted, most faithfully. He thus became a 
strong lawyer, fully armed and equipped at every point, displaying a 
versatility of legal talent that was, to say the least, remarkable; and it 
is no disparagement to others to say, that as an all-round lawyer, he has 
had no superior at the Miontgomery county bar, one of the strongest in 
the Stale. 

To his thorough knowledge of the general principles of law, he adds a 
remaikable clearness of judgment in the api)lication of these principles 
to the facts of the case under consideration, so that he is seldom mis- 
taken as to the remedy to be invoked or the facts necessary to entitle a 
•client to the relief asked for. He is skillful and resourceful in the trial 



HISTORY OF MOXTOOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 253 

of causes, especially in the examination and cross-examination of wit- 
nesses. He is especially strong in the art of developing, marshaling and 
presenting testimony to the best advantage in support of his theory of a 
given case, and very artful in the examination of witnesses called to give 
expert testimony, particularly medical or surgical in character. 

As an advocate, he all'ects neither the flowers of rhetoric, nor the 
finer graces of oratory ; and yet, he is a strong, ready and fluent speaker. 
His success as an advocate lies in clear thinking, cogent reasoning, an 
earnest and forcei'ul manner, with an instinctive grasp of the salient 
questions of law and fact involved in the cases at bar, 

Mr. Dunkin is further aided in the trial of causes by the unbounded 
confidence of court, jury and his brethren of the bar in his absolute sin- 
cerity and the high sense of honor and probity which characterize his 
conduct at the bar, and in all the relations of life. It is safe to assert 
that during his longer service at the bar of the county, his word, once giv- 
«n, his jiromise once made, concerning the management of cases pending, 
was acce])te(l with implicit confidence by his fellow lawyers, who never 
challenged or called in question the good faith or motives of his conduct. 

He detests the sharp practices and doubtful methods occasionally 
employed by some, and at all times seeks to practice law on the high 
plane of an honorable and learned profession. 

These well-known traits have contributed much to his standing with 
the courts and jui'ies, giving him the vict(n'y in many a closely contested 
case, where the scales of justice seemed evenly balanced. 

His conduct toward the court is ever respectful and dignified, but 
he never sought special favors from the bench. He asks only for fair 
treatment, relying on the law and the facts of his case, jealous of his 
rights as an attorney, and tlie interests of his client under the law which 
he has undertaken to jirotect. 

His relations with his fellow-members-of-the-bar are always cordial 
and friendly, and his treatment of them uniformly courteous and manly. 
While he is justly regarded as a dangerous antagonist in the trial and 
management of hotly contested lawsuits, yet he commands the respect 
and confidence of both bench and bar by the frank and ojien methods 
that ever characterize his course both in his private and professional 
business. He never recognized the false distinction sometimes attempt- 
ed between personal and professional integrity, and, as a lawyer, he 
has ever observed the same high standard of ethics, and lofty conception 
of honor that governed him in all the walks of life. His reward has been 
rich in a long and successful career at the bar. and in the unqualified 
respect and confidence of his ])rofessional l>rethren. which he richly de- 
serves and enjoys; a well merited ti'iluite — "more precious than rubies" 
— to I'-is learning, integrity and ability as a lawyer. 

Though a clo?e student of political questions, and keenly interested 



254 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

in public affaire, Mr. Duukin never sought political preferment. H& 
served a term or two as city attorney of Independence, and also as may- 
or, at a time when important public interests seemed to call for espe- 
cially careful attention regardless of partisan considerations; and it 
is needless to say that he discharged the duties of these public trusts 
faithfully and efficiently, displaying a high order of ability for public 
affairs, both executive and administrative. 

Too broad and tolerant in his mental makeup to be a rabid partisan, 
he is jpolitically a Democrat of the Jefferson school. Positive in his 
convictions as to principles and policies, he is so fair and liberal in his 
conduct toward those who hold a different political faith, as to com- 
mand the general respect and confidence of all his fellow citizens; and 
even his closest personal friendships and professional associations have 
been formed and maintained absolutely regardless of party lines. When 
he transplanted himself from Virginia to Kansas, had he followed the 
example of many others, and allied himself with the dominant (Repub- 
lican) party, in which he had so many personal friends, there is little 
room for doubt that he would have found an open door to a successful 
political career, if his tastes and ambitions had inclined in that direc- 
tion. He fully realized, however, that "the law is a jealous mistress;" 
that eminence in the legal profession requires a constancy of applica- 
tion that forbids the dissijiation of time and energy necessary to the pur- 
suit of political distinction, which, at best, is but transitory and fraught 
with untold disappointments, vanity and vexation of spirit. 

Probably, only judicial honors ever tempted him, as they do most 
lawyers at times, but these, like political honors, in Kansas, are cast in- 
to the general partisan hotch i»otch and controlled by the conventions of 
the dominant political jiarty to which Mr. Dunkin does not belong, 
though within its ranks he has hosts of jtersonal friends who would be 
glad 10 see him round out his long and successful career at the bar, by 
an experience on the bench for which his talents and life work so emi- 
nently fit him. 

To the younger aspirants "for jirofessional honors at the bar, the 
career of William Dnukin is valuable as a striking example of the suc- 
cess that can come only by the singleness of purpose, diligently jiursued, 
which held him to his books and his briefs "without variableness or 
shadow of turning," coupled with a true conception of the high calling 
of a lawyer in connection with the administration of justice, concerning, 
as it does, the most vital affairs of society. 

Wliatever the future may hold in store for ^Ir. I>unkin in a profess- 
sional way, his record as a lawyer, already made, is certainly a most 
gratifying one to him, as it surely is to his multitude of friends. Like 
a veleran soldier, justly proud of the scars received as he stood on the 
"pei'ilous edge of battle" on many historic fields, Mr. Dunkin can survey 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 255 

and review with modest aud becoming pride and satisfaction, his quarter 
century of active service at the bar. with its conflicts fierce and furious, 
its battles lost and won, its varied experiences, both pleasurable and ex- 
citing, that make up the life work of a busy lawyer; a retrospect, sad- 
dened only by the recollections of so many members of the Montgomery 
county bar, once so bright and active in tlie years gone by, who have re- 
moved to other fields of labor, or have gone to "that undiscovered coun- 
trv from whose bourne no traveler returns." 



256 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



BIOGRAPHIES 



EBENEZER EKSKINE WILSON— One of the incorporators of the 
couiitv seat of Mdntjidiiieiv ((Hiiity and the ]iioneer merchant of that city, 
was the late subject of this memoir, E. E. Wilson. His life, from that 
August day in 18(>9, when he first occupied a spot on the Independence 
townsite. to the day of his death, August 28th, 1804, was a leading and 
active spirit in the jiuhlic affairs of the county and by the character of 
his citizenship won the contidence and esteem of his city and county. 

Ebenezer E. Wilson was a native of the "Keystone State." He was 
born at Elizabeth, iu Allegheny county, November 21st. 1838, and was 
reared on his father's farm. His father provided him with only the ad- 
vantages of a country school education. When the Rebellion came on 
his ]i:itriotic enthusiasm led him to enlist as a private soldier at McKees- 
port. rennsylvania, Ajtril 22nd, ISC.l, but he was rejected because of a 
crippled hand. September 2.")th, of the same year, he enlisted in Conijtany 
"C" of the 2nd West "N'irginia Cav., and i)assed into the service without 
question. His record shows his service to have been meritorious and he 
received promotions from the ranks to a captain's commission, as fol- 
lows; Sergeant. November 1st. 1S(>2; Orderly Sergeant, October 10th, 
1863; Second Lieutenant, April Itth, 1804; First Lieutenant, November 
20th. 1804; Caittain. January 7th, 180.5, and, as such, was mustered out 
at Wheeling. West Virginia. June 3()th, 1805. 

Returning home he remained a citizen of his native state 'till March. 
1867, when he immigrated to Kansas, settling at Fontana, where he main- 
tained his residence "till August. 18(;0. when he drove into Montgomery 
county with the goods necessaiy to stock a small store in the proposed 
town of Independence. It was the first stock of goods brought to the 
place and the expense of getting them to their destination was f2.25 per 
hundred pounds. The building in which he installed it was one with 
dimensions 14x24 feet, and cost .foOO.OO. It was one story high and the 
business that was done within its walls rendered it an important mart 
of trr.de in those days. In comiiany with F. D. Irwin, he began business 
October 1st. and the jtartnership lasted two years. He was one of the 
earliest business men of Elk City, where he was identified perhaps two 
years, but his chief concern was for his favorite. Independence, and he 
maintained his residence there in almost unbroken continuance for 
twenty five years. His high standing as a citizen commended him to the 
best consideration of the voters of the town and countv and he held sev- 




E E. WILSON. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 257 

eral oflfices, lH'j;iiiiiiii<i with that of Mayor of Inde]»enflenre. He 
was a member of the hoard of trustees, who incorporated the town July 
23rd, 1870. and the next year was elected its chief executive officer. In 
1874. he was aiijiointed dejiuty county treasurer and did the work of the 
oflSce as such 'till 1882. when he became treasurer himself. He was ap- 
I)ointed postmaster of Independence by President Harrison, and died the 
incumbent of the office. He was prominent in the Grand Army, was post 
conmiiinder of Mcl'herson I'ost, and was president of the Independence 
Eeunion in 1881 and 1882. 

Mr. Wilson was first married to Rebecca Braden, a lady of Washing- 
ton, rennsylvania. who died in a few months, at (irand View. Illinois, 
January 3t>th. 1872. he married Morna Moore, a native of Knox county, 
Illinois. January 30th, 1890, she died, leaving children: Zell, wife of 
Assistant (General Freight Agent of the Mo. Pac. Ky.. Arthur T. Stewart, 
of St. Louis, Mo. ; Albert E.. manager of the Hall-Baker Grain Co.'s ele- 
vator business in Cofieyville; Sallie B. and Floyd M., twins, born March 
15th, 1878; Jennie M.,"wife of Thomas E. Wagstaff, of Coffeyville, born 
May 2.0th, 1880; and George T., born March 24th, 1883, who is in the 
state grain insjiection department at ("offeyville. 

.\lbert E. Wilson, second child of our subject, was Iku'u in Indepen- 
dence, Kansas, February 24th, 187G, and grew up and was educated in 
the public schools of that city. He took a course in short-hand in St. 
Louis, Mo., and at nineteen years of age began life as stenographer for 
Hall and Kobinson, in the grain business in Coffeyville. He filled this 
jiosition eighteen months and was then made the company's book-keeper, 
in which capacity he served two years, lieing then made manager of the 
firm's business in ("ott'eyville. in ISil'l. This firm was one of the leading 
exporters of grain in the west and their business in Cofte.yville marks this 
city as one of their most important points. 

Like his father, Mr. Wilson is a Republican, and was a delegate from 
Montgomery county to the state convention at Wichita in 1002, where he 
helped nominate ^\'. J. Bailey for (Governor of Kansas. He is commit- 
teeman for the third ward of ('offeyville and is secretary of the city cen- 
tral committee of his jiarty. Hte is a Master Mason, an Elk and is un- 
married. 



HORACE H. CRANE— The names of some of the pioneers of the 
West are preserved in the names of towns and cities in the localities 
where they settled. This is true with the name which is here presented, 
it having taken its name from the gentleman who is herewith reviewed, 
and who, in 1808. first settled on the tract which now furnishes the site 
for the railway station of that name. Mr. Crane purchased the i)rotec- 
tiou anil right of settlement from the noted Osage Indian chief, Noj)a- 



258 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

walla, for the sum of one huiidred dollars. This was to ouarantee pro- 
tection for ten families, which Mr. ('rane wished to settle in that vicin- 
ity. It is worthy of note that while no paper was signed between the 
parties, the chief carried out his part of the agreement without a breach. 
There were at that time some four hundred Indians in that immediate 
vicinity, and some of them remained until the government removed them 
by force. 

Horace H. T'raue was born on the l.'Jth of November, 1836. in Shalers- 
ville, Ohio, the son of ^^'illianl B. <^'rane. who was the son of Belden 
Crane, a native of Connecticut. Belden Crane reared seven children, 
Jerusha Chamberlain, Orville, Laura Tilden, William. Frederick, Asenath 
and Orlando. William B. Crane was born iu Shalersville, Ohio, in 1803. 
He married Sallie Ann Olney. who was a sister of .Jes.se Olney, the author 
of the Olney Geography. To this union were born .\senath Fitch, now 
residing in Oklahoma; Calista Ryan, deceased; William W.. who resides 
with Horace; Helen Cavert, deceased; Horace H.. the subject of this re- 
view, and Oscar, deceased. 

Horace H. Crane resided in the place of his birth until the age of 
nine, wlien he accompanied his jiarents to Appleton. Wisconsin, where he 
was living at the time of the Civil war. In ISfJ'J he answered the call of 
his country and enlisted in Co. "I." 3rd Wis. Vol Cav., under Col. Bar- 
ratow. General Blunt's division of the Army of the West. In this regi- 
ment he saw some active service, participating in the battles of Cane 
Hill and Pea Ridge, and in numerous skirmishes. Much of his service 
was in the escorting of government trains through Missouri and Arkan- 
sas. He was mustered out at Fort Scott, in August, 18(io. 

Before returning home from the army he purchased, in the vicinity 
of P\)rt Scott, a car load of horses, and took them through to Wisconsin, 
and disposed of them at his old home. After a short visit he returned to 
Kansas and settled on a farm nearLeroy, Coffey county, from which place 
he came to Montgomery county in 1808. as stated. 

^^'hile living in ("olfey counry, Mr. Crane met and marrii'd Elizabeth, 
daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Hunter) High, these pai-ents being 
natives of the Keystone and ISlue Grass states, respectively. Mrs. Crane 
Avas born iu Warren county, Indiana, March 27th, 1812, where she lived 
until she was eighteen years of age, when she accompanied her parents 
to Coffey county, Kansas. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Crane four 
children have been born, viz: Cliailes ()., of P.ristol, I. T.. who is married 
to Minnie St. John and has three children, Fred, Bessie and Paul; 
FranUie resides at home; Horace O. and Frederick H. reside at Elgin, 
Kansas. The quarter of land which Mr. Crane selected and filed on was 
in section 5-32-lo. To this body he has added until he now owns 330 
acres. Since the discovery of oil and gas he lias been very active in drill- 
ing on his land and has met with much success. 



' HISTORY OF MONTCiOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 259 

Diiriiifi the residence of Mr. Crane in Sycamore township, he has 
evinced a li\ely interest in tlie educational and religions welfare of the 
eoniniunity and has served in the various unpaid offices of the school dis- 
trict and township. He is a firm believer in fraternal principles and is 
a member of several of the most worthy fraternities. He is a Knight 
Temidar Mason and a 8hriner, is also a member of the Elks, the Wood- 
men of the World, and of McPherson I'ost, Grand Army of the Kei)ublic. 



JOHN NEWTON— Since 1884 there has lived in Sycamore township 
the gentleman above named, who has established a reputation for up- 
right ness and integrity equaled l)y few and surjiassed by none. He re- 
sides on section 7-31-15. where he cultivates one of the most tasty farms 
in the township. 

Mr. Newton is a native of the "Buckeye" state, his birth occuriug 
in Hi-rrison county, March 14th. 1842. He was reared to farm life and 
accon!j)anied his jiarents in their removal to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, 
where he continued to reside until the date of his coming to Montgomery 
county. Kansas. In May of IStio, he enlisted as a private soldier in Co. 
"D," Kith Ohio National (Juard. under Colonel Taylor, and (ieneral 
Siegel, of the Army of the Potomac. He spent some four months in the 
service — being at Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry — and was mustered 
out a*: the capital of his state. 

Mr. Newton takes a good citizen's part in the life of his community. 
He has served on the school board and as road overseer of his district. He 
is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been a Kei)ub- 
lican since he was able to cast a vote. 

Turning now to the points of interest in the family history of Mr. 
Newton, the biograjiher recalls that he is a son of Isaac and Rachel 
(Murphy) Newton, both natives of Ohio. Isaac was a son of Levi and 
Marv Nev.ton. whose children were: Rans(im. Isaac. Levi. Zimena. Rox- 
ina and Annie. To the marriage of Isaac Newton and his wife were born 
nine children, as follows: Louise Hasebrook, Anne Smiley, of Jewit, O. ; 
Martha Walker, of I'richsville, O. ; Jane Brewster, of Montgomery 
county; Matilda Kennedy, of Columbus, Ohio; John, the subject of this 
review; Robert, of Illinois; Luther, deceased, and Albert, who resides in 
Ohio. After the death of the mother of these (hlldren, Isaac Newton 
marrie<l Mary J. Tope, to whom were born Cora Banmer and Netta 
Thomas, both of whom reside in Ohio. 

The domestic life of our subject was begun Manh 1', IStJfi, when he 
was happily joined in marriage with Mary E. Balitt. Mrs. Newton was 
born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, ilarch 23rd, 1845, and is a daughter of 
Samuel and Mary .\. iltaltzeyi Italilt. natives, resjtectively, of rennsyl- 
vaiiia and Ohio. .Mr. and .Mrs. NewtonV children arc as follows: Mary 



26o HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

C. Wilson, with ber four children, Nellie, Harris. Frank and Bulah, re- 
sides in iSrontgoniery county; Sarah L. Mathis, resides in Indian Terri- 
tory with her children, Maude. Frederick and Lester M.; Isaac, yet at 
honie ; Daniel O.. of Montgomery county ; Lunian B.. at home, and Carrie 
M. Oliver, with her daughter, Flora, resides in Sycamore, Kansas. 

As a member of this family there is at present the mother of Mrs. 
Newton, Mrs. Mary Balitt, now in her 80th year. 



WILLIAM CAHOON BAYLIES— The pioneer has been the advance 
guard of civilization and about his personality clings the story of the ad- 
vance, the struggle and the final victory. What is true of him in other 
localities is true of him in Montgomery county. Be has helped to lay the 
foundation for the splendid work going on about us and to him who came 
at the beginning, remained to the finish and is here now. is due great 
credit, now and everlasting. In this list and belonging to this class we 
are pleased to present William C. Baylies, the subject of this review. 

51r. Baylies came to Jlontgomery county in July. 1869. when the 
Red Men ruled, but chaos i-eigued. He came as a settler and in search 
of a home and he located on section 1(1, township 32, range 15, just south 
of Table M)Ound, where the transition from nature to art persistently and 
systematically took place. He came to the county by wagon, with less 
than fifty dollars in his pocket, from the state of Iowa. He is. by nativ- 
ity, a Southern man but by disposition and training, decidedly North- 
ern. He was born in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, .July 27th. 1843, and 
is a son of Nicholas Baylies, who was born in Vermont's capital April 
9th, 1S09. His grandfather was also Nicholas Baylies, born on the 9th 
of April, 1809, in Massachusetts, and Nicholas and Mary were the par- 
enls of three children, namely: Horatio N., Mary E., and Nicholas. 
They emmigrated from the Old Bay State and settled near Montpelier, 
Vermont, where their children grew up. Their youngest child married 
Harriet Helen Cahoon, a daughter of William ('ahoon. of Lyndon, Ver- 
mont, a lineal descendent of tlie famous founder of the ('olony of Rhode 
Island. (It is a distinction worthy of record to descend from the first 
great ])ioneer ])reaclier, Roger AYilliams.) Eight children were born to 
Nicholas and Harriet Baylies, as follows: William C, Ripley N., Lawson 
W., ;Mary II., Charles E., Oscar S.. Francis A., and George A. 

A^'hen William C. Baylies was eight years old his ])arents returned 
north with their family, after having spent several years in the South, 
and located in Griggsville, Illinois, where they resided 'till 1858, going 
thence to Des Moines, Iowa. The common schools had to do with the 
education of our subject and when the Rebellion came on he enlisted in 
Comjiany "K," lOth Iowa Inf., under Col. I'erczell. His regiment formed 
a par* of the 15th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, and was in bat- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 26 1 

tie at Island Xo. 10, New Madrid. Corinth, Vicksbui-<>', thence east to the aid 
of Roseci-aus at Chattanooga, thence on the campaign of Atlanta and the 
march to the sea. Its service ended with the march up through the Con- 
feden;cy from Savanna to Washington, D. C, where Mr. Baylies received 
orders to proceed to Little Rock, Arkansas, from which point he was or- 
dered to Davenport, Iowa, to be mustered out, on the 15th of August, 
1865. He enlisted as a private, was promoted through the grades of non- 
commissioned otticers and comiiiissioiicd a First Leutenant. and as such, 
was mustered out. 

In the spring of 1800, Mr. Baylies began a trip which gave him his 
first experience with the frontier. He went to the Territory of Montana, 
where he was employed in the gold diggings, and in other ways, without 
much jirotit to himself and, after three years, returned to Iowa and a 
mouth afterward started on his pioneering trip to Kansas. 

February 14th. 1878. Mr. Baylies married Kachel M., widow of Dr. 
William E. Henry, and a daughter of H. T. and Nancy I. Butterworth. 
By her first marriage Mrs. Baylies has two sons, Prof Thomas B. and 
William E. Henry, mention of whom is made on another page of this 
volume. A daughter, Caroline C, is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Bay- 
lies. She is a junior in the Kansas State University. Clara, an orphan 
girl, i'^ a member of the Baylies household. She has found a welcome and 
comfortable home there for twelve years and is a valuable acquisition to 
the fiiinily. 

Table Mound, on which the Baylies home is situated, is one of the 
highest points in Montgomery county. It rises more than two hundred 
feet above Elk river and contains an area of some six hundred acres, and 
forms a large part of the one thousand or more acres of the Henry and 
Baylies estate. The Baylies cottage stands on the eastern edge of the 
abrupt decline and overlooks, from its almost dizzy height, the entire 
landscape l)elow and furnishes a magnificent "birds eye" view. The 
The mound is underlaid with lola limestone and commercial shale and 
is, perhajis, doomed to destruction for the manufacture of portland ce- 
ment. 

Mr. I5aylies is honorable in dealing, modest in bearing and influen- 
tial as a citizen. His home is filled with good cheer and hospitality and is 
presided over by a genuine woman, his wife. In early life Mrs. Baylies 
was a teacher. She is a lady of culture and refinement and in the rearing 
of their children she and her husband have honored society and won dis- 
tinction for themselves. 



GEORCtE B. SMITH— George B. Smith, a farmer of Sycamore town- 
ship, and a citizen of the county since 1800. is a South Carolinian by 
birth and an Indiaiiian by adoption. I'.oin December Kith. 1845. in Ander- 



262 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

son district, he left the "Palmetto State" with his parents at the age of 
five years and became a resident of Boone county, Indiana. Here he 
grew to manhood — the war interfering somewhat with his education, so 
far as book-knowledge goes — but giving him an opportunity to take les- 
sons in that greater, and in some resi)ects, more important school — the 
school of experience. Many a boy left the school-room in those days with 
but a smattering of "book larnin' " and graduated from Uncle Sam's 
Technical School in 1805. with that broad culture which comes with 
travel and association with kindred minds. Mr. Smith enrolled in this 
school on the 22nd of Decenibei-. lS(i:'i, becoming a nieml)er of Company 
"F," 40th Ind. Vol. Inft.. Col. John W. Blake commanding. 

This regiment mobilized with the Fourth Army Corps and reached 
Sherman's army in time to participate in the battle of Resaca, and short- 
ly after at Buzzard's Roost. At the spectacular fight at Kenesaw Mt., 
Mr. Smith's enthusiasm carried him within the enemy's lines and he be- 
came an unwilling hostage at dreaded Andersonville. Owing to the fact 
that "Uncle Billy" had gathered up a few of the Confederates, which 
Hood thought he might need on his trip north, exchange became possible, 
and Mr. Smith was thus compelled to experience the horrors of that noted 
resort but a short time. He rejoined the army in time to help General 
Thomas administer the two castigations at Franklin and Nashville, and 
then spent the remainder of his service in the Southwest, not being mus- 
tered out until January of 18G6, that event occurring at Texana, Texas. 

After the war. our subject returned to Indiana, and after a period 
in his home county, in 1S71 he iiuived over into Carroll Co.. Ind. Here he 
engaged in farming until 1S7H, and then came to the "SunHower State." 
Up to 18!)(>, he farmed in Jefferson, Elk and Labette counties, in which 
latter year he settled in Montgomery county. 

Mr. Smith is a gentleman of good sense, popular in his community,- 
and active in all that promises well for the people. He has been a mem- 
ber of the school board for the past five years, is a working member of 
the Christian church, and is, of course, a member of the Grand Army. 

Mentioning the salient points in Mr. Smith's family history we note 
that he is a son of Thomas G. Smith, who was born in South Carolina, 
and is one of twelve children. Their names as far as known being George 
W., Nancy, Thomas, Millie and Joseph. 

Thomas G. Smith was born in Pickens district, South Carolina, Jan- 
uary 22nd, 1811, was there reared and at maturity married Jane, daugh- 
ter of George Braswell. This lady was a native of that state and was 
born November 11, 1817. She became the mother of fifteen children, 
seven living to maturity; their names being: Caron E. Franks, of Mul- 
vane, Kansas; Nancy J. Moore, of Montgomery county; Camilla E. 
Decker, of Claypool, Indiana ; George B., Sarah C. Thompson, of Hopeton, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 263 

Dk. ; Miranda A. Coppock, of HamiltOD''county, Indiana, and Madison S., 
who resides in the same county. 

George B. Smith, the honored subject of this review, married in Kan- 
sas on the 30th of June, 1878. Rachel E. Wilkerson. Mrs. Smith is a 
daughter of J. C. and Eliza Wilkerson. all natives of Kentucky. To her 
husband she has borne four children — Charles L. resides in Independence, 
Kansas; John T. in Montgomery county, as also do Inez and Lulu, tho 
latter at home and the former the wife of Homer L. Bretches. 

Mr. Smith and his family are highly regarded in the county of their 
adoption, where they expect to pass the remainder of their days. 



J. M. COURTNEY— Cherryvale was still in its swaddling clothes 
when J. M. Courtney took up residence within its borders. He helped 
nurse it into vigorous and lusty youth, witnessed the passing of the line 
into manhood, aud glories now in the evidences of its strength and pros- 
perity. During these years he has been constant in his interest in the 
progress of the city and has given much time and effort to the building 
up of those institutions which constitute its pride, and particularly in the 
line of education. His various official duties as justice of the peace, su- 
perintendent of the waterworks, and vice president of the Montgomery 
County liank, keep him in close touch with the iieojjle and make him a 
potent factor in the development which is now taking place in his sec- 
tion of the county. 

March 31st. 1840. and Trumbull county, Ohio, mark the date and 
place of birth of Mr. Courtney. Michael and Grace (Piersol) Courtney 
were the names of his parents, both natives of the "Buckeye State," and 
the faher a shoemaker by trade. They were respected members of society, 
devout communicants of the Methodist church, and of intense and loyal 
patriotism. They removed to Illinois in 184.5. where the father died in 
Yerniilli(m county the same year. His wife survived him over a half cen- 
tury, dying at the advanced age of eighty-three years, in 1001. They 
reared nine children, four of whom still survive. After the death of the 
father the family went back to Mercer county. Pa., in 1847, where our 
subject was reared to man's estate. He passed the years of early man- 
hood in heljiing cultivate the home farm, and was thus occupied when 
the tocsin of war resounded through the land, calling those of patriot 
blood to save the nation from disunion. In October of 1861, he left the 
furrow and became a private in Company "I," Second Penn. Cav. This 
regiment joined the forces about Washington, but Mr. Courtney did not 
see much of the active fighting, as he was soon taken sick with that sol- 
dier's scoui'ge. the measles, which in turn was followed by an attack of 
smalljiox. After a dreary time in the hospital, our subject recovered suf- 
ficiently to act as a nurse to the wounded, and, owing to the urgent de- 



264 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

mand for that kind of help, he wgs kept there on detail until he was dis- 
charged for disability, the smallpox having left his eves in bad condition. 

After the war, Mr. Tonrtney went to Vermillion county. Illinois, for 
a period, and in 1866 located in Labette county. Kansas, where he con- 
tinued to reside to the date of his coming to Cherryvale. 1876. With the 
exception of a year spent at Eureka Springs in the vain attempt to im- 
prove the health of his wife, our subject has held continuous residence in 
the city. He ran a drug store for several years, then went into the real 
estate business, which he has followed in connection with his duties as 
superintendent of the water works, his appointment dating from 1892. 
During these years he has been most active in the civic life of the com- 
munily. serving as city treasurer, trustee of the County High School, 
member of the city school board, and has been now for three terms a jus- 
tice of the peace. 

Married life with Mr. Courtney began July loth. 1866. The wife of 
his youth was Mary E. Wood, daughter of Daniel Wood. Her death oc- 
curred without issue, and on February 15th, 1885, our subject was joined 
to the lady who now presides over his household, Floi'a C. Willis. Her 
parents were J. W. and Mary Willis, residents of Illinois. Two children 
have been born — Earl M. and Rhea M. Mr. Courtney and family are 
members of the Methodist church, while he belongs to the Masons, the 
Woodmen, the A. O. U. W., the K. of H. and the G. A. R. He is an ardent 
Republican and a valued worker in the party. No more highly respected 
citizen is to be found within the confines of the city. 



ROBERT SAMUEL PARKHURST— Conspicuous among the 
pioneers of Montgomery county is the venerable subject of this brief 
notice. His advent to the county was at a date prior to the removal of 
the Red Man to his new reservation in the Indian Territory, and when 
things social were in a somewhat chaotic condition ; yet he went about 
his daily task of driving the initial stakes toward the building of his 
Western home and laid the foundation for a career of success and use- 
fulness. 

Robert S. Parkhurst settled in Montgomery county, Kansas, in Oc- 
tober, 1869. He was at the head of a colony of Indiana settlers, few of 
whom now remain, but some of whom are still represented in the county. 
There were seventeen families of them and they drove teams overland 
from Johnson county, Indiana. Mr. Parkhurst had resided in that state 
since 182(i, and, with the exception of three years, was engaged in the 
successful cultivation of the soil. During this three years' exception he 
was one of the proprietors of the "New York Store" in Franklin, the 
counly seat, and out of both his ventures — as farmer and merchant — he 
realized abundantly to give him a good start in Kansas. When he drove 




R. S. PARKHURST AND BROTHERS. 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 265 

on to the townsite of Independenre it had only just been h\id off. He 
came out to accomplish soniethinji permanent with the several thousand 
dollar:^ he brought along and some sixteen houses sprang into existence 
in the new town as a result of his public spirit and foresight. Hfe took up 
land also and began the prejiaration of a country home. His efforts at 
farming were anijdy and rai>idly rewarded and as he approached the 
evening of life he found himself possessed of many hundred acres of land. 
Twelve hundred of this he divided amongst his children and, a few years 
later — when he had accumulated other large areas — fourteen hundred 
acres more were set off to his heirs, and still his resources were far from 
being exhausted. Perhaps few men have made the soil of Montgomery 
county respond so freely as he. He has centered his efforts in the one 
line and. except for his connection with the First National Bank, as a 
stockholder, he has not deviated from the life of a farmer. 

Mr. Parkhurst was born in Kentucky, February 2nd, 1823. His par- 
ents were John and Abigail (Sellers) Parkhurst, the former born in 
Tennessee about 1790, and died in Johnson county, Indiana, at about 
seventy-five years old. His wifedied in the same county being the mother of 
the following children, namely : Matilda, Owen, Robert S., James, Polly 
A., Sarah, John A., Caroline, Abigail, Wilson, Elijah. Daniel and Martha. 

The youth of R. S. Parkhurst was passed chiefly at work on his 
father's farm. He acquired little education and began life in a limited 
way. When he decided to come west he induced many of his friends to 
join him and live weeks of the autumn of 1809 were passed making the 
trip out to IndependeiK^e. The first winter Mr. Parkhurst housed his 
family in a hay hou.se in which his horses also were sheltered. In the 
spring other buildings of a frontier character were provided and the work 
of actual improvement was begun. How well he accounted for his first 
twenty-five years here is told in the property accumulations already al- 
luded to. Political achievements he has none. He was reared a Demo- 
crat and has given support to the faith all his life. He has had no ambi- 
tion for office; has been ambitious to be a good citizen and provide for 
his domestic wants. 

In April, 1843. Mr. Parkhurst married Lucretia Henry, a daughter of 
John and Elizabeth iMusselman) Henry. Mrs. Parkhurst was born in 
Kenncky in 182-t and is the mother of four daughters, as follows: Abi- 
gail, widow of Louis Hudiberg, of Montgomery county; Mary E., wife 
of John Ilettey, of Independence, Kansas; Matilda, who married Richard 
H. De^Iott. a prominent farmer of Montgomery county; and Lucinda, 
wife of William E. Smith, of Independence. 

Mr. Parkhurst is a Mason. He belongs to the blue lodge and chapter 
and is a Baptist of the old ju'edestinarian order, and has been a member 
of the denomination many years. 



266 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^, KANSAS. 

ARCHIBALD L. SCOTT — Among; those settlers of :MontgonierT 
county who have emphasized their presence in the world of achievement 
in the field of agriculture prominently appears the name of Archibald 
L. Scott, of Sycamore townshij). farmer, soldier and honored citizen. To 
win a pronounced victory in the domain of agriculture, to accumulate 
and iiiiprove a vast liody of land, princely in dominion, in less than two 
decades and to establish a wide civil and political confidence, ranking 
one as a leading citizen of his municipality, mentions, in brief, the events 
in the career of our subject and serves to indicate the real character of 
his citizenship. 

IMarch Ktth, 1884, he became a citizen of Montgomery county, and 
settled on section 1(1, township 31. range 1.5. Then his identity with Kan- 
sas farming began and the histiu'y of his eftorts in this and kindred voca- 
tions finds its strongest utterance in the possession of an estate of nine 
hundred and two acres of land. 

The native place of Mr. Scott is Tyler county. West Virginia. He 
was born near Sistersville. October fi, 1841, was a son of George Scott, 
and grew up on his father's farm. The latter was born in County Donne- 
gal. Ireland, in 1811, came to the United States in 1810 with his father, 
Archibald Scott. The grandfather had a family of sons. John and George, 
both of whom died in Hancock county, Illinois, the former in 1882 — leav- 
ing a family — and the latter in 1898. George Scott was an active, posi- 
tive citizen of his community, took an interest in its various affairs, was 
first a Whig, then a Democrat and finally a Republican. He married 
Easter West, who died in 1840. being the mother of the following child- 
ren: Wesley S., of Pleasance county, W. Ya.; William, deceased; Archi- 
bald L., of this review; Margaret A., who married Wm. C. Sine, of To- 
ronto, Ohio; Amos C, of Carthage, Illinois. Rachel Williams became the 
second wife of George Scott, and her children were: George N., of Hamil- 
ton, Illinois; Charles A., of Brady's Bend, Pa.; Ellen, deceased, and 
David O. 

The education of Archibald L. Scott was limited in quantity. The 
log school house was both his preparatory school and university, and his 
service in school seemed to be of less importance than his services on the 
farm. The serious responsibilities of life began with him before he was 
twenty years of age. and in 18(>(l. he crossed over into ^Martinsburg. Ohio, 
where he was employed for a time in a tannery. June 5th, 1801, he en- 
listed in Company "B," 4th Ohio Inf., Col. Loren Andrews, of Gambler 
College. His service began in West Virginia, at Clarksburg, and he par- 
ticipated in the fight at Rich Mountain. He was enlisted for three 
mouths, but the regiment was reorganized in Camp Denison for three 
years, it being one of the first Ohio regiments so to do. From the Rich 
Mountain battlefield the command followed the Baltimore & Ohio Ry. to 
Fort Pendleton and took Rumney, was engaged at Patterson's Creek, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 267 

Martinsburg, Winchester and finally fought Stonewall Jackson at Kern- 
town, giving that Confederate chieftain his first and only defeat on a 
fair lield. The next move of the command was toward Fi'edericksburg, 
and Ihen to the Shenandoah Valley by way of Manassas Junction and 
Front Royal. An advance was made to cut off Jackson at Port Republic, 
thence back to Front Royal, to Alexandria and to Hhrrison's Landing, 
where a junction with the Army of the Potomac was effected. The main 
battles fought while with the Army of the Potomac were the closing days 
of the Seven Days' Fight, Antietam, Fredericksburg, rhancellorsville. 
Wildf-iness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. At this juncture Mr. 
Scott's time expired and he was ordered to Columbus, Ohio, to be mus- 
tered out of service. He enlisted as a jtrivate, declined a sergeancy, was 
color bearer in two engagements and was wounded three times in the bat- 
tle of Chancellorsville, in the hand, thigh and by a piece of iron under 
the left ear. The ball taken from his left thigh is in his possession, a 
relic of the great citizen war. 

Mr. Scott changed his uniform for a workingman's garb and became 
an oil well driller, with a spring-pole for power, in the West Virginia 
field. Leaving there he went into the Pennsylvania field and was con- 
nected with oil production in the two states for nineteen years. In the 
meantime he came to Kansas — in 1870 — and was located for a time in 
Keodesha, where he did carjtenter work and served the village as its mar- 
shal, the first one it had. While there — June 10th, 1872 — he married and 
soon after returned to the Pennsylvania oil fields, where he continued an 
operator 'till his final advent to the Sunflower State, in 1883. 

Mrs. Scott was Clara McWillianis, a daughter of Wallace and Mary 
McWilliams, pioneers to Kansas from Knox county, Ohio, settling at 
Geneva, in Allen county, in August, 18(50. The parents afterward moved 
to Neodesha, where they died, leaving childi-eu : Rena, deceased wife of 
Abraham Ross; David, deceased; William B.. of Caney, Kansas; Burnie, 
deceased, married E. N. Lewis; Moses and Charles, deceased; Mrs. Scott; 
John, of Coffeyville. Kansas, and Eugene, of Neodesha, Kansas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Scott's children are Howard A., deputy county attor- 
ney 0/ Montgomery county, Kansas, who was commissioned First Lieuten- 
ant of Co. '"G," 2Uth Kansas — Filipino insurrection — and was promoted 
to cajitain of Co. "A," Init mustered out as captain of Co. "G," having been 
assigned back to his first company ; George W., married Matel Lane, re- 
sides in Montgomery county, and has one child, Edna Cleo; Archi- 
bald L., Edwin P., Walter W., and Henry J. Scott conclude the list. 

As a citizen Mr. Scott has wielded a political influence in Mont- 
gomery county. He was a Republican when he became a voter and acted 
with that jiarty 'till the confusing and discordant elements of the politi- 
cal atmosphere began to vibrate in 1890, and for the next eight years as- 
sumed positive shape and shook the very foundation stones of the domi- 



268 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

nant parties, finally absorbing one and unifying; the whole into a mass of 
"unterrified." To this new political force Mr. Scott gave his allegiance 
and by it he was nominated, in 18!MI, Re]iresentative to the Legislature. 
He served the winter of 189(1-1 in the House and was chairman of the 
committee on assessment and taxation. He was a member of the library 
and other committees, but gave more attention to the reform of our tax 
laws and succeeded in getting a bill through the House covering the sub- 
ject, but the Senate sounded its death knell by inaction. He served with 
Elder and other once noted and prominent Topulists. and while he was 
for Judge Doster for United States Senator, he voted for Wm. A. Peffer. 
Mr. Scott has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1808, 
when he joined the order at Spencer, West Virginia, Siloam lodge. He 
holds his membership in Harmony lodge, Neodesha. 



DANIEL STARKE Y— February 12, 1878. Daniel Starkey, of this 
personal mention, came into Montgomery county and settled in West 
Cherry township. At the end of a half dozen years he purchased a quar- 
ter section of land in section 22, township 31, range 16, and personally 
conducted it till 1898, when he moved to Wilson county, where he yet re- 
sides, leaving the conduct of the old homestead to his son, Harvey. 

LaGrange county, Indiana, was the native place of Daniel Starkey 
and his birth occurred ^March 1, 1848. His father was Thomas Starkey 
of Juniata county, Pennsylvauia, and his mother's maiden name was 
Sarah Holsinger. The father was a son of Benjamin Starkey, who mar- 
ried into the Francis family and was the father of nine children. 

Thomas Starkey was a colonel of militia in Ohio, was born in Penn- 
sylvania, and descended from Pennsylvania ancestry. He was a justice 
of the peace for a quarter of a century in Indiana and was a well-known 
auctioneer. His wife was a daughter of William Holsinger and bore him 
thirteen children. Those mentioned here are William, who died of 
wounds received on Sherman's march to the sea : Mrs. Jane Case, of 
LaGrange county, Indiana ; Mrs. Susan Quinn, of California ; Benjamin, 
of Clinton county, Indiana ; Priscilla, wife of I\. Finley ; Daniel, our sub- 
ject; Adaline, who married Charley Bart let t, of Indiana; Mrs. Ida Em- 
inger, of Indiana; Mrs. Ada Shamblin. of Michigan; Mrs. Lettie Sturge, 
of Indiana; Mrs. Bessie Coleman, of California; Mrs. Alice Myers, of In- 
diana; and Mrs. Rhoda Lovitt, of Illinois. 

Mr. Starkey of this notice, took for his wife, Abbie Brown, who was 
born in Erie county. New York, December 25, 1854. Her parents were 
Irving and Jane (Mann) Brown, people of New Y'ork birth. Two sons 
constitute the issue of Mr. and Mrs. Starkey, viz: Harvey, a Montgomery 
county farmer, whose wife was Miss Ella Hull, born in Nodaway county, 
Missouri, and a daughter of Eleazer and Emma Hull, natives of New Jer- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 2^9 

sey. An only cliild. Marcns M., is the issue of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Star- 
key. Charles Stai'key is the younger child of our subject and he married 
Ella McKinney. Their family has one child, Ernest. 

Mr. Starkey was one of the prominent and active members of the 
Farmers' Alliance, years ago. holds to Populist principles in politics, baa 
served on various coniniittees, and a number of terms on the school board. 



KEVILO NEWTON — Cherry vale, of this county, had not been incor- 
porated very many years when this worthy and respected citizen took up 
his residence within its borders. He, at that time, was connected with a 
private bank, which afterward became the Montgomery County National 
Bank, of which he has, since its inception, been cashier. He has taken a 
keen interest in the advancement and development of the town and has 
been especially active in the building up of its educational institutions 
and in giving tone and strength to the religious life of the community. 
He has been superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School for twenty- 
five years and since his settlement in the town has been a potent factor in 
shaping, through that institution, the moral tone of the community. 
During much of this time, he lias been connected, in an official way, with 
the school systems of the county, and has been exceedingly active in se- 
curing the best educational facilities for the use of the growing munici- 
pality, 

Revilo Newton is a native of Illinois, born on the 11th of April, 
1842. in La Salle county. He was there reared to man's estate, receiving 
a fair common school education, though this was interrupted by the ap- 
proach of the great Civil War. He took a gallant part in this sanguinary 
struggle. He went from the school room to the field, enlisting in August, 
1862, in Company "A," Eighty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. This 
regiment became ]iart of the army of the Cumberland, ils first smell of 
powder being at the bloody battle of Perryville and subsequently at the 
Stone Kiver struggle. He then went with Rosecraus to Chattanooga, but 
before active operations were begun at that point, he was taken sick and 
was compelled to i-eturn to the hospital, where he received his discharge 
in December of 1S<)3. This ended his military experience, as he never 
recovered his health sufficiently to bear the rigors of military life. He 
resumed his school life, taking a commercial course and then entering 
the mercantile business in Tonica, Illinois. Later he removed to Iowa 
where he continued business five years, thence to Monunk, Illinois, where 
he spent twelve years behind the counter. This brings us to the date of 
his settlement in ilontgomery coxinty. In 1882, he nuide Montgomery 
county his home, as stated, and became connected with a private banking 
institution. This was later mei'ged into the Montgomery County Nation- 
al Bank, in 18!)!.', one of the safest and solidest financial institutions of 



270 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Southern Kansas. C. C Kincaid is i)resi<lent. Mr. Newton cashier and S. 
J. Howard assistant cashier. The bank has a capital of .foO.OOO and car- 
ries a surplus of f6,000. 

In the different coiiiniuiiities in wliich our subject has resided, he 
has always taken a most active pai't in its municipal life, having Iteen, at 
one ])eriod or another, mayor of the four different towns in which he has 
lived. 

At the time he left Illinois he was the representative of his district 
in the State Legislature and was one of the best known men of that sec- 
tion. Since his residence in this State, he has been active in many differ- 
ent lines of service, having been a member of the board of trustees at the 
inception and building of the present county high school of Montgomery 
county and on this board he served a period of four years. 

He and his family are active workers in the M. E. church, in which or- 
ganization he holds several official positions. His love for children has led 
him to be active in any work that looks to the proper development of the 
cliild mind and he has, as already stated, devoted practically a life time 
to Sunday School work, having been superintendent of the Sunday School 
from six years prior to the date of his coming to Kansas. No more ear- 
nest worker in this line resides in the county. 

Mr. Newton is a member of the Masonic order. Blue lodge. Chapter 
and Commandery, and is also a member of the Noble Order of the Mystic 
Shrine. In political affairs Mr. Newton has always taken an exceedingly 
active and prominent part and was a delegate to the Kansas City conven- 
tion of the Democratic party in 1900. 

The domestic life of our subject has been a happy one, beginning in 
186-5, when he was joined in marriage with Ada Anderson, a native of 
Ripley, Brown county, Ohio. To this marriage two daughters were born, 
Eevilla. and ^linnie. deceased. 

Mentioning brietly a few points in the family history of Mr. Newton, 
the biographer notes that he was the son of Major George M. and Fanny 
(Loomis) Newton, both of whom were natives of Green county .New York. 
They were farmers by occupation, and the father also followed carpenter- 
ing and the millwright busines. They were early settlers in Illinois, hav- 
ing removed to the State in 18o4, traveling overland by wagon, (ieorge 
Newton was a major in the New York militia and was very active in the 
liublic life of the ditt'erent communities in which he resided. He was 
postmaster of Tonica. Illinois, for a number of years, that point having 
been located as a station when the Illinois Central was built through his 
farm. He died at the age of seventy years, his wife having passed away 
some years previous at the age of forty-tive. They were i)rominent mem- 
bers of the Baptist church and stanch supporters of every good cause in 
the communities in which they lived. They reai'ed a family of six chil- 
dren, of whom but three survive. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY';, KANSAS. 271 

HARVEY A. TRUSKETT— The readers of this volume are here in- 
troduced to one of the best and most favorably known men of Montgom- 
ery county; one whose connection with the business interests of the enter- 
prisiup, community of Caney has been of great value, and whose wide ac- 
quaintance among financiers makes him a potent factor in the develop- 
ment of this section. As president of one of 5Iontgoiiiei*y county's solid 
financial institutions, the Home National Bank of Caney, he wields an 
influence Midespread in its beneticient character, and always exerted in 
the interest of good government and right living. 

Harvey A. Truskett is a "Buckeye" by birth, borne in Monroe county, 
October 7, 1855, the son of Thomas W. and Elizabeth (Williams) Trus- 
kett, pioneer settlers of that county. They were both natives of Penn- 
sylvania, Thomas having been born November 25, 1822. the wife the pre- 
vious year on the first day ot August. Reared to maturity in the "Key- 
stone !?5tate'", they there married and at once began life in the then "far 
west," the county in which our subject was born. They were farmers by 
occupation and well fitted to play their part in the development of a new 
agricultural community. Remaining in Ohio until 1859, the family re- 
moved to Cooper county, Missouri, where they continued tilling the soil. 
Morg;ni county, of the same state, and Vermont county. Missouri, then be- 
came their home until 1880, when they settled on a farm in Montgomery 
county, Kansas. Here the parents were worthy and respected citizens 
until their death, the father passing to rest on the 16th of January, 1887, 
the mother on September 20, 1894. Mr. Truskett is remembered as one 
of the immortal band who. in the dark days of 'CI '65, offered themselves 
as living sacrifices for the jirinciple of equality before the law. He be- 
came a member of tlie First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, in which 
regiment he fought valiantly to the end. While in the service he suffered 
capture and imprisonment, but was fortunate enough to be exchanged. 
Mr. and Mrs. Truskett became the pai-ents of eight children, of whom 
six are yet living. 

Of the family Harvey A. was the seventh child. Though born within 
the confines of the "Buckeye State'"he is by rights a true westerner, as he 
was but four years of age when he crossed the Mississippi. The cruel 
war and the disturbed condition of the country immediately succeeding 
it deprived him, as well as thousands of others, of that precious boon, a 
good education. The school of adversity through which he fiassed, how- 
ever, taught him many valuable lessons of thrift and economy, which com- 
pensated to some extent the loss of book knowledge. He early became 
his own business man and engaged successfully in farming and stock rais- 
ing, accompanying the family to Montgomery county in 1880. He was oc- 
cupied at a point known as Elgin, Chautaufjua county, for a period of two 
years, when he went down into the Territory and for the following twelve 
years was extensively engaged in farming and stock raising. 



272 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

!n the year 1892, Mr. Truskett located in Caney. eni>atiing in tiie 
lumber and grain business until 1896, when he organized the present fi- 
nancial institution, of which he has since been president. The Home 
Bank is capitalized at |25,0(IU and carries a list of deposits aggregating 
some ninety to one hundred thousand dollars. 

Mt. Truskett is held in high esteem in his community, where he 
has been honored by membership in the town council and has also served 
as townshi]) clerk. Politically he affiliates with the party of reform and 
is looked upon as one of its trusted advisers. 

JiJarriage was contracted by our subject in Elgin, Kansas, on the 8th 
of December, 1880. Mrs. Truskett was Ida F. Gepford, daughter of 8ilas 
H. and Jennie Gepford, early pioneers of Bourbon county, Kansas. She 
i(s the mother of four promising children — Edwin E., Harvey H., Arthur 
F. and Lita M. To this family was added a niece, Miss Elsie Truskett, 
whou; they reared and edui'ated, and who is now an eilicienl employe of 
the bank. 

Reared to exacting and toilsome labor, schooled by adversity's 
hard knocks and fighting his way step by step from penury to prosper- 
ity, Harvey A. Truskett has reached a jjlane, while yet in the jirime of life, 
where he can give full reign to the promptings of a nature benevolent 
and full of the milk of human kindness. No worthy case of need is ever 
turned from his door unaided and the struggling youth finds in him a 
symjiathctic and kindly adviser and helper. He and his family merit the 
large place which they are accorded in the hearts of friends and neigh- 
bors in Ganey and ^Montgomery county. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. 
and the fauiilv are members of the Christian church. 



MRS. JANE BLUE — The tide of immigration to Montgomery county 
in the earlier years was at its flood in the year 1871. Many of the pioneer 
■families of the county date their coming in that year, among them the 
lady whom the biographer is now permitted to review. She was born 
in ^'el•million county, Indiana, in the year 183((, and was reared in that 
county and educated at Eugene, Indiana. Her parents were Jacob and 
Sarah (Hall) Coslett. They were farmers in Vermillion county and 
pioneer settlers of that section of the State. Their family consisted of 
six children, three, only, of whom are now living: \yilliam. who lives in 
Douglas county, Illinois, and is a prominent farmer of thai section of 
the State; ^Irs. Jane Blue, the subject of this sketch; William, also a 
leading farmer, of Cherokee county, Kansas. 

Mrs. Blue was first married to David Wise in the year 1853 in her 
native; county in the "Hoosier State." Mr. Wise was a leading farmer 
of the county and they reared seven children, four of whom are now liv- 
ing: Margaret A., who married William Blancet, a native of Ohio, and 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 273 

lias fhree children, two living, viz: Minnie, wife of Thornton McCune, of 
Oklahoma, and Alice, who married ^Villiam Carpenter and lives in 
Mnintgomery county, Kansas; the four children of Alice being 
Nettie. Orval, Bertha, and Earl. Clara Belle Wise married Frank Smith, 
of Iiidej)endence, with two children, Donoven and Forest, illnnie 
"\^'ise married Robert Perrv and lives in Bourbon county with their sev- 
en children. Eliza E. Wise married David A. Clark and had four child 
ren, Harry. Charlie, Ira, and Oi-ace. Mrs. Clark is now dead. 

David Wise died in 1874 and in 1S7S, Mrs. Wise was Joined in niar- 
riage to Jacob Wise, a brother of her first husband. Four years later he 
died. In 1S06, March 1, Mrs. Wise married David Blue. He was a na- 
tive of Ohio and was a gallant soldier of the Civil War. having enlisted 
as a \()luiiti'er in an Indiana regiment in April of 1S(J1, and served his 
country faithfully to the close of that sanguinary struggle, and being dis- 
charge in 1865. He was a commercial traveler by ocupation, handling 
nursery stock. He traveled for a period of nine years for the famous seed 
house of D. M. Ferry, and later for a silverware manufacturing com- 
pany of Detroit, Michigan. 

The farm on which Mrs. Blue now resides was purchased in 1871 by 
her first husband. It is located four miles from the county seat town 
of Independence and consists of eighty acres, making one of the best 
farms in that section of the county. In religious belief, Mrs. Blue is a 
member of the United Brethren Church. 



ABIGAIL HUDIBERG— One of the worthy pioneers of Mont- 
gomery county, whose memory runs with remarkable clearness back to 
the days of 1869, the date of her arrival here, is Mrs. Abigail Hudiberg 
of Independence township. The events of the long and weary overland 
journey hither from Johnson county, Indiana, together with fifteen other 
families, are as happenings of yesterday to her, and that first winter in 
their strange new home in the straggling village of Independence, with 
the bi.undless prairie all about them, peopled with Indians and coyotes, 
yet howls its lonely requiem in her ears. The comfortable farm house 
of the j>i'eseiit day is in strange contrast 1o the 14x16 board shanty in 
which they shivered through the winter, and the little log hotel, the four 
"straw" houses, and the single general store of that time make an odd 
picture in contrast to the splendid business and residence properties of 
the present. 

Mrs. Hudibei-g was born in Johnson county, Indiana, March 7, 1843, 

the daughter of Robert 8. and Letitia (Henry) Parkhurst, a full sketch 

of whom ap]iears elsewhere in this volume. In 1S68, she married in that 

ccunty, Louis Hudiberg, son of John and Elizabeth Hudiberg, whose 

-other children were Samuel, Thomas. Mary A., Lorinda and Elijah 



274 HISTORY OF MOXTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

(twins) and John. Mr. and Mrs. Hudiberg resided in Johnson county 
for sis \ears and then came to Kansas. AVhen spring came after that 
first uncomfortable winter, they located on a claim six miles from the vil- 
lage, where they have since, in the main, maintained their home. Here 
the paients and three children began the battle of life anew and succeed- 
ed, before the death of the husband, in making a very comfortable home. 
Mr. Hudiberg died in 1890. leaving Mrs. Hudiberg with a 
family of nine children, as follows : Robert S., a farmer 
of Chantau(|ua county, who married Anna Gray and has 
four children — Nellie, Alice, Matthew and May; John E., Independ- 
ence; George, a farmer of Sycamore township, married Jessie Webber 
and has two children — Leo and Bessie; Lorinda and Wilfred are twins; 
Lorinda lives at home; Wilfred married Mattie Berger and i-esides with 
his mother, with his two children — Louis and Amy; Albert, a farmer of 
the county, married Lillie Drennen and has two children, Hazel and 
Glenn ; Walter S., Myrtle and Elmer are at home. 

These are all "likely" children, well trained, and of good capabili- 
ties, who, together with their revered mother, are highly regarded in the 
community where thev have so long made their home. 



JUDGE THOMAS HARRISON— In the passing away of the subject 
of this memoir, Montgomery county lost one of its landmarks of civil- 
ization and a venerable and worthy pioneer. He identified himself with 
this frontier municipality in August, 1869, and from thence forward to 
his death was an active participant in its affairs. As scholar, lawyer, 
public official and farmer his citizenship was of the genuine type and his 
character unreproached. 

Settlers were widely separated in Montgomery county when Thomas 
Harrison, of this review, cast his lot with the frontier municipality and 
took a government entry near Verdigris City in 1869. The McTaggart 
mill and homestead marks the sight of his original "claim," taken up not 
so much with the intention of proving up on it, perhaps, as to the more 
closely identify himself with the county and to seal a tie of common in- 
terest with its citizens. He did little toward the actual improvement of 
his claim, being a lawyer and engaged in the practice of his profession 
at old Liberty. When the question of a permanent county seat was set- 
tled in favor of Independence he ultimately established his office in that 
place and maintained it there till March 30, 1877, when failing health 
forced him to relinquish the law and seek rest and renew his vigor in the 
pure air and exercise of the farm. He purchased an eighty-acre tract ad- 
joining in the four corners of sections 2, 3, 10 and 11, township 33. range 
lo. where, with the exception of his years in official service, he passed the 
remainder of his life. 




JUDGE THOS. HARRISON. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUXTY, KANSAS. 275 

Judge narrison was born in Northaniptonshire, England, on the 21st 
of September, 1825. At seven years of age his parents came to the United 
States and settled in I'tica, New York, but remained there only four 
rears when they came on west to LaSalle, now Kendall county, Illinois, 
where they died. His father was Thomas Harrison and his mother was 
Mary (Musson) Harrison who reared to maturity eight of their nine 
children, namely: William, deceased, ex-member of the Kansas Legisla- 
ture from Butler county, ex-probate judge and a prominent citizen of the 
county; Mary, who died in Wisconsin, married Richard Hudd and was 
the mother of the late ex-Congressman Hudd, of Green Bay, Wisconsin ; 
James, who died at Santa Barbara, California, passed his life chiefly 
in the dairy business in Chicago; Ann, who married Warren Chapin, died 
in St. Francis, Indiana ; Hannah, who died at Remington, Indiana, was 
the wife of George Bullis; Theresa, of Santa Barbara, California, is the 
wife uf Henry H. Polk; Thomas, of this sketch; and John, of Morrow 
county. Oregon. 

Judge Harrison was educated at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. 
He was poor and worked his way through school, as a farm hand or at 
teaching or other honorable employment, and graduated in 1853. 
Among his classmates were Chief Justice A. M. Craig of the Illinois Su- 
preme Court and A. A. Smith, a prominent lawyer of that State. The 
Judg" was educated primarily for the ministry but when he came to em 
bark in life's realities his views somewhat digressed from the orthodoxy 
of the time and he turned his attention to law. He established himself 
at Galesburg, Illinois, where he practiced till his entry to the army in 
1862. He was a sergeant of Company "A," Seventy-seventh Illinois In- 
fantry until near the close of the war, when he was commissioned a first 
lieutenant and assigned to Company "A," Seventy-third U. S. Colored 
Troojis. The war over, he resumed the practice of law and was located at 
Galesburg, Illinois, when he decided to come west and started on his jour- 
ney to Montgomery county, Kansas. 

Ir his new home in Kansas Judge Harrison was ever a prominent 
figure. In politics he wielded an influence which contributed to many 
victories for the Republican party but his views changed somewhat on 
the apjiroach of the avalanche of reform which annually swept Kansas 
from 1S!I(I to Ills death, and his sympathies went out to the political 
movement engendered and fostered by the Farmers' Alliance. In 1882 
he was elected probate judge and served in that capacity with credit and 
ability. He filled the office four years and retired to his farm to enjoy the 
peace of a private citizen. 

December 28, 1854, Judge Harrison married M. Eliza Chambers. Mrs. 
Harrison's father was Matthew Chambers, likewise her paternal grand- 
father. The latter was born a Scotchman, was the second son of his par- 
ents and. for some displeasure at home, ran away and went to sea for 



276 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

several years. On hearing of the struggle of the American colonies for 
independence he came to their assistance, offering his services in behalf 
of tho cause. His worth was discovered and rewarded by his being com- 
misioned and placed in command of a company of men. Among his sev- 
eral battles was Saratoga, where Gen. Burgoyne surrendered and where 
Mr. Chambers met an own cousin of his in a British uniform, a prisoner 
of war, and the storming and capture of Stony Point in which assault 
Captain Chambers received a wound by a bayonet passing through his leg 
below the knee. From this wound he never fully recovered and it finally 
induced his taking-off. After the war he located at Londonderry, New 
Hampshire, where he reared his family and died. He had a family of 
three sons and two daughters, namely : John, who settled in western New 
York, reared a family and finally disappeared as if lost; Margaret, who 
married Thomas Dickey and died in New Hampshire; Robert, who passed 
his life in Vermont and introduced the Spanish Marino sheep into that 
country; Mary, who married John Lund and died in New Hampshire, and 
Matthew, who died at Galesburg, Illinois, in January, 1869. 

Matthew Chambers, the second, was born in 1785 and was a soldier 
in the War of 1812. He was a colonel of Vermont militia, was a mer- 
chant in Bridgeport, that state, and left there in 1830 and came out to 
Illinois. For a wife he married Hannah Smith, a daughter of Jacob 
Smith, a Jerseyman. Two children living from this union, viz: Edward 
P. Chambers, of Galesburg. Illinois, and Mrs. Harrison, the widow of our 
subject. Five others ai'e deceased, viz : Jacob Smith Chambers, Matthew 
Carey Chambers, H. Cordelia (Chambers) Willard and William Henry 
Chambers. !Mrs. Harrison was born in Bridgeport, Addison county, Ver- 
mont, on the 23d of September, 1832. She was the wife and companion 
of Thomas Harrison for forty years and is the mother of the following 
children : Mary, wife of Seth Starr, who has two children, Harrison C. 
and Ruth N. ; Thomas J. Harrison, of Scammon, Kansas; and Cordelia 
E., wife of Frank E. Lucas, of Park Place, Oregon, who have five children, 
to wit: Frederick, William, Charles, Helen and Mary. 

We are fortunate in this article to be able to present to posterity the 
paternal chain of the Harrison and Chambersfamiliescompletefromtheir 
English ancestry. The sr)irit of Americanism was dominant in both 
families and both have furnished ample evidence of their love for the in- 
stitutions of our Republic. To their descendants we commend this brief 
biography in the belief that it contains lessons worthy to be learned. 



M. D. WRIGHT— M. D. Wright, retired merchant and honored citi- 
zen of Elk City, was born in Fayette county, Indiana. November 12th, 
1832, and is a son of Jonathan and Susanna B. (Jones) Wrighr. natives of 
Maryland. The father was, by occupation, a miller and plied his vocation 
in Pennsylvania until about the time of the war of 1812, when he removed 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 277 

to Cincinnati, Ohio, and enibarlied in the mercantile business. After 
the war he traded for wild lands in Fayette Co., Ind. and subsequently 
moved to Richmond. Ind., where he continued to reside until his death 
at the age of seventy-nine years. Our subject lost his mother the day of 
his birth, she being tlieu forty years old. The parents were devoted 
adherents of the Quaker faith. Their family consisted of eight children 
■ — throe now living, il. ]).. our subject; Thaddeus. of Minneapolis, Minn.; 
and Martha, widow of Paul Barnard, who resides with her brother in 
Elk City. 

M. D. Wright has had a somewhat remarkable career, iu his earlier 
days partaking much of adventure. He began life at sixteen years of 
age as a clerk in a country store, but soon went to Cincinnati, where he 
spent three and a half years in a wholesale establishment. He then went 
east, where, for the next two years, he was similarly engaged in Phila- 
delphia and New York. The Australian gold fields were, at that time, 
creating great excitement and he concluded to try his fortune in those 
regions. Embarking on the sailiua vessel "Rockland" he made the trip 
in one hundred twenty days, going via Rio Janeiro and the Cape of Good 
Hope. He reached the Australian mines in May of 18.51, and, for the fol- 
lowing year, had varying success. He, however, did not fancy the hard 
life of the gold miner and engaged with a firm to act as clerk in their 
store in New i^outli Wales. Here he spent fifteen months more pleasantly, 
but by this time he was ready to again return to civilization in the states, 
but was loath to do so empty handed, and he determined to take a drove 
of horses to Sidney and dispose of them, if possible, at a profit. This 
entei-]>rise. for various reasons. ]iroved a failure, tinancially. From Sid- 
ney he embarked on a small trading vessel, trading among the South Sea 
Islands, finally landed on the Samoan Islands, where he remained six 
months. He shipped on a man of war and cruised in the Caribbean Sea. 
The vessel put in at Valparaiso, where, on account of sickness, he was 
discharged. A four-months' whaling voyage followed, filled with excit- 
ing adventures with these great saurians of the deep. Resolved again to 
return home, he, after a most tempestuous voyage around the Horn, at- 
tended with desjierate scurvy sickness, which attacked every one on 
board but the captain and himself, found the quiet home of his boyhood, 
mid the blessings of civilization, and where he was ready to repeat with 
the sweet singer, John Howard Payne, 

"To us, in despite of the absence of years, 

"How sweet the remembrance of home still appears; 

"From allurements abroad which but flatter the eye, 
"The unsatisfied heart turns and says with a sigh, 
"Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 

"Be it ever so humble. 
There's no place like home!" 



278 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Ml'. Wright arrived home iu the spring of 1857. In company with a 
brother, he now entered on a mercantile career, which lie pursued until 
his enlistment in the Union army in 1804, becoming First Lieutenant in 
Co. "D," lltith Ind. Vol. Inf. He served a year, his regiment being used 
chiefly to oppose the noted cavalry commander. Gen. Moseby, and with 
whom they had many exciting skirmishes. His company was mustered 
out at Harper's Ferry in Hay of 1805. 

Mr. Wright now tooli on another occupation, engaging in the sedate 
occupation of the school master, quite a remove from the exciting ex- 
periences of travel and war. This experience was in Benton county, In- 
diana, and preceded his overland trip to Kansas, in 1870. He came to 
Elk City and, trading his outfit for a cabin and lot, began a mercantile 
business. He continued here with moderate success until 1890, and then 
spent three years in Oklahoma in the same business, since which time he 
has remained in Elk Cit\- managing his real estate holdings. 

Mr. ^^'right was. for thirteen years, jiostmaster of the village and, 
in the early days, was the moving spirit of the town. He has always ex- 
erted a potent influence in the affairs of the community and holds the 
respect of its citizens in a marked degree. He has reared a family of 
children, who are respected members of the different communities in 
which they reside, and is rounding out a long and useful career iu the 
enjo'\ment of the fruits of earlier labors, amid the uniform esteem of old 
friends and neighbors. 

Jlarriage was contracted by our subject in Indiana in 1858. His 
wife, who is still his companion onlife'sjourney.wasMiss LydiaA., daugh- 
ter of William and Miriam ( Wickersham) Fosdick. Her eight children 
are: Kate B., Mrs. J. M. Smythe; Jessie, married C. J. Hafey, and died 
at tlic age of forty years; Jennie, Mrs. E. E. Masterman; Lizzie, married 
C. O. Chandler and is now deceased; Mary, wife of Charles Stafford; 
Irene, deceased at eight; iliss Nellie, a stenograjjher at Medicine Lodge, 
Kansas; and Coi'a, Mrs. Richard Power, of British Columbia. 



JOHN GIVENS — In the progi-ess of events in Montgomery county, 
influenced by the stubborn hand of man, John Givens, of West Cherry 
township and a member of the board of county commissioners, has 
played no inconspicuous part. He came to the county in the early time 
with industry and character to recommend him, and established himself 
in the somewhat isolated settlement of ^^"est Cherry townshi]). He drove 
into the county in company with Ivlgar Burt and Joseph Dayton, all 
locatiiig claims, Mr. Givens .selecting his in section 25, township 31, 
range 10. 

Soon after he located his claim, Mr. Givens went to Osage Mission, 
now St. Paul, and bought a yoke of cattle, a wagon and a plow. With 



HISTORY OF MOXT(;O.MERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 279 

these he begnn breaking jirairie iu the s]ii-ing of 1870, and it was several 
years before the tiUable hind was all turned and the buzz of the breaking 
sod no longer charmed the owner's ear. 

As the work of the early years jtrogressed strangers became neigh- 
bors and friends and the Eed Man and the Pale Face carried on an ir- 
regular sort of commerce with each other. In his bachelor (piarters, 14x 
16 feel, Mr. Givens occasionally met an Osage Indian and the half-breeds, 
Louis Shouteau and Louis Brazill, were frequent callers on errands of 
bartar and trade. After his marriage the work of the farm moved more 
satisfactorily along and our subject found himself laying surely hold of 
the sid)stantia] things of his career. In ISSo. lie erected his coiiimodious 
I'esidence, and barns and cribs and graneries came along one after an- 
other 'till his improvements resembled a miniature village and his estate 
grew into Baronial proportions. Four hundred and eighty acres rep- 
resent the size of his home farm and five hundred and twenty acres his 
holdiiigs in Rutland township. One thousand acres of land accumulated 
as the result of one's individual efforts represents an epoch in his life, 
and is an achievement for which comparatively few farmers are diS' 
tinguished. 

John Givens was born in Lake county, Illinois, in the year 1841, and 
remained at home in pursuit of the arts of peace 'till the outbreak of the 
Civil war. September 14th. 18G1. he enlisted in Company "C," 5th 111., 
Vol. Cav., under Col. Ilall Wilson. His regiment went from Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, to the front and was assigned to the Army of the West, un- 
der command of Gen. Grant. Mr. Givens took part in the Vicksburg 
campaign and participated in the battles of Champion Hills, Big Black, 
and the siege, and was in the Yazoo campaign under Gen. Sherman. His 
service along the Mississippi river, in Missouri and Arkansas, and, after 
the fall of Vicksburg, over to Meridian, Miss., includes much of the hai'd 
service he participated iu. ending iu his being besieged for ninety days 
with typhoid fever. He was discharged at Vicksbui'g with a military 
service to his credit of a little more than three years. He entered the 
army as a private, served much of the time as a non-commissioned of- 
ficer and was assigned to an occasional extra duty. He returned to Mis- 
sissi]i]ii after the war, where he had a contract for building a country 
road. This work concluded, he rettuued to his Illinois home and was en- 
gaged in farming in Logan county, that state, until his start for Kansas. 

In the fall of 180!), he came west by rail to near Fort Scott, where he 
took the stage to Osage Mission, then an important point in the settle- 
ment of the new west. From this base of supi)ly he accompanied his two 
friends to the Osage Diminished Reserve in Montgomery county, where 
the thi'ead of this narrative has previously been treated. 

Mr. Givens' fatlier was Felix Givens, a native of Ireland. The father 
was a carpenter and he came to America in early life and settled as a 



280 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY;, KANSAS. 

pioneer in Lake county. Illinois. He was one of three sons, Felix, Rich- 
ard and Charles, and married Catherine Davlin. who bore him four child- 
ren, viz: Mrs. Eose Callahan, of Independence. Kansas; Mrs. Mary A. 
Riley, of Chicago. Illinois; John, of this record, and Felix, of Nebraska. 

Mr. Oiveus married, after three years of bachelor life. Miss Jennie 
Burt, an Iowa lady, and a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Burt. 
Seven children have come to bless the home of these parents, namely: 
Mrs. Catherine Henderson, of Montgomery county, with two children, 
Pauline and Harold; Josophine and Cecelia, with the family homestead; 
Mrs. Blanche Mangau. of Montgomery county, with two children, Edith 
and John Mc. ; Charles and Louis, in California, and Paul. 

In his various relations with his fellow man Mir. Givens is most 
worthy and honorable. He has always manifested a warm interest in 
public matters and has been called to serve as treasurer and trustee of 
his township two terms, as member of his school board and is now serv- 
ing his second term as commissioner of Montgomery county. 



LAFAYETTE M. CARSON— The gentleman here named is a mem- 
ber of one of the oldest and most respected families of Montgomery 
counts, and is himself deservedly jwpular for the many sterling qualities 
which he has manifested since coming to years of discretion. His ser- 
vice ;n connection with the law-enforcing branch of the county govern- 
ment has been of a high order and will receive recognition frcmi his party 
associates in the furture should he manifest a willingness to allow his 
name to be used. 

Lafayette Carson was born in Iowa, where his parents were pioneer 
residents of Keokuk county. The date was July 1, 18.57. He was a 
bright thirteen-year-old boy when the family settled on a claim in Louis- 
burg townshij), and where they have continued to reside. His boyhood 
was passed in the labor incident to farm life, his schooling being of such 
a character as coiild be secured in the limited time at his disposal in the 
winter. Being of a moi'e than ordinary observant turn of mind, however, 
this ];\c\<. (if bodk-kudwledge has been largely atoned for. He very early 
began farming for himself, and, with the exception of one or two periods 
of official life, has continued to till the soil. He did not wait for his 
majority, to become interested in public affairs, and, even in his 'teens, 
was helpful to those who were in charge of the Republican organization. 
His obliging and courteous disposition soon won him many friends and 
his services were recognized by his aiijtointment by Sheriff Frank Moses 
as his dejtuty, with headquarters at Elk City. In addition to his one 
term in this ])osition he has served a number of years as constable of his 
township and in all his official dealings with the people has, by his con- 
siderate and thoughtful acts of kindness, drawn forth many expressions 
of appreciation. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 28 T 

Touching brielly on the history of the family, tlio biographer notes 
the parents of Mr. Carson as William and Seletha (ilarr) Carson. The 
father was a native of the "Keystone Ir^tate." Ilie mother of Tennessee. 
Passing his boyhood in Tennsylvaiiia, William Carson came with his 
parents, at twelve years of age, to Miami county, Ohio. Later he removed 
to Bhelby county, Ind., where he purchased a farm and began life for 
himself. In 1847, as stated, he settled in Keokuk county, Iowa. Mr. 
Carson was a man of the strictest probity of character, careful in all his 
dealings to give value received, and of stern ideas of justice and right. He 
died in 1870 and lies in the family buvying-ground on the farm which he 
settled six years before. In religious faith he was a strict Presbyter'an, 
though always according liberty of opinion to others, as in the case of his 
wife, who was a Missionary Baptist, and in her younger days a great 
worker in that organization, and who still survives her husband, at tlie 
advanced age of seventy-seven years. He was a prominent Mason and the 
lodge in Elk City was named in his honor, being known as Cai'son Lodge, 
No. 1?2. Children were born to them as follows : Robert, a farmer in 
Oklahoma; Lafayette; Thomas, a farmer of this county; MMttie, Mrs. Dr. 
Davis, of Inde])endence, Kansas. These children are all useful and re- 
spected members of society in the different communities in which they 
reside and deserve the uniform esteem in wliicli ihev are held. 



WILLIAM N. BANKS— William N. Banks, of the firm of Banks & 
Billings, lawyers, was born on August 15th, 1865, at Hobart, Lake 
county, Indiana. In August, 1871, his father, George L. Banks, moved 
with his family to Montgomery county, settling on a farm seven miles 
west of Coffeyville on the Indian Territory line. Since that time Wil- 
liam N. has been a resident of M'ontgomery couuty. 

At the age of eighteen he commenced teaching school and after 
teaching for two years went to Perdue University at Lafayette, Indiana, 
for two years, after which he returned to his home in Kansas and con- 
tinued teaching. 

Cpon the 13th day of July, 1887, he was married to Ollie M. Jones, 
after which lime he and his wife resided ujion the farm. Mr. Banks con- 
tinuing his teaching in the winter time, until October, 189"2. when he en- 
tered the law oflice of A. B. Clark as a law student. In August, 1894, 
he was admitted to the bar and in the following March formed a part- 
nershi]) with O. P. Ergenbright for the jiractice of law. This partnership 
continued until July, 19(12, when Mr. Banks became senior member of 
his present law firm. 

There have been born to Mr. and ]\[rs. Banks three children, two of 
whom, Thomas L. and Edith M., are living, the third having died at the 
age of three months. 



282 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mr. Banks Las never held public office, except while living in Fawu 
Creek township he was clerk of the township, and is at the present time 
serving his second term as a member of the board of education of In- 
dependence. In politics he is and always has been Republican. He is a 
member of the Presbyterian church, a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a mem- 
l)er of the Modern Woodmen of America. 



DAVID P. GREER— One of the solid men of Sycamore township, 
and a farmer who has nmde agriculture par, is David P. Greer, who re- 
sides on section 36-32-15. 

He dates his birth in Morgan county, Indiana, April 6th, 18.56, where 
he continued to reside on the old home farm until he came to ^lontgom- 
ery county, Kansas, in ISSO. His first location was seven miles west of 
Independence, in Rutland township, where he lived until 1889, when he 
bought his present farm of 160 acres. 

Mr. Greer is a son of Captain John E. Greer, well known throughout 
the county as one of the i)ioneers. who made a large property during his 
life time. The captain was a native of Kentucky and was one of seven 
children, viz: James M., of Montgomery county; John E., deceased; 
Mrs. Mary Carrell. deceased; Lyman M.. of Indiana; Mrs. Ruth Williams; 
Alexander C, of Montgomery county, and Mrs. Amanda Poor, deceased. 

The birth of Captain Greer occurred January 1st, 1829, and at two 
years his parents moved up into Indiana, where he continued to reside 
until the breaking out of the Civil war. He entered the Union army and 
particijiated in much of the severe service during the four years' war. 
The following from the Independence Tribune is to the point : "Captain 
John E. Greer, of Independence township, is dead, at the age of sixty- 
eight years. In the early part of the Civil war he enlisted at Waverly, 
Indiana, and went to the front as Lieutenant in Co. "F." 5th Ind. Cav.. 
and was with his regiment, afterward meiging into the 90th, in three 
years of war — except while a prisoner in the hands of the Confederates 
—and was promoted to a captaincy for bravery. His regiment was the 
first to enter Knoxville, Tenn., and was engaged in twenty-two battles. 

"During the service. Captain Greer was captured and was, for 
months, a ])risoner in Libby prison. He was active in digging the famous 
Straight tunnel, but before he could get away was transferred to Belle 
Isle and from there was exchanged, after being in captivity one year. 

"After his return home. Captain Greer was elected to the Indiana 
Legislature. About 1877 he removed to this county and purchased a 
farm in Rutland townshij) and gathered his children about him, adding 
largely to his acreage. He prospered and also became prominent in pub- 
lic atiairs.'* 

The wife of John E. Greer was Margaret Petree. of Decatur county, 




A. C. STICH. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 283. 

Indiana. She boro him ten children, as follows: Nancy E. Pettet, of 
Montgomery county; William M. and .Joseph G., deceased; navid P., 
Lucy C. Wagaman and Abrani L., of Mdntgoinei-y connty ; ^largaret V., 
deceatjed; .Tames E.. of the Indian Territory; Annie L. Holden and Oliver 
L., both of Montgomery county. 

David P. Greer, on February Kith, 1S77, married Alice .Jolly. Mrs. 
Greer is a native of the "Hoosier State," and is a daughter of Samuel J, 
and Frances (McDowell) Jolly. Her children are Oliver G., who mar- 
ried Maude Perkins, and lives in Sycamore township, with his two child- 
ren, Euby Z. and Opal E ; Tula F. resides in Indei>endence with her hus- 
band, Orion Page; Icey M. and I>avid </. are young people at home. 

The beautiful rural home which Mr. Greer now owns is the result of 
his own untiring efforts since coming to the county. He began with the 
small capital of four hundred dollars, and now owns one of the best 
quarter sections in the county, well stocked and in a good state of culti- 
vation. He devotes his land to general farming, and takes a special in- 
terest in the breeding of Poland China hogs, having this year l()(t head of 
these fine animals. 

In a fraternal way, Mr. Greer is a inend)er of the Modern Woodmen^ 
of the A. H. T. A., and of the Home Builders' T'nion. He has taken an 
intelligent and helpful interest in matters i)ertaining to good govern- 
ment in the two ]iluces where he has lived in the county, there being but 
three years since his coming that he has not held a place on the school 
board." In political life he is also quite active, being one of the staunch 
workers of the Republican i)arty. He served two terms as justice of the 
peace in Rutland townshiit, was township treasurer two terms and has 
been a delegate to numerous county and state conventions, during the 
past twenty years, having been a delegate to the state convention which 
nominated Governor :Morrill. He and his family have the good wishes 
of a very large circle of friends in the county and the esteem in which 
Mr. Greer is held is most universal. 



ADOLPH C. STICH— There was born in the quaint little town of 
Stade, in the ancient province of Hanover, in the German Empire, Oc- 
tober 13, 1846, a babe, whose early childhood was passed within the 
shadows of familiar haunts in his native place and gave no promise of an 
uncommonly strenuous and eventful life. He was a son of humble par- 
ents, whose household was sustained by the rewards of honest toil and 
whose righteous lives were a guaranty of the i)ro](er rearing of their off- 
spring. He Ijecame a hardy and rugged boy and tinally a strong and 
vigorous youth and the change from the crowded and decaying conditions 
of the Old World to the openness, freedom and freshness of the New 
World was an auxiliary to both his bodily and mental develo])ment. The- 



284 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

serious affairs of life began with him after he had acquired a liberal 
training in the common schools and with the early appearance of that 
ambition which seemed finally to consume him and. under pressure of 
which, have his life achievements been wrought. Industry seemed as 
natural to him as hunger and the reward which it brought was treasured 
in some way which marked the stepping-stones of his advance. He wasted 
neither time nor substance and the age of maturity brought him near to 
the point of occupying a distinct station among men. Spurred on by the 
enthusiasm of success and guided by the wisdom of a superior and uner- 
ring mind he has. when just jtast the meridian of life, reached the acme 
of his career and shown to mankind the real genius of his mental bent. 
Boi'n poor and reared without luxuries, but to habits of a moral and up- 
right life, and having achieved, through individual efforts, the gratifying 
rewards of wealth, position and inrtuence, Adolph C. Stich, of Inde- 
dence, stands a citizen to be prized and a man to be admired. 

September 17th. 1872. he began a residence in Montgomery county, 
Kansas, which has been constantly maintained and which has grown in 
importance with the lapse of years. The effects of his business connec- 
tion with the various affairs of the county have been felt to the extreme 
of every cardinal point and. as it were, by the stroke of his hand con- 
ditions have been changed and once dormant and slumbering communi- 
ties have sprung into life and become a<tive industrial centere. His 
brain and his capital have been a powerful stimulus in awakening the 
activity that now is and which has placed Montgomery county among the 
wealthy and progressive municipalities of our commonwealth. 

("oniing to Independence with some experience as a merchant he be- 
came a member of the firm of Stidi Brothers, doing a general mercan- 
dise business, and for ten years his energies and bis foresight contrib- 
uted to the wealth and popularity of the firm. In 1883 he purchased, in 
partnership with Henrv Foster, the Hull Bank and became its cashier 
at once, occupving the 'position till the change in the name of the insti- 
tution, in 1891. from The Citizens" Bank to The Citizens' National Bank, 
at which time he took the presidency of the new concern. This position 
he has occupied, uninterrui.ted. since and has filled with exceptional and 
singular ability and to the great profit of the institution. 

As the demand for factories has sprung up in his city he has been 
alert to subscribe liberally to their construction and included in the list 
of enteri)ri.ses he has thus aided are the Independence Gas ("ompany and 
the Independence Brick Company. The enterprise which has distin- 
guished him most as a man of public spirit, even in advance of the age, 
is the planning and construction of the magnificent Independence hotel, 
the "Carl Leon." without dtmbt the finest hotel in the State of Kansas. 
In company with G. M. Carpenter, of Elgin, this structure was erected in 
1902, at a cost of many thousand dollars and was opened to the public! 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 285 

February 18, 1903. As an endui-ing niouunieut to the enterprise of Mr. 
8tirh tliis building is iinrixaied by any to tlie credit of a citizen of Mont- 
gomery county. His splendid residence, apin'oachiug the niagniflceuce 
and proportions of a modest palace, is one of the beautiful structures in 
the city, expensive in ap]iointnient and popular as a hospitable home. 

Like most boys of foreign Itirth, A. C. Stich began life on the farm. 
His father was a mierchant in the old country but when the family was es- 
tablished in the United Stales, and at home in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 
young Adolph's industrial inclination cropped out strongly as a hand at 
|8.00 a montli on the farm. His meager earnings served to reenforce his 
natural capital and in time he engaged in the agricultural implement 
business in the famous "celery city" of the "Wolverine State." Leaving 
there his advent to Independence, Kansas, is announced. 

The Stiches came to the T'nited States in 18.57. ("arl Stich, our 
subject's father, mari-ied Eleanor Hilbers. They represented old fam- 
ilies of their native Hanover and i)assed away in Michigan, being the 
parents of four children, namely: .John, of Seattle, Washington; Wil- 
liam, of Paola, Kansas; Adolph C, of this review; and Dorette, wife of 
John Harris, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

Among the first acts which indicated the latent and constructive 
ability of A. C. Stich, was his inventiun of a bed spring and the patent 
of the same. This hap]>eiied before he was twenty-one and he handled 
the invention to his advantage, turning it into some of the money which 
constituted his capital to engage in regular business. 

One of the domestic ini,i)rovemeuts of Montgomery county, which 
was of momentous interest to its citizens, was the construction of the In- 
dependence, Virdrgris Valley & Western Railroad, now a prominent 
part of the 5£issouri Pacitic railway — main line to the south. Stich & 
Foster .secured the contract for the building of the line from Leroy, Kan- 
sas, to the south line of Independence township, Mjintgoniery county. 
This piece of road was completed in 1886, and turned over to the Gould 
interests who consolidated it with the D. M. & A. railway and con- 
struded the link from near the town of Jefferson to Dearing .where it 
connected with the latter railroad. The building of this line and the ex- 
ecution of this contract by Stich & Foster marked the completion of the 
largest enterprise ever undertaken by Montgomery county promoters. 
It bii'ught another system of railroad into the county in competition 
with a single line of road and thereby became a gTeat saving, in the way 
of rales, to every shipper and merchant in the county. 

Mr. Stich was first married in Hillsdale, Michigan, his bride being 
Anna Winsor, who died in Independence, Kansas, in 1882, being the 
mother of three deceased children: ("arl, .Adelaide and Eleanor. In 1888, 
Mr. Stich married Mrs. Catherine Kaisor, a lady of refinement and edu- 
cation and occupying a high social ])osition in the city. Mrs. Stich has 



286 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

served three years as jnesident of the Ladies' Library Association of In- 
depeiideuce and is a i>roiiiinent worker in the Presbyterian church. iShe 
is tlie mother of ^Irs. W. E. Ziegler, of ("offeyville, wife of one of the 
leading lawyers of Montgomery county. Mr. Stich's deceased son, Carl, 
is honored in the first word of the comi)Ound name "Carl-Leon" given to 
the famous hosteli'y before mentioned, the name, "Leon," being in honor 
of a deceased sou of 5ir. Carpenter, one of the pai-tners in its construc- 
tion. 

In this review only the salient features of a busy life have been 
touched. It is offered to jiosterity as an illustration of the versatility of 
one who performed a conspicuous part in the commercial affairs of Mont- 
gomery county. "Not letting go of one thing till he gathered hold of 
something else" shows his characteristic tenacity and exemplifies a life 
of ceaseless and determined activity. He has manifested some interest in 
the politics of his county and. as a Rei>ub]ican. has wielded a positive 
influence in local political affairs. He is a thirty-two degree Mason and a 
member of the Presbvterian church. 



DEWTTT C. KRONE— A record of the pioneers of Montgomery 
county \\ould be sbject to just and severe criticism without some ex- 
tended mention of D. C. Krone. He is so widely known in the county and 
has been here so long that few can gainsay that he was here, really in 
the beginning. When he drove his mule team from LeRoy, Kansas, down 
into this county, winding his way about over the prairies over unknown 
roadways, across nameless creeks and through untamed valleys and head- 
lands, nobody here now witnessed his passing, save those who might have 
accouijianied the caravan on the same mission with himself. 

He selected, as his future home, a tract of land on Sycamore creek, 
iu section 22, towushi]* 31, range 15, where he has, for thirty-four years, 
carried on farming with its attendant auxiliaries successfully and ef- 
fectively. His settlement was almost in the midst of a band of O.sages, 
whose chief. Xopawalla. was a frequent visitor to the households of the 
scattered settlers and with whose tribe a reluctant sort of business and 
social intercourse was carried on. The minutia which made up the year- 
ly incidents of a life on this frontier can not be touched upon here and 
only as they are revealed in the experiences of the numerous pioneers 
meutituied in this volume will these incidents become known again to us 
and to our jiosterity. 

The very composition aud makeup of the man has nuuntained D. C. 
Krone a leading citizen of his townshij) and county. It has been with no 
presuni]ition on his part, or any disregaid of the proper reserve, that his 
name is first mentioned among the citizenship of his township, or that 
he is (oordinate with only a few distinguished pioneers of his county. He 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 287 

seemcii designed to take the initiative in matters and the propriety of 
his aots was so apparent tliat, of one aciord. the voice of neighborly ap- 
proval came back. In the social life of his comniunity, in its political 
entangleiiieuts or upheavals, in the cause of public education and in the 
religious atmosphere of his church he is unconsciously a power in the pro- 
motion of progress and harmony unimpeded. 

He has anticipated, in a way, the needs of the future in the pres- 
ervation of incidents of the past. A student of events himself, his genius 
has proni])ted him to make records and to preserve data concerning the 
salient, historical events of his locality that the past may not become 
obscured to the future and that the works of the pioneers shall not have 
been wrought in vain. He puts his thoughts readily and intelligibly on 
paper and his contributions to county papers contain much food for the 
searcher after historical truth. 

I)ecend)er 4, 1S(JS. I). (\ Krone look his i-laiiii in Montgomery county. 
H^ came to Kansas the same year he left the army and stopped for three 
years near the Neosho river, Ijetwcen LeEoy and Neosho Falls. He was 
from Macon county, Illinois, where his birth occurred April 17, 1844. His 
father, Daniel Krone, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, February 
2, 1800, and took for a wife Sarah A. Kiester.' He left his native Btate 
at an early day and settled in Macon county, Illinois, where his large 
family were brought up. He was a son of Michael Krone who had 
children: Jacob, I'hilo, Elijah, David, Jesse, Daniel. Tillie. Mary, Abigail 
and Hannah. Daniel married a daughter of Michael Kiester and was the 
father of twelve children, as follows: Duquesne H., who has resided in 
Montgomery county since 1877 and who was a veteran of the Civil War, 
belonging to Company "E," Forty-lirst Illinois; Mrs. Mary Star, of In- 
dependence, Kansas; Mrs. Susan Bradshaw. deceased; Dewitt C, of this 
review; Jesse S., deceased; Ellis K.. of ^yilson county, Kansas; Mrs. 
Jennie Stevens, of Taylorville, Illinois; Henry C., deceased; Charles L., 
of Oklahoma; Edward B., of Chickasha, Indian Territory; and Mts. 
Myrtle Taylor, of Indei)endence, Kansas. 

D. C. Krone acquired a country school education and grew to matur- 
ity on the farm. In 1802 he enlisted in Comjiany "E." Forty-first Illinois 
Infantry, under Col. I. C. Pugh, the regiment being attached to the 
Army of the Tennessee. The principal engagements participated in by 
Mr. Krone were the Red Eiver exjiedition. Siege of Vicksburg, Benton- 
ville. Cold Water and March to the Sea, and on to the Grand Review at 
Washington, D. C. He was discharged at Louisville. Kentucky, and was 
mustered out July 28, 1805. Returning home, his trip to Kansas was 
soon nuide and his connection with Kansas' development took place. 

In 18ti8, Mi-. Krone married Margaret J., daughter of John S. Lo- 
baugh. of Neosho Falls. The Lobaughs came to Kansas as ])ioneers from 
the State of Pennsylvania. The union of Jfr. Krone and his wife. Mar- 



283 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

garet J., produced the following childien. viz: Xaonii, wife of Jaeob S, 
Corziue, of Tarlorville, Illinois; Katherine M. ; Mrs. Mabel M. Burke, 
of ^^'l.istler. Oklahoma ; and ^^'alter W., of Neodesha. Kansas. The moth- 
er of these ehildren jiassed away April 9, 1880. Mr. Krone married 
Mary I. White, a daughter of Capt. Charles White, of Longton, Knsas. 
Two daughters only have resulted from this marriage, viz: Edith Lufile, 
and Ruth, both with the family home. The family are members of the 
Methodist church and Mr. Krone has served for thirty-two years as a 
member of the district board of the Krone school. In politics he is a Re- 
publican, and has been three times chosen as a delegate to the State con- 
vention. 



WILLIA:SI a. HEAPE— One of the successful young farmers of the 
county is William A. Heajie. of Sycamore township, on section 5-31-1 <>. He 
began his agricultural career in 1801 with a capital of $8.00. and. while 
any number of young men were de})loring the delay of opportunity to 
pass their way, he boldly proposed to Robert Reis that he rent him a 
tract of 392 acres of wheat land, cash rent to be |1,200, Mr. Reis liked 
the sjtirit of the young man, chanced him and was not disappointed. To- 
day y\v. Heape owns his ipiarter section of land with its improvements, 
and he has demonstrated to the satisfaction of all that the possibilities 
of agriculture to the man of industry are without bounds. 

William Heape was born in Perry county, Illinois, September 19, 
1809, a son of Abraham Heape, a native of the "Keystone State." When 
William was nine years old his parents located on a farm in Montgomery 
county, near Koiton. where he was reared and given a good common 
school education. His first venture for himself was in Clark county, 
Kansas, where he worked on a stock farm for .|16 per month, .\nxiou9 
to get ahead in the world, and not seeing much in the future at such a 
figure, he determined to return to Montgomery county where he was well 
known and try farming on his own account. The opening lines of this 
sketch relate his success. 

The married life of Mr. Heape began in 1897, when he was joined 
to Rose, daughter of Albert Utterback, both natives of Indiana. Their 
home is brightened by the presence of a son and a daughter, Lee and 
Hazel. 

For the iiurjtoses of a family record the following is added: Ulysses 
Heajic our subjects grandfather and a native of Pennsylvania, married 
and later moved to Ohio with his seven children : Katherine, now Jlrs. 
Miller, John, George, Cyrus, Levi, Abraham and Robert. Abraham mar- 
ried Caroline Miller, a native of Maryland, and a daughter of Jacob and 
Eva Miller. The result of his union was a family of ten children: Jacob, 
of Meade county. Kansas; Nancy Chew, of Galena. Kansas; Sarah Davis, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 289 

William A. and Katheriiie Davis, of Montgomery county; Eva Veatch 
and Elizabeth Keith, also of Meade oounty; Robert, who is a leading cit- 
izen of Montgomery county, Kansas; and John, his twin brother, resides 
in Meade county. Kansas. Tlie youngest is Frederick, who re.sides in 
Montgomery county. 



ROBERT P.\T;LL— Three decades in the State of Kansas have trans- 
formed the subject of this review into one of the popular and substantial 
citizens of Montgomery county. Given a native* of Illinois and a veteran 
of the Civil War, and one has a combination of enterprise and loyalty 
to country which is a sure guaranty of a good citizen. 

The immediate family history of Mr. Paull begins with his father, 
John Paull, who was a native of Virginia and settled in Illinois in the 
early jiart of the nineteenth century. Here he married Nancy Potter, 
who also had come fron) the State of Virginia. John I'aull was a black- 
smith by trade, though he also tilled the soil, and he remained in Illinois 
until after the Civil War, when he came out to Kansas whei'e he passed 
the remainder of his days, dying at the age of fifty-nine years. The 
wife had died at thirty-eight, after having borne a family of fourteen 
childien. Robert was the eldest of the family, and thei-e are five other 
living children. 

Robert Paull was born in Adams county. Illinois, on the 2Gth of Sep- 
tember, 1841. and was reared to know the value of hard labor and the 
necessity of economy in the home. He was able to secure a fair education 
and >vas about ready to begin life on "his own hook" when "Uncle Sam," 
tlii'ough President Lincoln, informed him he was needed to help disci- 
pline some of his unruly children. Loyalty to country being one of the 
cardinal principles of the Paull family, it was not a difficult thing to se- 
cure the consent of the father to become her defender, and Robert was 
therefore enlisted as a private soldier in Company "K," of the Ninety- 
ninth Illinois Infantry. In this company he served three long years, 
3'ears busy with battle and strife and marchings, but years which saved 
and unified the grandest country on the great round globe. Mr. Paull 
was with Crant in the notable siege of Vicksburg and took part in the 
battles of Champion Hills, Jackson, and many skirmishes. His regiment 
was the first to cross the river in the final charge at Vicksburg where he 
was struck by a spent bullet in the left side, .\fter Vicksburg, the regi- 
ment was sent <lown into Texas, where, in a small skirmish, Mr. Paull 
again reieived a close call, this time on the right side. Ilic l)nllct remain- 
ing on the inside of his shirt. 

At the close of the war. Mr. Paull came out to Kansas on a visit to 
his father and on his return was joined in marriage with Mary E. Mil- 
ler, the date being L^OT. He settled on a farm in Pike count v! Illinois, 



290 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

which he cultivated until 1873, when he followed the example of his 
father and came out to Montgomery county. He settled on an eighty- 
acre tract three miles northeast of the present town of Havana, and 
which is a part of the valuable farm of 236 acres he now owns. 
Hpre he has engaged in general farming and his well-tilled acres dem- 
onstrates what persistent and intelligent agricultural effort will accom- 
plish in Sunny Kansas. The small box house he erected on the eighty 
later was replaced by the commodious and handsome residence in which 
he now resides, and where he and his wife extend their friends a most 
cordial welcome. 

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Paull, a son and a 
daughter: Frank L. is in the hotel business in Independence, while the 
daughter, Nancy, is the wife of Milton Bowersock, a prosperous farmer 
residing in the neighborhood. 



M. F. CASSIDY— Mtichael F. Cassidy, one of the "69ers," and thus 
entitled to membership in the Society of Pioneers, is one of the race 
whose magnificent battle against the wrongs and oppression of England 
has challenged the admiration of mankind and which is now evidently 
drawing to a close in the peaceful transference of the land back to its 
rightful owners. "Ireland for the Irish" is about to lie realized. But 
it has cost England the flower of the Irish race to realize that homes, and 
homes only, make a contented people. 

One of the thousands of families who came to America in the middle 
of the last century was that of Michael M. Cassidy, who left the old coun- 
try in 1848. Michael F. was born in County Monaghan, October 22, 1835. 
His father was one of four children — his mother being Katheriue, daugh- 
ter of Owen Bird, of the same county. The family of Mr. Cassidy. Sr., con- 
sisted of six children, all born in the island, as follows: James, Thomas, 
Ann, the latter dying in Ireland; Mary McOuire, Joseph, of Clinton coun- 
ty, Iowa; Michael F., subject of this review; and John, of Minnesota. 

At maturity, Michael F. Cassidy married Bridget O'Brien, a native 
of Canada, and a daughter of James and Elizabeth O'Brien, natives of 
County Cork, Ireland. This wife became the' mother of three children, 
two now deceased. To Ellen A. Dunn, the lady who now presides over 
the hniiie of Mr. Cassidy and whom he married in IST.'j, there were born 
five children: Michael F., deceased; ilary A., a teacher of the county; 
John D., cxjiress messenger on the Frisco road; Nellie, at home; and 
Teresa, a student of the county high school. Mrs. Cassidy is also "to 
the manor born," being the daughter of John and Bridget Londergan, 
of County Tipperary, Ireland. 

Mr. Cassidy was a wide-awake thirteen-year-old when he came to 
America with his pai-ents. They sailed from Dublin on the good ship 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 29I 

"Cliiinrellor St. John" and came bv way of New Orleans. A rough voy- 
age was exjierieuced, the shiji having struck on the Island of Hayti, two 
of her masts being cai-ried away. The journey was thus lengthened to 
a tiresome {)eriod of fourteen weeks. At New Orleans the family secured 
passage up the river to St. Louis and were about to embark when the 
overloaded condition of the boat caused the father to decide to forfeit 
tickets rather than risk their lives; a decision which showed much wis- 
dom, as the boat actually went to the bottom of the river. Boarding tho 
next boat, they again were i)rovidentia]ly hindered from reaching their 
destination, having to disembark at Memphis on account of cholera break- 
ing out on the boat. Here they remained four months, when the jour- 
ney was resumed. Not long after reaching St. Louis cholera became epi- 
demic there and Mr. fassidy decided to move farther up the country. 
Thus near Dubuque, Iowa, they had their first experience in American 
agriculture. Davenport. Scott county, and Clinton county of that State 
were points of residence for the family until 18G9, when they came down 
into Montgomery county. Kansas. 

In the s]iring of 18(!ft, the journey was accom])lisIied by team from the 
old home in Iowa to the undeveloped region of Southern Kansas. Our 
subject filed on the claim where they have since lived, in West Cherry 
township, on section 3-o2-l(). Neighbors were few and far between — 
unless one might call the "noble Red Man" a neiglilioi- — in which case they 
were plenty. However, Mr. Cassidy always liked the Indian and got 
along s]>lendidly with him. Only once was there trouble, and that had 
such a laughable denouement, it passed off quietly. While he was away 
one day. Chief Heaver's son undertook to frighten Mrs. Cassidy. After 
worrying her as much as he desired in the house, he climbed on to]) of the 
chimney, and the first sight Mr. Cassidy had of him was in that j^osition, 
wavirg a red blanket. To his orders to come down the boy gave Mr. Cas- 
sidy the laugh, whereuiion that gentleman proceeded inside, placed a 
goodly jportion of jiowder in the firejilace and while the boy was at the 
height of his glee, touched it off. The sight of that boy ".scudding" ofE 
across the ]iruirie still remains in the memory of our subject as one of the 
laughable occurrences of that early day. Mr. Cassidy is responsible for 
the name of Ii-ish creek, the Indians having learned that he was Irish, 
thought to com])Iiment him. and to some enquiring whites gave that 
name because the Cassidys lived on that creek. 

In ]M'i!t, Mr. Cassidy and his family were the only white iM'ople in 
^lontgomery county. Kansas, to celebrate the Fourth of July. Mr. (^as- 
sidy had been invited by Cai>tain Ayers, mayor of Osage Mission, and 
Mr. Gilmore, an old Indian trader, to come over to a war dance of several 
tribes which met for several days at Osage M/ission and during these days 
the celebraticni took place. 

With the exii'iition of scncu years in the lumber business in Iowa, 



292 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mr. Cassidy has passed his life as a tiller of the soil. His standing in 
Montgomery county is of the best, as he has ever evinced a disposition to 
give his intiuence to those things that make for the material and intel- 
lectual advancement of the community. He is a member of the school 
board and acted as census enumerator in 1900. Both he and his family 
are devout communicants of the Holy Catholic church, and deserve, as 
they receive, the esteem of the entire community. 



A. P. FORSYTH— The subject of this sketch was born in New Rich- 
mond, Clermont county, Ohio, May 24, 1830. He is of »Scotch decent. His 
parents moved to Indiana when he was five years old and settled twenty 
miles northeast of Yincennes, where he remained most of the time until 
he reached manhood. 

His education was received in the conmion schools of that time, sup- 
plemented with two terms at Asbury University (now De Paw). 

He was married to Miss Louisa S. Hinkle, November 27, 1851. They 
had born to them six children, four of whom are living, three sons and 
one daughter. 

He was admitted into the Indiana conference of the M/. E. church as 
a travelling preacher in lS5.i and sustained that relation for eight years. 

He enlisted in the service of his country in July. 18G2, and. upon the 
organizatit)n of the regiment, was commissioned by (ien. O. I'. Morton, 
flirst lieutenant of Company "I," Ninety-seventh regiment, Indiana 
Volunteers, and was discharged in August, 1861, by reason of disability 
incurred in the service. 

lie Uieii moved to Illinois, in the spring of ISO."), and settled on a farm 
thirteen miles west from Paris, the county seat of Edgar county. He 
took quite an active part in the Grange movement; was elected and 
served three terms of two years each as master of the State Grange of Il- 
linois; was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress from the then Fifteenth 
district, as a Greenbacker or National Republican, the district having 
5.000 Democrat ii- majority, louring his term in Congress, he acted and 
voted with the Rei»iiblican ]>arty u])on all National questions. 

Ill 1881, he moved to Kansas and settled on a farm in Liberty town- 
ship, six miles southeast of Independence. He took quite an active part 
in local ])()liti(S and in the state cam]>aign of 1888 and 1800, when Ly- 
man V. Humphrey was the candidate U>v governor, and spoke in a num- 
ber (if roinitics ill dilVcrent ]iarts of the slate; also took an active i)art in 
the campaign of 1S02 when A. \A'. Smith was a candidate for governor. 
Since then he has taken no active part in politics. 

He served three terms of three years each as regent of the Kansas 
State Agricultural College, being ajtpointed thereto by Gov. John A. 
Martin and Lyman I'. Hum]ihiey, successively. He continued farming 




W. H. SLOAN. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. Zg;^ 

until 1000, when he rented his farm and moved to Independence, Kansas, 
where he now resides. 



WILLIAM H. SLOAN — Louishurg township became the home in 
July, 1868, of William H. Sloan, one of the solid men of Montgomery 
county, who shares, in large part, the credit for the splendid development 
that has since come to the county. As stated in the review devoted to 
the Tnscho family, these two gentlemen came together and filed on ad- 
joining claims. M^r. Sloan's quarter being on section 1.3-32-14. Here he 
passed through all the trials incident to pioneer life and is now enjoying 
the fruits of his well-directed efforts, being, at the present time, in posses- 
sion of a farm of 84.5 acres and having his home, since 1900, in Rutland 
township. 

He landed on his claim that hot July day with a frying pan, a cof- 
fee pot, an axe,a sack of corn and a piece of bacon; having come from 
Hardin county, Ohio. He pnt uji the usual 14x16 house and the follow- 
ing year began farming opei'ations. He soon became well acquainted 
with the Indians and, thongh not lieing able to "conjure" them as his 
friend, ".Medicine Man" Inscho, still, he lived with them in com])arative 
peace. He became especially well acquainted with interpreters Alvin 
Wood and Paul and with Chiefs Nopawalla, Chetopa and Strike Axe, 
and found them, in many res])ects. not wanting in the noble qualities of 
the "Fenimore ("ooper" Indian. 

As time passed. Mr. Sloan gave his best endeavors to the esatblish- 
nient of schools, churches and other civilizing and refining influences 
and has always been particularly jealous of the good reputation of his 
township and county. He has served faithfully in the unpaid ofiSces of 
township trustee and on the school lioard and is ready at all times to en- 
ter into any enterprise that will advance the public good. He is an old 
time JIason, behniging to all the ditl'erent branches of that noble order, 
from Master Mason to Mystic Shrine. 

Touching briefly on the family history of Mr. Sloan, John Sloan, his 
grandfather, was an Irishman of Reformed Presbyterian faith who, to- 
gether with a family of eleven children, came to America and settled on 
a farm in Ohio. The names of these iliildveu were: William, Samuel. Jo- 
seph, John, Thomas, James, David. Robert, Margaret, Elisha and Fannie. 
Of these, William married Ann Scott, also a native of the Emerald Isle, 
who became the mother of: Sarah A. Weaver, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Stew- 
art. Mrs. Frances J. Siiaw. Margaiet H., Mrs. Agnes L. Stewart, John, 
William H. and .Joseph <i. 

\\iiliam M. Sloan nvarried Rhoda Debo. a native of the "Hoosier 
State" and daughter of William and Henrietta Debo. These parents 
were children of the pioneer families of that state and jiassed their lives 



294 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

in the onltivation of its soil. To Mr. and Mrs. Sloan have been horn r 
Homer, Ethel, Jessie, Helen and Fay. 

Born Jamiary 15, 1842, William Henry Sloan was reared in his na- 
tive county of Chanipaion, in Ohio. and was at that ajje when the blood 
runs most freely, when the darkening clouds of the Civil War gathered in 
terrible array. He chafed under home restraint until September, 1864, 
when he enrolled as a private in Company "G," Xinth Ohio Volunteer 
Cavalry, under Col. William Hamilton, Oeneral Kiljtati'ick of the 
Third Cavalry division. Army of the Cumberland, commanding. He 
reached the front in time to take part in "I'ncle Billy" Sherman's picnic 
excursion to the sea, and participated in the closing scenes of the war 
in the Carolinas. His mustering out occurred at Concord, North Caro- 
lina, in July, 18G.5, when he returned home, to ne'er again engage in mor- 
tal strife with his fellowman. 



THOMAS HARRISOX— A period of thirty-three years takes one 
back to the beginning of things in Independence. Those were the days 
of "shacks," prairie schooners, bad Indians and worse cowboys; a con- 
trast, indeed, to the beautiful homes, elegant equijjages and refined and 
intelligent citizenship which fill the city today. There are a few of those 
early landmarks left, but on the principle of the "survival of the fittest" 
the pld settler of today is generally a well-to-do, self-respecting citizen, 
whose earlier strenuous days have given place to the quiet jog-trot of 
prosperous old age. On the 22d of September, 1870. the gentleman whose 
honored name initiates this paragraph took up his residence in Inde- 
pendence, and the entire stretch of the three decades has found him 
first and foremost in every movement that had for its object the better- 
ment of conditions in the town of his adoption. 

Somersetshire, England, was the place of birth of our subject, the 
time January 8, 1835. He was a son of William and Ann (Chapman) 
Harrison, both now deceased. Following the good old English custom, 
Thomas was apprenticed to a trade after he had received a fair common 
school education, the jieriod of apprenticeship in his case occupying the 
eleveri years prior to his majority. This gave him ample time to thor- 
oughly master the saddlery trade. He worked as a journeyman in the 
city of London until 1808, when, in September, he carried out a resolu- 
tion he had made some time before of seeking his fortune in the new, 
world. He settled in the city of Detroit and worked at his trade two 
years, by which time he had succeeded in laying by enough to think of 
starting business for himself. Favorably imjjressed with representa- 
tions concerning the new State of Kansas, he began an investigation 
which culminated in his selecting Indejiendence as the most likely point, 
a decision he has never regretted. In company with his brother-in-law^ 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 295 

James Cullyford, Mr. Hiirrison entered upon his business career under 
the firm name of Cull.yford & Harrison, saddlers, a firm which was dis- 
solved five years later, the occasion being the first disastrous fire that 
visited the business section of the little town, and in which their building 
and its contents were destroyed. With the proverbial English grit, Mr. 
Harrison started at the foot of the ladder and again began its toilsome 
ascent, this time alone. Ten years later, he again suffered severely by fire, 
but since which time he has had a peaceful and successful career. Singu- 
larly enough, both fires originated next door, and both are said to have 
been of incendiary origin. Mr. Harrison is engaged extensively in the 
sale i)f leather goods, all kinds of farm implements and vehicles, which 
he houses in a commodious two-story business building, 23x140 feet. 
His trade is not confined by county or state lines, as his reputation of 
dealing in none but the best goods was a matter of careful calculation 
in the earlier days of his business career. 

As intimated, Mr. Harrison's citizenship has been of the helpful 
Tiind. He has, at difterent times, served in offices of trust connected with 
the government of the city ; a mendter of the fire company for eleven 
years, in the council eight years, during which many of the substantial 
improvements were made in the city, his last term being honored with 
election as president of that body. For one term he was a member of the 
school board. 

Before leaving the land of his birth, Mr. Harrison had secured a 
partner to share with him the joys and sorrows of this life, the lady be- 
ing JIary A. Cullyford, a native of Somersetshire. Her three children 
were: William, in business with his father; Louisa, single; and Charlie, 
who died in infancy. The mother of these children died just one year 
from the date of Mis-. Harrison's coming to Independence. The lady who 
now i)resides over his home and who became his wife in 1872, was Mrs. 
Catherine Morrison, and to them one son was born. Charles T., now a 
young pharmacist of the city. 

Believing in the fraternity idea, Mr. Harrison early became a mem- 
ber of the I. O. O. F., in which order he has filled all the chairs and is 
at present Chief Patriarch of the Encampment. He is also an active 
memter of the Woodmen, having held the office of Sovereign Lieutenant 
for a number of years. It is not fulsome praise to say that no more high- 
ly resi)ected citizen lives in Montgomery county than Thomas Harrison. 
His life has at all times been an open book whose leaves remain stainless. 



BERNHARDT ZAUGG— The late pioneer whose name initiates 
this meuioii' was a character, somewhat uni(iue, whose career of twenty- 
seven years in Independence and vicinity was marked for its unabated 
industry and for its versatility. He came here in ISTll, when the town 



296 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

possessed scarcely moie than the name, enjjaged in the hutcher business 
the first three years and tt)llowed it with a term of years in the whole- 
sale liquor business. On retiring from this, he occupied his farm in the 
Verdigris bottom just east of the city and was employed with its conduct 
until failing health forced his withdrawal from physical labors. He 
again became a citizen of Independence where he died June 8, 1897. Such 
is ii brief synopsis of the life and achievements of Bernhardt Zaugg who 
filled a niche in the business life of M[ontgomery county. "Widely known, 
respected by all, with honorable ancestry and without posterity he left 
to the world the proud record of a successful life. 

Bernhardt Zaugg was a Swiss by nativity. He was born in the 
province of Berne, April 12. 1840. and was a son of Ulrich and Elizabeth 
(Funkhouser) Zaugg, somewhat extensive and well-to-do farmers of the 
province. The parents were born and died there and were communicants 
in the Lutheran church. Fourteen children were born to them, the sec- 
ond oldest being Bernhardt of this sketch. Two sisters and two brothers 
of them came to the I'nited States. Bernhardt in 18()8 and Peter and the 
sisters — Mrs. Elizabeth Euberg. deceased, of C'olorado. and ^Irs. Barbara 
Avenerius, of Ottawa. Kas. — following later on. Bernhardt Zaugg was 
fairly educated in the schools provided for his station in Switzerland and 
learned the butcher's trade. He passed through Castle Garden, robust 
and strong, and made his way to Saint Joseph, Missouri, where he ob- 
tained woik at his trade. Leaving the ^Missouri town, he drifted 
down to Baxter Springs, Kansas, from which point he came to Independ- 
ence. 

Montgomery county was the scene of Mr. Zaugg's effective work. 
With the aid and counsel of his wife he laid the foundation for and built 
a modest fortune. While he was young and full of vigor no task requir- 
ing industry was he unal)le to accom]ilish and it can be safely stated 
that he amassed his wealth by intelligent and ]>roperly directed effort. 
The farm he owned in the river bottom sold for .flC.OdO.Od. a greater sum 
than was paid for a like estate before that time in Montgomery county. 
His wife, whom he married in Independence r>ecember 24, 1872, was an 
ever-present aid to his andjition. She was Bernhardtina Tanner, born in 
Switzerland January 24, 1844. and a daughter of Conrad and Elizabeth 
(Sonderlieger) Tanner. Her parents had five children of which number 
she is ilie sole survivor. ^Irs. Zaugg was educated liberally in the ordi- 
narv schools of the Swiss rejiublic and. as it hajipened, came to the 
United States the same year her husband did. She passed from New 
York to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and came on to Kansas as soon as the 
government treated with the Osage Indians for their reservation. She 
and her late husband began life in an humble way and the quarter of a 
century in which they labored together their efforts achieved financial re- 
sults that were gratifvin"' indeed. Her aid of different industrial enter- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 297 

])i-ises of ludojiciulcnce show lier to be jiroorossive ami ]nililics])iiite(l. 
The briek plant, tlie cracker factory and the cotton mill have each been 
beneficiaries of her generosity and it is with a spirit of loyalty to her 
favorite city that she is prompted to these favoring acts. 

As pioneers Mr. and M^'rs. Zangg were among the first. As citizens 
they performed a modest but positive part in the internal affairs of Mont- 
gomery county and .sustained their names unsullied and unimpeached. 



.JAMES F. BLACKLEDGE— No other county in the state owes its 
phenomenal development to the lire and snap of youth to a greater extent 
than does Montgomery. Hiere in the years immediately succeeding the 
great f'ivil War. settled men whose youthful fiber had been steeled by 
war's exacting duties, and who are now referred to as "old settlers." 
Though still active, they have gradually given way to the younger ele- 
ment, whose educational equipment fits them to take up the more compli- 
cated work of advancing civilization. Among this number the gentle- 
man whose name initiates this paragraph is noted as a leader, adding 
to the restless energy of youth the sound judgment that comes from suc- 
cessful contact with the business world in various capacities. 

James F. Blackledge is the present efficient cashier and manager of 
the Caney Valley National Bank, of Caney City. The place of his nativ- 
ity was Rockville. Indiana, the time October 29, 1869. He is the youngest 
SOD of William and Phoebe (Johns) Blackledge, his parents belonging to 
that sturdy class of artisans which has made the "Hoosier State"' famous 
in the field of labor. The parents are natives of Ohio, the father born in 
1832. and ui)on arriving at manhood becoming a builder and contractor 
in Indiana. In this state he passed his early manhood and cheerfully 
laid aside the implements of peace to wield the sword in the glorious 
cause of freedom during the three long years of the Civil War. In 1879, 
he cast his lot with the "Sunflower State." settling first in Oswego, then at 
Coffeyville, where he and his wife now reside, honored members of socie- 
ty. Seven children were born to them, three boys and two girls yet liv- 
ing. 

A lad of but ten years when he first looked upon Kansas prairies, 
Mr. Blackledge lays claim to being a Kansan "to the manor born," the en- 
tire formative and educational period of his life being passed within the 
borders of the State. The foundation of his excellent education was laid 
in the district schools, from which he passed to a course in Salina Col- 
lege. At nineteen, after passing a creditable examination in tlie Civil Ser- 
vice, he received an appointment in the railway mail service as clerk, his 
first run being on the Ft. Scott & Webb City R. R., from Ft. Scott to 
AA'ebb City. The facility which he i-ipidly acquired in the service and a 
fine grasj) of the moie intricale iiroblems wliich came u|i for solution al- 



298 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

most daily, soon marked him for promotion, and he was tested in many 
different positions in tlie succeeding five years, in all of which he proved 
efficient. 

Th(> nuii'iiase of Mr. IMackledge. in 18f)0. had thrown hini into con- 
tact with a master of finance in the person of his father-in-law, E. P. Al- 
len, president of the Bank of Independence, and with whom, in 1893, he 
became associated in a banking venture in the then village of Caney. 
Joint purchasers of stock in the Caney Valley Bank, they operated it as 
a stale bank until lilOO, when it was incorjxtrated under the name now 
known, with a capital of .f25,000.0(l. Under the splendid management of 
Mr. Blackledge. this bank has become one of the solid financial institu- 
tions of the county, with a working dejiosit of nearly .$100,000.00. If one 
thing more than another has contributed to Mr. Blackledge's success in 
the business world, it is his absolute fidelity to a trust, and the careful 
consideration he gives to the minutest detail of the work. 

Politics, as such, jiroves of but little interest to Mr. Blackledge. He 
votes with the Republican ])arty, and. yielding to the .solicitation of 
friends, has served his municipality in the board of couneilmen. To this 
he adds the sinecure of city treasurer. 

The home life of our subject has been peculiarly felicitiotis. Miss 
Mattie H. Allen, daughter of E. P. and Mary Allen, becoming his wife 
as stated above, iu 181)0. To this union have been born four bright 
children — Ralph T., Paulina, Gwynne and Mercedes. 

Mr. Blackledge is a member of Masonic Blue Lodge, a K. of P. 
and an M. W. A. and Mrs. Blackledge is a member of the Presbyterian 
church. 



ELIZABETH BRYANT— The lady mentioned is one of the most in- 
teresting of the few pioneers of Montgomery county still left. She de- 
lights in reminiscences of the early days when wild game and the wilder 
Red Man roamed in undisputed possession of the i)rairie, and can tell 
many tales of adventure in which the "noble Red Man" figured, and gen- 
erally to his discredit. Mrs. Bryant came to Kansas in 1858, with her 
husband and family, first settling in Atchison county, thence, in 18G0, to 
Cofl'ey county, where they resided during the war. In 18G7, they moved 
down into Montgomery county, where they have ever since been among 
its best citizens. 

Mrs. Bryant was born in Vermilion county, Indiana, on the Slst of 
January, 1836, the daughter of John and Fannie (Harper) Geer, both 
natives of Kentucky. John Geer was one of the early settlers of the 
"Hoosier State," having come from Kentucky when a five-year-old boy. 
He lived in Indiana until 1853, when he removed with his family to Iowa, 
and in which state he died at the advanced age of eighty years, the wife 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 299 

at seventy-one. In Aii<;ust of 1855, Mrs. Bryant was married to Hezekiah 
F. Bryant, a native of Kentucky, born April 12th, 1832. He came over 
into Indiana when a boy and accompanied Mr. Geer's people when they 
moved out to Iowa. They rented a farm for several years in Iowa and, in 
1858, came to Kansas, as stated. The family were living in Coffey county 
when the war came on and ^U: Bryant at once enlisted. This left Mrs. 
Bryant to look after affairs at home and for the entire period of the war 
she bravely fought the battles necessary to keep her young family to- 
gether — and who shall say the brave women did not have battles to fight 
that took as high a degree of courage and as great display of generalship 
as were required on the actual field of carnage. 

Early in 18(>1. Mr. Bryant enlisted in the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, and 
served nearly five years with that organization, participating in many 
important engagements of the west. As stated, the family moved down 
into Montgomery county in 1867, where they located a claim on Elk river. 
This was in pioneer days, in truth, when but few white families were in 
the county, and when thieving Indians roamed over valley and hill. The 
Bryants were unfortunate enough to become the victims of these pests, 
losing their only team soon after their arrival, and even a coat and brace 
of revolvers that had been carelessly laid aside. Claim-jumpers were an- 
other species of varmint the new settlers had to reckon with. While Mr. 
Bryant was gone on his ti'ip back to Coffey county for the rest of the 
family, an effort was made to jump his claim, which his return in the 
nick of time prevented. As it was, the family moved into their cabin be- 
fore the roof was put on and slept the first night under a few rough 
board;-. The first year was one of privation and almost of suffering, but 
after their first crop was raised it became easier, and, as years passed, 
hard work brought prosperity and plenty to their door. 

This first farm was cultivated until the year 1885, when it was sold 
and a move made to where Mrs. Bryant now resides, two miles from 
Tyro. Mr. Bryant died on the 14th of March, 1889, at the age of fifty- 
six years eleven mouths and twenty-eight days, in Saint Andre Bay, 
Florida, while in search of health. He was a man whose fine traits of 
character won to him many friends. He cared little for public life, but 
was most envious of the good will of his friends and neighbors, among 
whom he was exceedingly popular. 

Mrs. Bryant was the mother of eight children : Marion, deceased in 
1886; John W.. .James, Benjamin X., deceased at one year and eiglit 
months; William A., R. Simeon, Ida May, deceased in infancy; and an 
unnamed infant. 

Of this family, William A. has dutifully remained at home, caring 
for his mother. He was born in Coffey county in 18G7, and has passed 
the eiitire period of his life at home. The farm which he cultivates evi- 
dences in its well-tilled acres the stroke of a master hand, and presents 



300 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

as fine an appearance as any in the confines of the county. He makes a 
specialty of breeding fine horses and takes great pride in driving the best 
in his stable, in tlie cultivation of his farm. His devotion to his mother is a 
matter of common remark, and he has resolutely remained single with 
the purpose of giving her the better care. He is regarded in the com- 
munity as a worthy son of a worthy father, whose many virtues he so 
aptly illustrates. 



JOHN CRICK — John Crick, a farmer of Louisburg township, Mont- 
gomery county, is a native of Old England, where he was born, in Boln- 
hurst. on the 25th of February. 1842. His father was James H. Hopwood, 
and his mother Sarah Crick. The parents lived and died in the Old 
Country, where, in Bedfordshire, our subject was educated and learned 
his trade. 

In the year 1866, the latter crossed the ocean and located in Phila- 
delphia, where he worked at his trade, as a machinist, with the firm of 
Bement & Dougherty, and also with the Sellers Tool Co. He remained in 
Philadelphia about one year and then went to Susquehanna, the same 
state, where he entered the employ of the New York and Erie Rail- 
road. Later, he came to Chicago and worked for The Rock Island Rail- 
road Company. He was with the Kansas Pacific for two years at dif- 
ferent points and then, finally, abandoned the life of a machinist and, in 
1871, located on the farm where he now resides. This farm consists of 
160 acres of flue land, which our subject keeps in a high state or cultiva- 
tion. It is stdckod well with the best grades of cattle and horses and 
shows the skillful hand of the master agriculturist. 

The domestic life of Ml-. Crick began April 15th, 1863. on which date 
he was joined in marriage with Mary, a daughter of Valentine and Cla- 
rinda (Durand) Cryderman. ^Mrs. Crick's father was a native of Canada, 
where he was born in 1816. In early manhood he located in Indiana and 
there married. He, later, moved to Illinois, where Mrs. Crick was born, 
she being one of a family of ten children, viz: George, deceased; Amelia, 
first married John Smith, but is now the wife of Edward Hays; Silvia, 
deceased wife of Jesse N. Gallamore, her children being : Nellie. Rose, Ivy, 
Jessie, Florence, Clarinda, Maude, Amy and Vane; the fourth child is 
Mrs. Crick; Merritt L., lives with his mother in Wilson county, Kansas; 
James Valentine, Amos married ('(irnelia Ragland. lives in Neodesha, 
Kansas; AMlliaiu Adna. John married Dora \\ellmiug and lives in Wash- 
ington, and an infant unnamed. 

To. Ml-, and Mrs. Crick have been born a family of six children, as 
follows — Nettie, born January 4th, 1875, resides at home; Jesse, born 
October 5th, 1876; Daisy B., born July 14th, 1879; Amy E., born Septem- 
ber 22nd, 1881; Harry, born November 12th, 1884, aiid Frank V., born 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 301 

Sept. 7tb. 1880. Of these children, Jesse, the oldest sou, enlisted in the 
SpanishAnierican war in the spring of 1898, and served until his dis- 
charge at San Francisco, November 1st, 1899. He resided, for a time, in 
Missoula, Montana, and is now an employe of the Northern Pacific rail- 
way, and at ])resent resides in Aguascolientes, Mexico, where he is a loco- 
motive engineer. 

Mr. and Mrs. Crick are devout aud consistent members of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church and are leading members of society in the com- 
munity, where they interest themselves in every cause which looks to gen- 
eral betterment. He has never sought jiublic office, and is pleased to sup- 
port the principles of the Republican party by his vote. He is a charter 
member of William Penn Lodge of Elk City, I. O. O. F. He joined this 
order in 1870, in Wyandotte, Kansas, and has been a life-long member of 
the same. Those who know Mr. Crick and his family best are uniform 
in their opinion of the splendid character which thej' maintain in the 
comniunitv. 



JAMES A. McDowell— Since 1869, there has lived, five miles from 
Elk City, a gentleman, who, by his upright character and by his unity of 
purpose has earned the esteem of a large community of friends. There 
are few in the ranks of the "old settlers" of the county who are better or 
moi-e favorably known thuu 51r. McDowell, and we jtresent his record in 
brief, that posterity may know him, and something of his antecedents. 

October 9th, 1858, marks the date of birth of Mr. McDowell, in Cald- 
well county, Kentucky. He is of Irish extraction, his father, Allen Mc- 
Dowell, having been a son of Alexander, who was the Irish founder of 
this American family. They settled in Kentucky, where Alleu McDowell 
was born, and where he married Martha Freeman, daughter of Hardy F. 
Freeman, of a North Carolina family, which settled in Caldwell county, 
Kentucky, 

Allen McDowell enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war, 
aud died at home while on a furlough, but his widow still lives and resides 
with her son, our subject. 

James A. McDowell was a lad of ten years when his mother settled 
in Montgomery county, Kansas. With her came her father, together with 
a brother and two brothers-in-law. Each of the male members of the 
party preempted a quarter section of land in Louisburg township, as also 
did our subject's mother. The latter proved up on her claim, sold out 
and purchased the farm of eighty acres upon which Mr. McDowell now 
resides, and which he has continued to cultivate since he grew to man- 
hood. 

Mi. McDowell married, in .lainiai'v. ISii:!. Miss Lola Lewis, dauglilci' of 
Abraham and Martha ( Heed i Lewis. To this marriage have been born 



302 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

three children : Alvis, born December 8th, 1894 ; Frances Anna, ))orn 
March 28th. ISDC: and James Allen, born June 7th. 1808. 

The farm on which ilr. McDowell now resides is not extensive in 
acreage, but it is well kept and shows the hand of an intelligent and 
skilleil agriculturist. 

In fraternal life, Mr. McDowell is a member of the Modern Wood- 
men of America, and in politics he affiliates and votes with the Republi- 
can party. 



("APT. J. E. STONE — This name is an honored one in ]\fontgomery 
county, where its bearer has resided for many long years, he being one of 
the earliest settlers in the southern part of the county. Capt. Stone set- 
tled in the county soon after the war and one year prior to the laying out 
of the townsite of Caney. Here he purchased a large body of land, on 
part of which now stands that city. During his residence here. ('apt. 
Stone has filled several imjiortant public positions, notably that of county 
sheritt, in which ottice he served two terms, and as postmaster of the city 
of Caney, a position he has held since 1897. 

Capt. Joseph E. Stone is the eldest son of Jonathan and Sarah (Stev- 
ens) Stone. His birth dates in the state of Maine, where he was born, in 
Waldo county, on the 2(ith day of July, 1812. His parents were by occu- 
pation farmers. The records give the date of the birth of Jonathan Stone 
as March 27th. 181G, his death occurring July 20th, 1883. The dates of 
birth and death of the wife are respectively, March 27th. 1818, and 
January lath, 1900. These parents reared a family of tive children. Capt. 
Stone jiassed the days of his youth and young manhood on the home farm, 
his early education being that which was common in those days in the 
country' districts of the east. With this as a foundation he attended ses- 
sions at the :Maine State Seminary, and at the early age of sixteen had 
(jualified himself for the noble work of a teacher. He taught success- 
fully for a period of five years in the country districts about his home. 
As the rumblings of war' became more and more distinct the young 
teacher followed events with an all-absorbing interest and when opportu- 
nity offered he was ready to offer his life as a sacrifice on the altar of de- 
votion to country. He enlisted in Company "B," of the 44th U. S. Color- 
ed Infantry, a regiment recruited with white officers and colored troops. 
Capt. Stone was enlisted as second lieutenant and was later promoted to 
first lieutenant, which position he was holding at his discharge. He par- 
ticipated in several important engagements and was at the surrender of 
Lee at Appomattox. His regiment was sent to the extreme south iui- 
mediately after the surrender and he was mustered out in the city of 
New Orleans. The service, however, had proved so fascinating to our sub- 
ject that he soon re-enlisted in the regular service, this time as first lieu- 



« 


Pi 


) 

\ 






M^^' 



J E. STONE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 303 

tenant of Company "B," 125th Colored U. S. Infantry. In this position 
he exj.erienced service on the plains for two years and then closed his 
military life at Fort Leavenworth, in December of 1867. 

A trip to the old home in Maine preceded his settlement at Lee Sum- 
mit, Jackson county, Missouri, where he conducted a commission busi- 
ness until the spring of 1870. This year marks the date of his coming 
to Kansas, the exact day of his landing in the vicinity of the present city 
of Caney being the 11th of ;May. He took up a claim just north gf Caney 
and since that time has lieen one of the largest individual land owners in 
the county. His holdings aggregate at present some 1,200 acres, 500 of 
which adjoins the city limits. Some idea of the strides real estate have 
taken in this vicinity may be gathered from the fact that this land, 
bought at .f 7.00 an acre, is now valued in the neighborhood of |100.00. 

Capt. Stone has figured actively in the development of Caney. In 
1886, a company was organized, of which he became president, and which 
purchased 240 acres north of the city. This was platted and is now a part 
of the city proper. He has built himself a handsome residence on the 
corner of Fourth avenue and Wood street, where he is passing an active 
and jileasant old age. 

As stated, the public life of Capt. Stone comprised two terms in the 
oflBce of sheriff, in the early days, and his present position of postmaster. 
His experience in the former oflice was immediately after his arrival in 
Kansas, and was in a day when it took a man of some nerve to adminis- 
ter the office. Our subject can tell many a good story of "border war- 
fare." when the man quickest with his gun wais the master of the situa- 
tion. During his term as postmaster at Caney the office has passed from 
a fourth-class to a presidential office. His administration of the office 
has been eminently satisfactory to the patrons and the department at 
Washington. In financial circles Capt. Stone is known far and wide. 
He is vice president and one of the principal stockholders in the Home 
National Bank of Caney. and is regarded as one of the solid men of the 
southern i)art of the state. 

Our subject has been most active in political life, and it is not ful- 
some praise to say that the present condition cf the Republican party is 
due in large measure to his wise counsel and efficient management as 
chairman of the County Central Committee. 

The marriage of Capt. Stone occurred in F'ebruary of 187-1, while 
serving his second term as sheriff. The event occurred in Independence; 
the lady's name, Anna Vansandt, a native of Missouri, a daughter of 
Elijah and Mary R. Vansandt. Mrs. Stone was a lady of many excel- 
lencies of character and on her death. May 16th, 1807, she was mourned 
by a large circle of friends throughout the county. She was the mother 
of five children, all of whom are living: Arthur F., Herbert G., Myrtle 
Mtiy, Roy M. and Edwin Earl. This latter son inherited the taste for 



304 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

military life from his father and is at j)resent a member of the U. S. Cav- 
alry, 14th Regiment, stationed at Fort Grant. Arizona. 

Forfeful. yet. withal, most kindly, shrewd in the management of his 
affairs, yet generous to a fault; helpful in his association with friends 
and neighbors. Captain Stone merits the large measure of esteem in 
which he is held in Caney and Montgomery county. 



I8AAC M. ARGO — In the vicinity of Costello, lives some of the 
most enterprising and industrious farmers of Montgomery county, among 
whom is the gentleman whose name heads this notice. He has been a 
resident of the county for nineteen years and he and his family are e.s- 
teemed for their many splendid qualities and personal virtues. 

Isaac M. Argo dates his birth from the year 1854, in Champaign 
county. Illinois. His parents, David and Mary (Shreve) Argo. came to 
the town of Neodesha, Kansas, in 1872, near which place they preempted 
a claim and where they continued to reside until their death. 

Gur subject was eighteen years of age when the family came to Kan- 
sas and he aided his parents in opening the farm until he passed his legal 
majority. He then began life on his own account and, in 1891, started 
an establishment of his own, being joined in marriage that year with Miss 
May. daughter of James H. and Margaret (Weller) Ashbaugh. His wife's 
fatlier was a native of Hardin county. Kentucky, where he was born in 
1817, the mother, also, being a native of the same county and state. 
They were early pioneers of ^Montgomery county, Kansas, having settled 
here in 1869, and preempted the farm where Mr. Argo now resides. Two 
of his daughters. Mary and Martha, also took and proved up a claim of a 
quarter section of land nearby. Mr. Argo died in 1882, and his wife pass- 
ed away in 1889, leaving six children : Mary I,, now deceased ; Martha 
A., who married Garland Watson and lives near Kansas City; Margaret, 
deceased; Victor, who lives in Colorado; George J., also of Colorado, 
married Fannie Ashbaugh. and has a son, William; the youngest child 
was Mrs. Argo. 

To the home of Mr. and Mrs. Argo have come two children : Victor 
N.. l)orn February 1. 1884, and David, who was born July 2:!, 1!MI2. In 
his social relations Mr. Argo is most happy, being a member of the Mod- 
ern Woodmen, and ready at all times to take part in any movement which 
has for its object the improvement of society about him. He is not active 
in the matter of politics, but is pleased to .support, by his voti', I lie plat- 
form of the Populist party. 



SAMUEL McMURTRY— The subject of this sketch is the ofticient 
clerk of Montgomery county, and has been a factor in the county's af 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 305 

fairs for the past eleven years. He is one of tlie great throng of honor- 
able and creditable citizens who have been filling np Kansas from the 
"Hoosier State" since the war of the Rebellion and. himself, sought its 
borders in the rear 1887. 

ilr. McMurtry was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, September 
10th, 1854, and is a son of Ansel McMurtry, who died November 18th, 
1854, the year of our subject's birth, at the age of thirty-two. The father 
was a native of Kentucky, where his parents established themselves on 
coming to the United States from the British Isles, just after the war 
of 1812. Samuel ilcMurtry, grandfather of our subject, was the pioneer 
ancestor above referred to, and was the head of the McMurtry family of 
this branch in America. About the year 1830, he accompanied several 
of his children into Hamilton county, Indiana, where he passed away at 
a ripe old age. He married Elsie Reid, a lady of Irish birth, and reared 
a large family of children. In business affairs he was a trader and 
farmer. 

Ansel McMurtry grew up in Indiana and there married Polly Burris. 
She was of English birth and was born February 8th, 1827. She still 
resides in Hamilton county and is the widow of Thomas Phillips. By her 
first marriage five children were born, of whom three survive, and seven 
children were born to her last marriage, only one of whom now lives. 
The McMurtry children are: Mrs. Maria Wilson, of Arcadia, Indiana; 
Mrs. Rosa Phillips, of Lawrence, Kansas; Mrs. Sarah Scully, who died in 
Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1875; and Samuel, of this review. 

Orphaned at the age of two months, our subject never knew the guid- 
ance and protection of a father. The training of the farm and the rural 
school fell to his lot in boyhood and he tinished his education with gi"adu- 
.atiou from the Union High Academy, at Westfield, Indiana. He took 
up the study of law in Noblesville.Indianajwith the firm of Kane & Davis, 
and was admitted to the bar in 187!t, after a due course of reading. But 
instead of engaging in the practice of law he took up the work of teach- 
ing school and followed it in his native state for ten years. 

In 1887, he came out to Kansas with the intention of teaching one 
year and then taking uj) the ])rofession of law. An attractive offer was 
made him in Kinsley, wliere he located, to take charge of the city schools, 
and this caused him to deviate from his original jilans, and he presided 
over the destinies of the schools of the county seat of Edwards county, as 
superintendent, for five years. The depression of the times brought busi- 
ness 1(> such a low ebb in western Kansas that, in 1892. he decided to get 
nearer the v-enter of j)opulatioii, and away from the region of the western 
lilain-i. Il(> chose Montgomery county for his field of labors and located in 
< "orte> villi', where he became associate editor of the <'otl'ev\ilIe .Tournal, 
ilu'ii unilcr liic iii.ni.igcmcut of the late ('apt.l». S. lOIIiott. Soon after 



3o6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

his arrival he was appointed city attorney of the thrifty town on the 
border, and performed his public duties in connection with his newspa- 
per work for one year. For four years he occupied his position on the 
editorial staff of the Journal and then left it to engage in the real estate 
and insurance business in that city. In this line of activity he was en- 
gaged when nominated and elected, and finally installed, as county clerk, 
January 12th, l«t03. 

Samuel McMurtry was brought uj) a Republican. His father was a 
Whig, but his son's political training was left in the hands of others, and 
it was supplied by teachers of the Kei)ublican school. In early manhood 
he became a factor in local political affairs and his services have always 
been freely given to his ])arty, as a worker and a speaker. He was nomi- 
nated for county clerk, by acclamation, in 1899, but was defeated by only 
fifty-four votes, at a time when the Fusionists had quite a substantial 
majority. In 1902, the Republican County Convention renewed its fealty 
to him and gave him another nomination by acclamation, with the result 
that he defeated his opponent at the polls by seven hundred and ninety- 
one votes. 

While Mr. McMurtry is an ardent advocate of Republican policies, 
and, of the cause of its condidates, yet he never fails to manifest a cour- 
teous and respectful attitude toward those of opposing beliefs and, as a 
consequence, his candidacy has drawn heavily from the forces of the 
Fusionists when he has been in a political race. 

December 28th, 1876, Mr. McMurtry married Miss Julia A. Rammel, 
in Westfield, Indiana. Mrs. McMurtry is a daughter of Rev. Eli and 
Cassa (Cash) Rammel, and was born in Middletown, Henry county, In- 
diana. Her parents came to Kansas in 1879, lived on a farm near Coffey- 
ville and there died, the former October 2(Jth, 1882, and the latter August 
10th, 1887. 

Eli Rammel was a Methodist minister and was a member of the 
North Indiana Conference for forty years. By his marriage he was the 
father of ten children, five of whom are living. 

The children of Mr. and Mrs. McMurtry are: Ansel E., of Kansas 
City, Mo.; Elmer E. and Gertrude, living; while Yinita died in Coffey- 
ville, in 1898, at the age of sixteen years, and Sharley and Carrie died at 
Kinsley, Kansas, in infancy. 

Mr. McMlurtry is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a Modern Woodman 
and a member of the Fraternal Aid Association. 



ALVIN J. INSCHO — Living on neighboring farms in Rutland town- 
ship are two old friends, William H. Sloan and Alvin J. Inscho. These 
two gentlemen are among the very earliest settlers of the county, having 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERT COUNTY, KANSAS. 307 

settled on their claims in June, 1S08. The yeai's that have passed since 
that x-arly day have been full of the niuitifai'ioiis duties of life ; at fli'st, the 
bard, grinding toil and discomforts of pioneer life, which gradually be- 
came softened by the comforts and luxuries of civilization. 

Authentic information concerning the early liistory of the Inscho 
family is lacking. Mr. Inscho believes, however, that the name was 
brought to this couutry prior to the Revolutionary war. Exact know- 
ledge locates his grandfather, Robert Inscho. in Virginia in the early 
part of the 19th century, where he reai'ed seven children, whose names 
were: Joseph, Robert, Henry, Nancy, Mary, Maria and John. The young- 
est of this family married Clara Foot, a native of New York state, and a 
daughter of Robert and Alary Foot, both natives of that state. The child 
reu of this marriage were: Ozias, Edwin, of i^terling, Kansas; Perry and 
Alvin J. 

Alvin J. Inscho dates his birth in Huron county, Ohio, February 
16th, 1844. He was reared to farm life and, while busily engaged in aiding 
his parents in the summer and securing an education in the winter, 
watched the gathering of the war cloud with absorbing interest. With 
his heart throbbing in unison with the drum beats of the enrolling officer 
he, in July, 18(52, enlisted in Wood county, Ohio — where his parents had 
removed when he was yet a child — in Company "A," 100th Ohio Vol. Inf., 
Col. Groom commanding. This regiment became a part of the Third 
Division. First Brigade — Gen. Gillmore in command — which was mobil- 
ized with the iiord Army Corps. His first taste of "the I'ealities" was at 
the siege of Knoxville, the initial action in a series of victories in 
which our subject subsequently shared. Some of the more important 
were: Resaca. Atlanta, then with Thomas to Tennessee — where he partici- 
pated at Columbia, Franklin and Nashville. Crossing the mountains, his 
company was "in" at the Wilmington fight and then to Washington, D. 
C, where it swung into the grandest line of veterans ever marshalled in 
review. His muster out of service occurred July 3rd, 1865, in Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

Short periods at Toledo and Perrysburg, Ohio, and at Ann Arbor, 
Michigan, in which jdaces he worked in drug stores, preceded his coming 
to St. Joe, Mo., in 1867, and in the summer of the following year he be- 
came a resident of Montgomery county, Kansas. Here he began life 
anew on a lOO-acre tract which constitutes a part of the five hundred and 
forty acres which he now owns, in section 24-32-14. Reminiscences of those 
early times are of exceeding interest from the lips of Mr. Inscho. His 
knowledge of drugs enabled him to play the "medicine man" with the In- 
dians to good advantage, so that he was not annoyed as much as other 
settleis. Too much cannot be said in commendation of the character al- 
ways sustained by Mr. Inscho. Suffice it to say that no citizen is more 



308 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

widely and favorably known than he. and the interest he takes in securing 
the best advantages in matters of education and good government, en- 
dears him to all. He is a member of the board of education and, in a 
patriotic way. holds membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. 

In 1882. ^Ir. Inscho was hajijiily joined in marriage with 'Dora M. 
Turner, daughter of David and Louisa Turner, of Ohio. Mrs. Inscho is a 
lady of endearing (pialities. and a sjilendid mother to her five children, 
whose names are: Bessie, Clvde. Birdie. Fay and Frank. 



WILLIAM A. MERRILL — This gentleman is a prominent citizen 
and leading lawyer of the stirring little municipality of Caney, where he 
has. in the short sjiace of fuur years, succeeded in winning the respect of 
the entire community and establishing a lucrative jiractice. Caney has 
no more indefatigable worker for the advancement of her inter- 
ests than Mr. Merrill, and he has shown his faith in her future by invest- 
ing in one of the best residence properties in the cit}'. 

William A. Merrill came to ("aney in 1898, from Warrensburg, Mo., 
where he had been a prominent and leading citizen for a number of years. 
He is a native of .It)linson county, of that state, where he was born on the 
22d of August, 18()1, the son of Leaven H. Merrill and his wife, formerly 
Susan F. .Smith. The father's nativity lay back in the old State of 
Maryland, from whence he removed with his parents to Missouri when a 
child. When he arrived at man's estate he chose the occupation of a 
farmer. In 1863, Leaven H. Merrill being a slaveholder and southern 
sympathizer, was forced to leave his family in ^rissouri. He went as far 
south as Batesville, Arkansas. Instead of going into the regular army, 
he put out a crop, and, in the fall of that year, was killed by the "Moun- 
tain Browns," being shot from ambush. He left three children to be 
cared for by the wife and mother, who bravely took up the task. She 
lived to see them well educated men and honored citizens, before passing 
to her rest, at fifty-two years of age. The names of the other two chil- 
dren are: Joseph A. and Florence. Florence married J. W. Blackwell. 
and lives with her family near ('helsea, Indian Territory. 

^Villiam A. Jlerrill was the youngest of this family thus early de- 
prived of a father's care. From earliest boyhood he was accustomed 
to the severest labor, but adversity taught him many valuable lessons, 
which have borne their fruit in making him a stalwart and independent 
soldier in the battle of lite. He was reared to farm work, but by dint 
of close application was enabled to prepare himself for the teaching 
profession. He attended sessions of Central College at Fayette. Missouri, 
and. later, at the State Normal at Warrensburg, and for tirteen years was 
continuously engaged in the school room, establishing a reputation as an 
educator not surpassed in that section of the state. He then took up 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 309 

the study of law. and. in 1S!)7. was admitted to the har in Warrensbiirg. 
The following year he came to Kansas, as hereinbefore stated. 

l\r. Merrill was married on the .5th day of March, 1889, to Laura P. 
Keen, of Johnson county, ^lissouri, who now presides over his home 
with that dignified grace which denotes the true housewife. 

The political convictions of our subject lie in the line of Jeffersonian 
Democracy, though his rather retiring disposition precludes his taking 
little more than a voting part in matters of that kind. Hocially, he is 
a popular member of the Masonic fraternity, being, at the present time, 
secretary of Lodge Xo. .324. He and his good wife ai'e hebl in the high- 
est esteem by the citizens of their adopted city. 



T\'1LLTAM H. BRTNTOX— rrominent as a contractor and builder 
of Elk City and junior member of the firm of Reed & Brunton, William 
H. Brunton has been a citizen of Montgomery county since 1872. He 
was born in Missouri. Febriiary 21. 1862. His father, the venerable 
Thomas Brunton, who resides near Jefferson City, that state, was one of 
the early settlers of Louisburg township, where he took a claim as early 
as 1S71. Some years later, he returned to Missouri, his native state, 
whei'e he is retired from active life at about sixty-seven years old. 

Thomas Brunton married Lucinda Bagsley, an Indiana lady, and the 
first yeai's of his active life were ]tassed as a carpenter builder. Toward 
the close of the war, he enlisted in the Twenty-third Missouri Infantry, 
and soldiered in the west in the I'nion army. In 187.5, his wife died at 
thirtvfive years of age, leaving children: ^fary, deceased; Phoebe, wife 
of John Heritage, of M^ontgomery county; William H., of Elk City; 
Clariuda, who married Philip Jones and resides in the state of Washing- 
ton ; Cyrus A., of Montgomery county ; and Liu-inda, Mrs. Chas. Jones, 
of Washington. 

William H. Brunton acquired his education in the jiublic schools of 
Montgomery county. On leaving school he learned the stonemason's 
trade and at this he worked several years, before taking up carpenter 
work. He has been a carpenter builder since 1885, and, in l!i03, formed a 
business alliance with his jiartner, Mu'. Reed. 

December 2.5, 1888. Mr. Brunton married Ethel Kelso, who was born 
in Logan county, Illinois, June 22. 187(1. She is a daughtei' of William 
and Maggie (Doyle) Kelso, both deceased, who left live children, as fol- 
lows: !Mrs. Brunton. Arthur, of Chicago, Illinois; Emma, now Mrs. Mor- 
ris Osborne, of ^Montgomery county, Kansas; David, who died at twenty- 
oue;and Pearl, wife of Roy Bailey, of Burden, Kansas. After her lius- 
baiid's death, .Mrs. Kelso married .Joseph (Soodwin and, at her death in 
1880, left a daugliicr, Maggie (ioodwin. .Mi-. Kelso was a merchant in 



310 HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Corn Land, Illinois, was a justice of the jieace there, aud died at about 
thirty years old. 

J]r. aud Mrs. Bruutou's family consists of: Roy Vincent, Fay, and 
Lela. deceased. 



AVILLIAM B. WOOD— June 28, ISfiS, in Whitley county, Kentucky, 
William B. Wood, of Rutland townshiii, was born. In infancy he was 
brou'dit to Kansas by his parents, who settled in Montgomery county, 
where our subject was bi'ought up and has since resided. The fact of 
their very early settlement here numbers the family among the pioneers 
of the county, and their entry of a tract of the public domain in section 
22. township 32, range 14:, marks them as original settlers. 

William B. Wood was the son of Thomas F. Wood, of Tennessee 
birth, but of Kentucky growing-up. He was educated liberally for his day 
and entered upon the serious duties of life as a teacher in the rural 
schools. When he reached the frontier in Kansas he laid aside the ferule 
and devoted his time to industrial pursuits. He was variously employed, 
as a supi)lement to his meager earnings on a new farm, but teaming and 
freighting, and the like, constituted his chief occupation during the first 
years of his residence here. He was employed by Nopawalla's band to 
haul their effects off of the reservation to Chetopa and by this species of 
intercourse came to know the red man of this locality very well. Some 
of the lower bands of Indians ordered him out of the country and even 
tried to burn what scant im])rovements he had made, but Thomas F. 
Wood was from the wrong country to be scared away, and he remained. 

The first building to house the ^Voods was a cabin 10x12 feet, and 
the next one was of similar construction but larger and more convenient, 
and in this did its owner live till his death in 1877. His treatment of the 
Red Man nuide warm friends of them, and in 1870, a band of five hundred 
of then) came to visit him and turned back sorrowfully when they learned 
he was dead. 

Jeriah Wood was the grandfather of William B. Wood. He was a 
native Tennesseean and had children: -lohn 1., A^'ilsou, Ambrose, Jo- 
seph , Mrs. Lucinda Hiimond, of I'ine Knot, Kentucky ; Jeptha , Mrs. 
Sarah .Meadows, of Jellico, Tennessee, and Thomas F. 

Thomas F. Wood married FJiza A. ;M,organ, a daughter of Grifiiu and 
Ann (Shepard) Morgan, of ^^'hitley county, Kentucky. Two children, 
Wiljium B. and John R., of Montgomery county, Kansas, constitute the 
living issue of their marriage. During the Elk river flood of 1885, Mrs. 
Wood and a son, Thomas F., ten years of age, were drowned on the 16th 
of May. 

.As a child, William B, Wood's associates were frequently the Osage 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 31 1 

Indian and his papoose. He almost lived at their camps and ate their 
buffalo meat and spoke their lan<i;nage and, even now, the dialect of the 
wild nmn lingers about his tongue. He was left without parental guid- 
ance at the age of firteen years, and saw the inside of the school room as 
a student, seldom, from thence forward. In 1891, he married Josephine L. 
Miller, an Ohio lady and a daughter of H. H. Miller. One child, Lelia, 
is the issue of this union. He occupies the family homestead of pioneer 
days, and is now replacing the burned dwelling erected by his father in 
that era. 



WILLIAM THOMAS YOE— William Thomas Yoe was born in Cal- 
vert county. Maryland, March 20, 1845, and reared in a christian home. 
His parents were Walter and Elizabeth (Harris) Yoe, native Maryland 
and ^'irginia ])eople. In 1848. the pai-ents left their old home and estab- 
lished themselves among the pioneers at Rushville, Illinois. The father 
was ■\ carpenter and pursued the arts of peace and won the affection and 
regard of the community. To the three sons, W. T., Charles and Frank 
F., the parents left the heritage of a good name and an inspiration to 
righteous and useful lives. 

Thomas Yoe, as our subject is universally known, passed his child- 
hood and youth about Rushville. Illinois, where he had some acquaintanco 
with the common schools. His education assumed a practical turn from 
the age of thirteen years, when he went into a print shop, from which, 
as a business, he has never been separated. Toward the end of the Civil 
War he enlisted in Company "K." One Hundred and Thirty-.seventh Il- 
linois infantry, and saw service at Memjihis. Tennessee. 

After the war he located at Shelbyville, Miissouri, where, for a short 
time, he was a hardware merchant, and then at Shelbina, where he be- 
came associated with Col. A. M. York in the publication of a Republican 
newsj)aper. After nearly five years, he decided to e.xert his energies 
anion;; the ])eople of the ])rogressive frontier Stale of Kansas. 

In the winter of 1870. he founded, with others, the South Kansas 
Tribune, and, in Februai-y following, brought the plant to Kansas and 
established it in the new town of Independence, in Montgomery county. 
L. L'. Humphrey, afterward governor of Kansas, was associated with the 
new paper, on its editorial staff. The proprietorship of the "Tribune" 
came, later, into the hands of W. T. and Chas. Yoe, where, with a single 
exception, it has since remained. 

Mr. Yoe has been a part of Montgomery county nearly a third of a 
century and has shared in its development work, both rural and urban. 
Little that has been of general interest to the county has not known his 
hand, or felt the inllucnce of his voice or pen; and the confidence he thus 



312 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

insiiiied w:irranted the cKiiferiiiif; of puhlic honors and the bestowal 
upon liim of public trusts. The practical character of his views, his ma- 
ture judgment and the evident sincerity of his purpose are traits which 
have coniniended him through life and marked him as one of the promi- 
nent <'itizens of his city and county. He has been at the head of his uews- 
])apor since its establishment and his jjcrsonal standing has given it 
weight and power. He has helped make governors and other state officers 
and furnished ettective advice in the distribution of local offices which 
showed abundant wisdom and brought a strong current of jjublic senti- 
ment to his party's approval. 

As an ajtpointee to jmblic office. Mr. Yoe has rendered his chief pub- 
lic service. I'resident Arthur appointed him postmaster of Independ- 
ence and he served three years but resigned upon the election of Mr. 
Cleveland. Governor Humphrey aitpointed him secretary of the State 
Board of Charities, where he renuiiued three years, and Governor Stan- 
ley made him a member of the Board of Regents of the State Agricultural 
College. As a Rei)ublican he has occupied a high position in party 
councils. He has a single standard of honesty and applies it in business, 
religion and politics, alike. He is au active and leading member of the 
Methodist congregation in Independence, and the influence of his life is 
a potent one in the sj)iritual and material affairs of the church. 

In 1870, in Slielbina, Missouri. Mr. Yoe married Jennie E. Weather- 
by. The issue of this union are: Harriet E, a teacher in the Deaf and 
Dundj Institution tif Kansas; Roy W., a farmer, of Tyro, Montgomery 
county; Edna May, assistant in the Independence jjostotfice; Earl A., a 
printer in the Tribune office; and Ruth. Warren and (ieorge. 



EDWARD PAYSOX ALLEN— The First National Bank, of Inde- 
pendence, is fortunate in having for its executive head, a man of such 
wide and varied experience, of such unerring judgment and a gentleman 
of -luch popular personal traits as he whose name introduces this per- 
sonal review. He came to Montgomery county almost with the earliest, 
and embodies, in his career as a citizen here, experience as a farmer, mer- 
chant, public official and financier, all of which stations he has hon- 
ored and iji all of which li:is he displayed a natural aptitude and adapta- 
tion, passing from one to another as a reward of industry and indicating 
the favor and confidence of his fellow citizens. 

Without the pale of the pioneers it excites a ripple of merriment to 
state that E. P. Allen was once a fai'mer. His training for years has been 
so foreign to the calling that he has lost even the most familiar and com- 
mon attributes of the rural business man, yet he was once a farmer in 
Montgomery county and the "clainr' which he took lies in section 31, 




E. P. ALLEN. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMKRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 313: 

township 33, range K!. where the juiiiiitive cottage he erected still stands 
and where the reeol lections of iioverty still linger. Men who came to 
Kansas as jiioueers. cajiitalized chietiv by the fruits of their daily toil, 
and undertook to maintain their families from the jirotits of a new farm, 
had disappointments and hitter experiences, alike, and if they plowed 
with a mixed team and, in their sti'aits, went barefoot, it was forced econ- 
omy that cansed it, and was an open concession to poverty. Mr. Allen 
passed throngh it all and the tires of adversity only served to harden the 
metai that was in him, and belter e(|ni]i him for the contest with less 
formidable obstacles. 

The year 1ST;{. witnessed the close of Mr. Allen "s career as a farmer. 
That year he Itronght the proceeds of the sale of his heart-aches and 
memories of disajtpointments df)wn on Clear creek into Independence and 
became a merchant. In this, too, his exjierience led him into the most 
humble service — most honorable though it was — and on any frequented 
street corner of Indei)endence today can be found men who have seen 
"Ed" Allen driving his delivery wagon. At whatever employment, he 
"followed his trade well" and became absolute master of the situation 
and of himself. Four years of merchandising brought him to the next 
step in advance and he carried his popularity into public office. He did 
the work of the recorder's office almost alone for six years, and when he 
emerged from it. haggard and nearly worn out, he established himself 
in the insurance and brokerage business, where the initial chapter of his 
linancial history was written. Becoming a director of the First National 
Hank, in ISS.j, he became interested in its success and drifted toward 
financiering with such a pace that the next year he was elected president 
of the safe, and most conservative, institution of its kind in the county 
seat. Reserving further mention of his business connections till his na- 
tvity and family geneology have appeared, we digress and take up the 
family thread. 

Edward P. Allen was born in Green county, Kentucky, January 3, 
1843. He was a son of a lawyer, William B. Allen, who was born in the 
same county and state in 1S()3. The father passed his life in Oreensburg, 
Kentutky, was a graduate of Nashville. Tennessee, seminary, and of a law 
school, and jtracticed his jirotession successfully all his life. He was a 
Royal Arch Mason and was once the (Jrand Master of the (Jrand Lodge of 
Kentucky. His father, David Allen, and the grandfather of our subject, 
was born in Rockbi'idge county, Virginia, October 10, 1773, came to 
Kentucky with his father about 17S3 and served with the Kentucky troops 
in the war of ISli', dying in (Jreen county in ISIO. David Allen's 
father and oldest jiateiiial uncle were Revolutionary soldiers, and he and 
three brothers migi-ited from the "Old Dominion" about the close of that 
struggle, and their bones mingle with the dust of tlie State of Daniel 



314 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Boone. These Aliens eanie originally from the Xorth of Ireland and 
settled in Rockbridge county, Virginia, about 1030. 

William B. Allen married Huldah Wilcox, whose Puritan ancestors 
came to America in the seventeenth century and settled, of course, in 
New F^ngland. Huldah Allen was born in Connecticut of "Bay State" 
parents and was a daughter of Eli Wilcox. Seven children were born to 
her and her husband, as follows: Martha, deceased; Jennie, deceased; 
the latter the wife of A. B. Nibbs. of Houston. Texas; Harriet B., de- 
ceased wife of John Cunningham, of Coles county. Illinois; Edward P., 
our subject; Mary, deceased, married William Hunter, of Houston, Tex- 
as; and Ella M., widow of (Jeorge W. Reed, of Coles county, Illinois. 

E. P. Allen acquired a liberal education in the schools of Greens- 
burg, Kentucky. In 1S()1, he enlisted in tlie Thirteenth Kentucky Infant- 
ry, Company "E," as first sergeant, under Colonel Hobson. The regiment 
saw its first service in Kentucky and was in battle at Mill Springs, 
was at Shiloh, Perryville. Stone River and in minor engagements and 
skirmishes. Mr. Allen was promoted in three months to be a lieutenant, 
and was discharged as such in Louisville, Kentucky, at the expiration of 
three years. 

The mercantile business attracted Mr. Allen immediately after his 
release from the army and he engaged in it at Mattoon, Illinois. He re- 
mained there till 18(57, when he returned to his native town and opened 
a store, continuing business there for two years, when he again sought 
Coles county, Illinois, and resided, and was in business, in ^Mattoon, till 
the fall of 1870, when he started overland on his journey to Kansas, arriv- 
ing in Montgomery county, October 16, of that year. 

Everything was "out of doors" in Montgomery county at that early 
time and there seemed nothing to do but to farm. While the prosjject was 
not the most exhilarating, our newcomer had no intention of turning his 
back on it, and he took up his sand-hill '•claim"" on Clear creek, as noted 
elsewhere in this article. Two years a farmer and four years a merchant, 
brings us to the autumn of 1877, when he was elected register of deeds 
of the county. His election was a special compliment to him. for it was 
accomplished in the faceof great political odds, his ]iarty, the Democratic, 
being several hundred votes in the minority. He was reelected in 1879, 
serving with great efficiency and justifying in every way the confidence 
his Democratic and Re])ul)lican friends reposed in him. From 1884 to 
188(5, his attention was given to the insurance, loan and real estate busi- 
ness, his office being at the corner of Main and Sixth streets. His pe- 
cuniary resources at this time were assuming res])ectable i)roportions and 
his manner of handling them revealed his financial ability. He liecame 
a patron, and then a friend, of the First National Bank of Independence, 
and its stockholders made him a director in 188.'5. In 188(1. the then cash- 
ier of the bank sold his interest to Mr. Allen, the management reorgan- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 3I5 

ized and he was i-hosen ]irpsi(lent. He has siureerled himself in that office 
fopsixteen years, and. with his able assistants, has made it an institution 
as safe and enduring as time itself. 

May 2. ISCo, in Coles county, Illinois, 'Mr. Allen married Mary F. 
"Vansant, a daughter of Isaiah Vansant, of Fleming county, Kentucky, 
ifrs. Allen was horn August 27. lS4fi. ;\nd is the mother of: Mattie X., wife 
of .James F. P.lackledge. of Caney, Kansas; Edith, Lillian and Annie. The 
family are members of the Independence Presbyterian church and are 
highly and most honorably connected in their social ties. 

Mr. Allen was made a Mason in 1864. He has taken the Blue Lodge, 
Chanter and Knight Templar degrees and in his life exemplifles the prin- 
ciples of the order. He is a Kentucky I>emocrat and is as loyal to his 
partT tenets as he is to the rules which govern his moral and exemplary 
life. 



JACOB SICKS— The generations of the future who inhabit Mont- 
gomery county will wish to know something of the peo])le who snatched 
this niunici])ality from nature's embrace, and wielded the brush with 
which its surface has been adorned with landscape and garden and 
beautiful homes. They will ex])ect to find, for their information, a record 
of the characters who have been conspicuous j)layers in the drama of 
civil and municipal affairs while the county was being launched and 
started on its voyage through time. By a knowledge of their forefathers, 
they may be able to exidaiu some otherwise mysterious phenomena of 
their posterity and thus intelligently account for things done or not 
done. It is important then, as well as in good taste, to preserve, with 
other civil records of the county, the life work of its worthy pioneers, as 
gleaned at first hand from the very actors themselves. 

In the subjec-t of this article, we have presented for review a settler 
whose coming into the county was from the very first, whose connection 
with its history has been modest yet energetic and whose character as a 
citizen and a man has wielded an influence potent for good in the younger 
generations of his race. 

In October. 1869, Jacob Sicks came into Montgomery county, Kan- 
sas. It was on the 18th of that month that he drove on to the side-hill 
on the southwest quarter of section 4. township ?>?>. range 1.5, and thereby 
did the initial iU't toward making that spot of ground his permanent 
and future home. \^'hile he was comidying with the formalities of the 
law in the matter of a homestead, a little log cabin, 14x14 in dimensions, 
grew out of this side-hill as if by magic, and the first family in that neigh- 
borhood was soon housed without either door or floor. It is nearly 
thirly-four years now since that eventful day on which one of 
the most attractive and fertile farms in the countv was born. Bv the 



3l6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

industry of iiiau has wild nature departed and br the toil of his household 
has Jacob Sicks become the owner of an estate which provides him and 
his with all the comforts and some of the luxuries of life. 

From the advent of the first white man to the departure of the Ind- 
ian, Montgomery county was on the frontier. Its few settlers were har- 
rassed and belabored by hungry Red Men from the bands of Big Hill Joe, 
Chetopa. Strike Axe and Black Dog, all of which chiefs had camps some- 
where in the county. In 1870, the government treated with the red man 
for his title to '-The Diminished Rserve" and he was removed to his new 
country — "The Osage Country — " just south of the Kansas line. The 
aborigines gone, Montgomery county seemed to acquire civilization by 
leaps and bounds and the old landmarks of the county felt very much 
penned up, so rapidly did settlers tlock in and take possession of the un- 
claimed lands. While Mr. Sicks adjusted himself to the frontier condi- 
tions of the sixties, was satisfied with his lot and content with the honor 
of being a pioneer, he was nevertheless pleased with the advent of neigh- 
bors and extended to them a helping and friendly hand. He was pooD 
himself, when he unloaded his goods at the door of his log cabin home in 
1869, but "the wolf was kept away" while his family was growing up and 
increased prosperity came to him yearly until he felt warranted in i-etir- 
ing from active farm work. 

Jacob Sicks was born in Boone county, Indiana, November 2, 18-37. 
His father, Philip Sicks, settled there two years before, and was a resi- 
dent of the county till 1888, dying at the age of eighty-three years, 
Philip Sicks was a native of Nicholas county, Kentucky, and was a son of 
Jaciib Sicks who was killed by a corn thief at middle life and left two 
sons and a daughter, namely: John, Philip and Rebecca; the last named 
becoming the wife of William Beckuer and passing her life in Rush 
county, Indiana. Philip Sicks married Nancy Slain, the issue of the 
union being ten children, as follows: Sarah J., who married James Cun- 
ningham; Mary, wife of James Siddons; JIahala, who became Mrs. 
George Cross; Francis M.. who took to wife ilargaret Siddons; Thomas 
O., ^hose wife was Susan Elder; Jacob, our subject; Lucinda, who mar- 
ried Samuel Jones; John N.. who married, first. Nancy J. Davis and, after- 
ward, married Mrs. Siddons: and Amanda, wife of George Beadles. The 
mother of these children died in 1848. 

Jacob Sick's youthful advantages were exceedingly limited. His 
education was, of necessity, neglected and he grew up in the timbered 
country of the "Hoosier State" a lusty, industrious honest but un- 
learned youth. Nature always comes to the relief of the less fortunate 
of her kind and she endowed our subject with commendable auxiliaries 
toward surmounting obstacles through life. He was converted in youth 
to the Christian religion and strength of character and pnri)ose have 
come to liim along life's pathway to not only enable him to live right but 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 317 

to afooiiii)lish a modest but good work for the Master. Twice he felt 
called to the niiuistry but each time he resisted through fear of weakness 
aud inability to achieve results, but the third time he yielded to the de- 
mands of the spirit and has for fifteen years done an irregular and sup- 
plementary work in the pulpit of the Christian denomination. 

November 4, 1858, Mr. Sicks was united in marriage with Sarah F. 
Utterback, a daughter of Henry Utterback, of Kentucky. Mrs. Sicks was 
born in Putnam county, Indiana, Xovend)er 28, 1840, and is the mother 
of the following sons and daughters: Mary E., deceased, married N. 
Londry and left three children; Maria M., of Mound Ridge, Kansas, is 
the wife of John Edington ; Philip, of Tola, Kansas, is married to Mary 
Christy; Thomas, of lola, Kansas, married Dora Bordenhammer, de- 
ceased; Emma, wife of Ed Alain, of Montgomery county, Kansas; John, 
of ludejiendence, is married to Ella Barlow; Lizzie, deceased, married 
Ed Adams, who is now the husl)and of her sister, Annie ; Vernelia, wife 
of Thonuis McMahan ; George, of the old homestead, is married to Laura 
Moore ; Mittie, who died at fifteen years ; and Charles, the only child left 
undei- the parental roof. 

Mr. Sick's disposition and inclination have not led him to figure 
nuu-h in the public affairs of Montgomery county. He is a Democrat of 
the ancient school and has manifested a strictly conservative attitude 
toward all movements looking to a striking innovation or serious depart- 
ure from the old regime. By this attitude some would infer that he op- 
posed public progress and is against new ideas, but it is purely from his 
desire to occupy a position not too far in adance of the old way that he 
takes this stand. With his neighbors and friends he is cordial and oblig- 
ing and exercises a practical charity wherever the circumstances war- 
rant. He is fond of his family and has reared them in the fear of God 
and !o become honorable men and women. In his declining years he is 
in the enjoyment of some of the practical blessings and luxuries of life. 
Natuial gas and the daily delivery of mail at his own door lead him to 
praise tiie achievements of modern ju-ogress. A moment's reflection lo- 
cates him. with meager means and a small family, on the bleak prairio 
with a temporary shelter in 18(>9. and, thirty-four years later, in the full- 
ness of years and with family grown up and scattered, we see him pro- 
vided with a comfortable home, overlooking a splendid farm, and made 
comfoi-table by the rewai-d of toil, and with the fondest wish at his fin- 
ger tips. 



WILLIAM COTTON— Near the rural village of Costello, resides one 
of the leading farmers of Montgomery county, William Cotton. He is 
a native of the "Blue Grass State" where, in 1832, he began life in Madi- 
son county. His father, Thomas Cotton, was a son of Charles Cotton who 



3l8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

came from Virginia and was one of those sturdy pioneers who redeemed 
the wilds of Kentucky for civilization. The mother of our subject was 
Paulina Braudus. of one of the early pioneer families of Kentucky, who 
came into that state from North Carolina. 

^Villiam Cotton is one of a family of six children, of whom four are 
now living, viz: James, who resides in ilissouri; Elizabeth and Lucinda 
are deceased; Mary, the wife of John Graves, resides in Illinois; Belle 
is living in Indiana, the wife of Squire Tatum, The parents of this fam- 
ilv removed from Kentuckv to Indiana where William was reared to farm 
life, 

\t twenty years of age, our subject married .\nn. daughter of Dr. 
Travis McMillan, of Oirrard county, Kentucky. To them have been born: 
Bettie, wife of John Drybread, a farmer of Louisburg township; Clar- 
ence, Avho married Catherine Hand, who died leaving five children, viz : 
John, Emma, Prentice, William and Clara. Prentice, the third child of 
William Cotton, resides in California with his wife, nee Juliet ^^tewart; 
John M., a bank clerk residing in Elk City, married Mamie, daughter of 
John Castillo, of Louisburg townsliip; his two children are Clyde and 
Cornelia. 

The coming of William Cotton to Montgomery county in 1885, con- 
stituted a distinct gain to the ])oi)ulation of the county, as his citizenship 
since then has been such as to deserve the plaudits of all worthy members 
of society. In political affairs, be sujiports the principles of Lincoln and 
McKiuley, and he and his family are active members of the Christian 
church. They are held in great respect in the neighborhood in which they 
have passed the years since their coming to the county, and are deserv- 
ing of mention in a volume devoted to Montgomery's best citizens. 



JOHX C. PAGE— One of the well known of the later settlers of 
Montgomery county is John C. Page, of Indeitendence township, whose 
lot was cast here in April. 1883. He purchased eighty acres in section 
6, tov.-nship 33. range 16, known as the Wiley Wise farm. He came here 
from Crawford county, Illinois, where he was born on the 17th of Decem- 
ber. ]8li4. His was one of the old families of the "Prairie State," his 
father having migrated thereto in 18] 8, the year of the admission of the 
state into the union. Jesse Page, father of our subject, emigrated from 
Virginia to the new sate on the prairie. He was born in the "Old Domin- 
ion State" in 1777 and came to manhood there. He was a son of Robert 
Page whose three sons, David, Joel and Jesse, settled in Illinois. Jesse 
Page s]ient his life as a tiller of the soil and in 1854 he married Polly Ar- 
nold who lived to the age of eighty years. Illinois was not yet rid of its 
Indian population when the Pages settled there and for some years af- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 3I9 

terwr.rd thoy roamed at will about the homes of the new settlers. It was 
the Miami tribe that our subject remembers distinetly as V>eing and af- 
flliatiuf: with the pioneers of Crawford county. Jesse Page's children 
were: Robert A., who died in Oregon; Benjamin, who died in Illinois; 
Rachel, of Flat Rock, Illinois, married Samuel Stark; John C. Pinnin- 
nah, of 5Iartinsville, Illinois, is the wife of William Patterson; James, 
who died at Hebron, Illinois; and two died young. 

John C. Page passed his childhood and youth amid surroundings 
very lu-imitive and rude. The country schools of his day afforded him his 
elementary education and at twenty years old he spent a year in the city 
schools of Terre Haute, Indiana. He became a teacher at the conclusion 
of this school year and was engaged actively and successfully in the 
work for a period of seven years. He became a farmer about this time, 
in a small way, and Itegan the imjirovement of a new farm. His record 
as a teacher induced his ])olitical friends to make him a candidate for the 
office of county superintendent and to this he was elected in 1860. He 
filled the position so satisfactorily that he was reelected in two years for 
a second term. At the close of his public service he engaged in other bus- 
iness but was called to serve in another official cajtacity in 1866 by his 
election to the office of county treasurer in which he also served four 
years. Going out of office in 1870, he took up farming and never after- 
ward filled an office of such responsibility. He continued his efforts at 
farming till 1883, when he disposed of his interests in Illinois and came 
to Montgomery county, Kansas. 

In January. 18.")1, ^Ir. Page married Fidelia Xewlin. a daughter of 
Nathaniel Newlin and Elizabeth, his wife. The Newlins came to Illinois 
from North Carolina about 1816 and were a large and numerous family. 
Of this marriage, ilr. Page is the father of: Harry, of El Paso, Texas; 
fjenevra, wife of John Fergusrm, died at Emjioria, Kansas, leaving three 
children ; Eulalia, deceased wife of George Higgius, died at Xeodesha, 
Kansiis, in 1887; and Chester, of Paris, Texas. Fidelia Page died in 
1868, and the next year ilr. Page married Pliebe Meeker, who bore him: 
Belle, wife of James Doily, of Mayfield, Kansas; Emma, a teacher of 
Cripple Creek, Colorado, was educated in Marshall, Illinois and is single; 
Olive, of Ft. Worth, Texas, is the wife of E. C. Cochrain. editor of one 
of the Ft. Worth papers. INIr. Page was mariied a third time, February 
17, 1875, to Mary Siiiitli. a daughter of A. J. and Elizabeth Smith, of 
Johnst)n county. Indiana, where Mrs. Page was born September 18, 1845. 
A. J. Smith was born in New Jersey and his wife, nee Elizabeth Darrell, 
was born in Indiana. Mr. Smith died in 1897, in Johnson county. Indi- 
ana, at the age of seventy-three. His children were: Mrs. Page, I'rsula, 
deceased wife of -lames lialser; Sarah, who married \A'allace Bears and 
resides in A\'liiteland, Indiana: and Martha, now Mrs. (ieorge Darrell, 
of .lohiison county. Indiana. Mr. Page and his present wife are the par- 



320 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ents of oue cliild. a son, ]\Ianfoi'(l. who married Rose Carle and has a 
son, Alfred C. 

The political history of the Pages is told in the oue word — Democ- 
racy. Our subject was elected to imblic office as such in Illinois and he 
has affiliated with the same party in Kansas. He was prominent in the 
Farmers' Alliance in Montgomery county and supported heartily, fusion, 
as o])]iosed to the dominant jiarty, and is in harmony with the l?ryan 
idea as expressed at Kansas City. 



•JAMES HAMiILTON STEWART— The late subject of this review 
was one of the substantial, worthy and honored citizens of Independence 
township, Montgomery county. He l)ecanie identified with its affairs as 
a farmer on his entrance to the county in 1883 and from thence forward 
to his sudden taking-oft' won the regard of his fellow townsmen. 

:Mr. Stewart settled on section 23, township 33, range 15, in which 
he owned one hundred and sixty acres, well improved, well tilled and 
profitable. When he took j)ossession of it a small stone house, a shed for 
stock and some plowed land were the extent of it improvements. Being 
from Pennsylvania, from which state come nothing less than efficient 
men, he was possessed of the plans for a pattern farm and the industry to 
carry them out. General fai'uiing occupied his attention and his prosper- 
ity showed itself in the ever-advancing condition of his premises. He 
was no less worthy as a citizen than as a farmer. He believed in and 
practiced the golden rule. Right was always might with him and it won 
him llie universal regard of his neighbors. He was a man of conviction 
and when he took a position it took evidence to remove him. His preju- 
dice in favor of some family custom may have given rise to some friendly 
criticism of him but his heart was right and he never intentionally gave 
personal offense. He had a firm belief in the reward after death and the 
teachings of the Holy Word served to guide him in his daily walk. He 
was a member of the Jefferson congregation of the Methodist church and 
when he died, November 8, 1897, one of its substantial supports was 
taken away. 

In Washington county, Pennsylvania, ]\Ir. Stewart was reared but 
his birth occurred near Bethany, West Virginia, on the 24:th of January, 
18-11. He was a son of a farmer, James H. Stewart. His mother was 
Sarah Balwin, a daughter of Levi Baldwin, a blacksmith who had the 
distinction of once having shod the horse of General Washington, as that 
officer was passing through I'ennsylvania. When ^Ir. Stewart was five 
years old his father died and his mother then took her family to Washing- 
ton county, Pennsylvania, where she remained till her death in 1804. Her 
children were: James H., of this notice; Thomas, of Pittsburg, Pennsyl- 



321 

vania; Elizabeth J., widow of Robert Sweeny, of Wheeling, West Virgin- 
ia; Williaui.of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Annie, wife of Jacob Laughuian, 
deceased, of Washington county, Pennsylvania. 

.lames H. Stewart acquired a country school education, or, perhaps, 
better, a common school one. and learned his trade before the war came 
on. He enlisted for that struggle in 1861, in Company "C," Twenty-sec- 
ond I'ennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry. He served with the Army of the 
Potomac in the Shenandoah Valley and his regiment formed a part of 
Sheridan's cavalry. He took part in Hunter's Eaid and the Battle of 
Cedar Creek and remained in the service until the war was over. Return- 
ing to civil life he resumed his trade which he followed till he started to 
Kansas. 

r>ecember 20, ISCO, Mr. Stewart married Elizabeth R. Deltes. a 
daughter of .John Deltes and Margaret Geyer, husband and wife, both of 
German birth. Mi*. Deltes died in Baltimore, Maryland, in 188.5, and his 
wife preceded him two years. Their native province was Wittenburg. 
Their children were: Amelia, married Charles Schmidt and died in Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, in 1802; Rosa, who died in Chicago in 1896, 
was the wife of Charles Leonheaus; Mary, of Baltimore, Maryland, is 
the wife of James Bamber; Catherine, of the same city, is now Mrs. 
Bishop Carnan; Maggie, single and residing in Baltimore; John, of 
Pittsburg, Peniisvlvauia; and Mrs. Stewart, who was born April 17, 
1847. 

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are: William H., of Niotaze, 
Kansas; James H., of Cherryvale; George W., of Independence; Mary 
E., Charles S., Samuel H., Estella O. and Lulu E., all at home except 
Samuel, who i-esides in Kansas City. 

Mr. Stewart took a warm and patriotic interest in county politics. 
He was a Rejiublican and was often a delegate to party conventions. He 
was a member of the Grand Army and interested himself generally in 
whatever seemed for the upbuilding and welfare of his county. He con- 
tracted rheumatism while in the army and was afflicted all his remain- 
ing years, this being the prime cause of his sudden demise. 



ANDREW J. COLLINS — One of the early settlers and prosperous 
farmers of ilontgomery cdunty is the subject of this personal sketch. He 
came to the county in 1S77 and jiurchased a farm on the "Tenth street 
road" which he occupied some six years and then purchased a new and 
unimi)roved (juarter of prairie land in section 21, township .30, range 15, 
wliirli he occupied and went through the formula of bringing under 
eubjcrtion, as settlers were wont in i)ioneer days. As he prospered he 
added another eightv acres to his already half section and now he owns 



322 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

five eighties, or four hundred acres, the majority of which represents the 
accumulations accruing to him and his industrious family in the quarter 
of a century they have spent in Kansas. 

Mr. Collins has been and is a farmer, pure and simple. The grow- 
ing of grain and the handling of stock in a modest way are the important 
things with which he has had to deal and. on the whole, he has achieved 
a degree of the thrift which only determination and perseverance can 
win. 

County Meath, Ireland, was the birthplace of Andrew J. Collins. 
His natal day and year was April 17, 1839, and his parents were Daniel 
and Mary (O'Brien) Collins, who brought their family to the United 
States in 1849 and landed at Castle Garden in New York. Princeton, 
New Jersey, was their objective point and there the younger generation 
grew up. They had a family of fifteen children, all told, but those now 
living are: Matthew, of Hoboken, New Jersey; Andrew J., of this notice; 
Michael, Daniel, and Catherine, who married Patrick Campbell ;>nd re- 
sides in New Jersey. 

Andrew J. Collins acquired only a limited education in the inferior 
schools of his time and place and at the age of twenty-two he married 
and settled down to the toil of the farm. In 186(), he migrated to Illi- 
nois and stopped in Sangamon county, where he resumed farming and 
followed it until his removal to Kansas. 

In April, 1801, occurred the wedding of Mr. Collins to Ann Clark, 
a lady of Irish birth and a daughter of Owen Clark, of County Cavan. 
Mrs. Collins died in Montgomery county December 8, 1898, and was the 
mothei' of Thomas and John, of the family homestead; Andrew, de 
ceased; Willie, Laura, widow of Henry Mollidor; and Sarah, wife of 
Herbert Hill, of Independence. 

Mr. Collins is a Democrat and has been road overseer of his road 
district for twentv-five vears. 



MARY A. KEESLER— Since the year 1872, the subject of this bi- 
ogra],hical review has been a resident of Montgomery county. She accom- 
panied her husband to the county two years previous and their settlement 
was made near Havana, but this settlement proved to be little more than 
temporary and in 1873. they came into Cherry townsliiji where Mrs. 
Keeslcr has since lived and where her hnsl)and passed away. 

The Keeslers are among the well known and honoral)le citizens of 
their township. The heads of the family were eastern people — the Kees- 
lers being original New York settlers — and the Snyders and the Riggles, 
ancestors of Mrs. Keesler, from the "Keystone" and "Buckeye" States. 

Mary A. Keesler was born in Washiugtou county, Pennsylvania, Go- 




HARVEY KEESLER (Deceased) 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 323 

tober 5. 1833. Her father, Jac<ib Snyder, was born in Adams county, that 
state, and her mother, ilargaret Kiggle, was a native of the same county 
with our subject. Jacob Snyder was, early in life, a mason but, later, 
became a farmer and, in 1831), moved his family to Ohio from whence, in 
1848. he immigrated to Allen county, Indiana, where he died in 1871, at 
sixty-three years of age; his wife dying the year previous at fifty-six years 
old. The eight children composing their family were: Mary A., George 
R., Elizabeth, Melissa, Jacob M., William, Eliza and Emma. 

Mary A. was the first born of the Snyder children and came to wo- 
manhood on her tather~s farm in Indiana. She tvas married January 
30. 18.^.5, to Harvey Keesler, born in Vermillion county, Ohio, March 20, 
1831. Mr. Keesler was a son of John and Susan (Ewing) Keesler, both 
of New York birth. These pioneer parents migrated to Ohio in an early 
day i.nd settled in the wooded jiortion of the state, where they brought 
ap n family of eight children and died. These children were: Harvey, 
Lucy, ("harles. Martin, Mary, George, Frank and William. 

Harvey Keesler was the oldest child of his parents and his youth, 
like that of his wife, was passed upon the farm. He took up the occupa- 
tion ol his fathers in the county where bf met and married his wife and 
was. for some time, a tenant on a rented farm. They purchased their 
first homestead in the green woods of Indiana, where their beginning in 
life was most primitive indeed. I'rior to his marriage, Mr. Keesler had 
follo\\'ed the canal as a boatman on the Erie canal but seemed ready to 
exchange this life for one, with a life companion, in the beech tindjer of 
the "Iloosier State." Hlis tenure of the farm was undisturbed until Jan- 
uary 3, 18()4. when ho joined ("omjiany "H," Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry, in which command he served till the close of the Civil war. He 
took part in the famous March to the Sea and the Atlanta campaign and 
was wounded near Kesaca, Geoigia. in the left hand, the ball remaining 
where it lodged for twenty-two days, thus crippling ilr. Keesler for life. 
He left the hospital to rejoin his regiment before he was fully recovered 
but was jirevented by the heavy fighting then going on in front and, 
having taken down with a fever, was furloughed home. Becoming again 
able for duty, he reported at Covington, Kentucky, was sent to 
Evansville, Indiajia, and there remained until the surrender of Lee's 
army. June 1, 18G5, he was discharged and he soon rejoined his family 
on his little farm. 

For seven years Mr. Keesler continued to reside in Indiana, and 
when he dejiarted from the state to become a citizen of the Kansas j)rai- 
ries he brought a limited supply of money with him. When he settled in 
Cherry township he i)urchased a farm of one hundred and forty-nine 
acres north of Cheiryvale, which he occu]>ied and improved for eighteen 
years and then exchanged it for one of four hundred and twenty acres on 



324 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Drum creek, well adapted to the raisiiifj of grain aud stock. Here lie 
died in the height of his success aud popuhirity, Ai)ril 2, 1899. 

A man of great energy and industry. Harvey Keesler made his mark 
as a citizen of Montgomery county. He was not only identified with its 
business but its politics also. He affiliated with the Republicans, who 
honored him, without his solicitation and against his wishes, with the 
township clerkship, but he would never consent to neglect his private 
affairs to accept a public trust. He was thrifty and provident and left 
his family in good circumstances at his death. Two hundred acres of the 
farm have been set off to the children while the remainder, with the splen- 
did improvements, provides Mrs. Keesler with a comfortable home during 
her declining years. 

Four children were born to ]\Ir. and ^Irs. Keesler, namely: Willard 
F., who is married to Lydia Cornelius and has two children, Harvey C. 
and Gladys; Charles, whose wife is Eva Cornelius, has a child, Ethel; 
Clara, wife of D. W. Osborn, is the mother of five children, viz : Loren, 
George, Lewis, Arley and Beryl; Laura, married George !r>eymour and 
died Fel)ruary 25, 1882, leaving a daugliter, Mary L. Seymour, who is her- 
self married to W. H. Tliomjtson and is the mother of Lewis L. Thomp- 
son, the only great-grandchild of Mrs. Keesler. Thus, with the names of 
five generations of her family, is the history of Mary A. Keesler closed. 
Her seventy years of life have been years of labor and of devotion to the 
bringing-up of an honorable posterity. 



HORACE OSCAR CAVERT— Centennial year, the Caverts of this 
review became settlers of Montgomery county, Kansas. They were 
headed by J. Curtis G. Cavert, father of our subject, and located on Elk 
river in Sycamore township, where the brief period of two years were 
passed on a farm. In 1878, they changed their residence to Independence 
where they have since resided aud where the business life of H. O. Cavert 
has been spent. 

Oscar Cavert was born in Outagamie county, ^^'isconsin, March 27, 
1860. His father was a native of the State of New York and settled in 
Wisconsin in 1847. His grandfather. William Cavert, was a direct de- 
scendent of an Irishman who, with a brother, settled in New York state, 
fresh from Erin. For some unknown reason they each decided to change 
the siielling of the name from "Calvert" to Cavert. One brother went 
into the soudi and the other remained in New York and the generations 
that have followed from each branch has maintained the American spell- 
ing of the name. 

J. C. G. Cavert grew up, was married and entered the volunteer ser- 
vice in Wisconsin. The Third Wisconsin cavalry, Com]>any "I," was his 
command and he was commissioned a tirst lieutenant. He was promoted 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 325 

to a captaincy and was mustered out as such after having served four 
years, chiefly in the western department, where guerriUas and bush- 
whackers largely i)revailed. For a wife, he married Helen M. Ci'ane, a 
daugliter of W. W. Crane, formerly of Akron, Ohio. Seven children were 
born to this union, those living being: Mrs. Mattie Calhoun, of Tulsa, 
Indian Territory; Horace Oscar, our subject; Callista, of Tulsa, Indian 
Territory; and Stella, wife of C. M. Flora, of Independence, Kansas. Of 
the three deceased, two sons died young and a daughter, Frankie, wife of 
John Parker, died in Portland. Oregon, leaving a son. Cleo. 

Mr. Cavert. of this review, acquired his education in the common 
schools of \Msconsin. He was approaching his sixteenth year when he 
came to Montgomery county, Kansas. After leaving the farm in Syca- 
more township, he was in the employ of Crane & Larimer, shippers, for 
five years. In 1883. he engaged in the real estate business which he has 
followed, catering to the local trade, and in this way doing his part to- 
ward the develoinnent and im]irovenient of the town and country. He is 
serving his second term from the second ward on the city council, where 
he favored street paving, electric lighting and other, minor, public im- 
provements. He is a Republican in jiolitics. is an Odd Fellow, a Modern 
Woodman, a ^^'orkman and an Elk. 

Septeml)er. (i. 1888, Mr. Cavert married Adda B. Ferrell. a daughter 
of Elder J. W. Ferrell. of the Christian church and formerly from Jes- 
samine county. Kentucky. The issue of this marriage are: William Cur- 
tis and Herbrt Oscar. 



LORENZO I). WINTERS— Competency in public service is strictly 
to be desired and is too frequently inattainable at public elections. Of- 
ficials are often chosen in utter disregard of the essentials for the public 
service and in response to a general clamor for a popular idol. But 
where common sense rules good judgment prevails and the citizen who 
wins oflicial honors in response to this condition never fails to exceed 
the expectations of the patrons of his office. Such is strikingly true of 
the jiresent incumbent of the ottice of clerk of the coiu't of Montgomery 
county. L. T>. Winters of this review. 

For more than two years he has officiated in his present capacity 
and the multifarious duties of his responsible office are as positively and 
effectively in his grasj) and under his control as were the more cumber- 
some details of his fai'm down in Cherokee township. He was peculiarly 
situated as a candidate because of his ready adaptation to a clerical posi- 
tion and because of his immense popularity with the voters of the county, 
and when it was discovered that he led heavily over other candidates on 
his ticket it was not a matter of either general or special surprise. 

Lorenzo D. Winters came to Kansas in 1879 and settled, with his 



326 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

parents, in Montgomery county. The family was from Owen county, In- 
diana, where our subject was born February 6, 18C.3. His father. Obediah 
J. Winters, is a substantial farmer of Cherokee township, Montgomery 
county, and was born in the same county as his son. in 1832. The father 
was united, in Clay county, Indiana, in marriage with Clara C. Eoath, 
a daughter of Loi'euzo D. Koath, of Stark county, Ohio. Their two 
children are L. D. and Edward B., the latter, of Coffeyville, Kansas. 

The common schools and the Coffeyville and Independence city 
schools furnished L. I). Winters with his educational equipment. He 
was eighteen years of age when he left school and turned his attention to 
farming on the old home. He followed the vocation of his early training 
Tintil the close of the year 1900 when, having been elected Clei'k of the 
Court, he moved his family to Independence to assume the duties of his 
office. His majority at this election was .326 votes and when his friends 
had all voted for him two years later his majority was found to be 826 
votes. 

December, 188.5, Mr. Winters married Lydia J. Vennum, a daughter 
of Frank H. and Harriet Vennum, old settlers of Cherokee township, in 
Montgomery county. Mr. and Mrs. Winters have two children, viz: 
Ethel Ruth and Mabel Harriet. 

The Modern Woodmen, the A. K. T. M. and the Odd Fellows claim 
Mr. Winters as a member, likewise the Elks of the capital city of the 
county. He lends great strength to the local Republican organization 
of his county and his personality has "led many wandering erring ones" 
to return. He maintains his farm on Pumpkin creek and it and his cat- 
tle interests are under his scrutinizing eye. 



JOHN C. MATTHEWS— The late John C. Matthews was a char- 
acter well known to the citizenship of ^rontgomery county. He was one 
of its earliest settlers and was identified with its affairs for almost thirty 
years. When the U. S. Land Office was located in Independence he was 
sent out from the east as a clerk in the office and when the removal of the 
office occurred some years later its clerk remained behind to continue 
a<'itizen of Montgomery county and to participate in its ordinary affairs. 

John C. Matthews was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, January 
22, 1823. His father. Elias Matthews, emigrated from Baltimore. Mary- 
land, in the first years of the nineteenth century and settled near Dayton, 
Ohio, where he reared his family and became one of the leading and 
well known farmers. He took an active jiart in the public affairs of the 
community and was a Whig in political belief. He was born in 1791 and 
was accidentally killed at the age of fifty-three. He married Susannah 
Keplinger, who was born in 1792 and died May 8, 1870, at Munice, In- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 327 

diana. being the mother of the follnwinp; children : George W., Thomas 
J.. James M., Elias M.. John C, Sarah J.. William L., Mary C, Henry C. 
and Daniel W. The fifth son. John <'.. grew up near Dayton and, when 
about 20 years old, went to r>elaware county, Indiana. He acquired a com- 
mercial school training and began life as a bookkeeper in his new Indiana 
home. In ISoO, he was elected County Treasurer of Delaware county and 
filled the office two terms. Succeeding this, he established a foundry and 
planing mill in Munice and, later on, engaged in the marble business in 
the same place. He was identified with Munice's affairs till his selection 
as the first clerk of the Independence Land Office. His ability as an ac- 
countant and in a clerical capacity, generally, was universally recognized 
and he was appointed, in consequence, deputy Eegister of Deeds and later 
deputy Clerk of the Court of ^lontgomery county. Succeeding the.se 
clerkships, he engaged in the abstract business and was one of the most 
reliable and trustworthy of the profession. He passed away in Independ- 
ence May 29. 1002. 

On the 16th of October. 1850. John C. Mhtthews married Margaret 
M. Jordan, a daughter of James Jordan, a native of Beaver county, 
Pennsylvania. The latter settled in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1818, 
where Mrs. Matthews was born August 2!1. 1832. The children of this 
union are: James C, of Independence, Kansas; S. Valentine and El- 
mer E. 

S. V. Matthews was born in Delaware county, Indiana, February 
15, 1858. He acquired a common school education and among his first 
acts toward the preparation for life's serious affairs was to begin the 
study of law with Judge McCue, of Independence. He was admitted to 
the bar December 30. 1880, but permitted himself to become interested in 
other matters and never engaged in the practice of law. In 1882, he was 
elected Clerk of the District Court and, in 1884, was reelected. He was 
deputy in the same office some time later and when this service was con- 
cluded he engaged in the business of abstracting, in company with his 
father, the subject of this sketch. 

June 17. 1883. Mr. Matthews was united in marriage with Anna W. 
Vance, of Findlay. Ohio. The issue of this nuirriage are : Ernia F. and 
Dean V. 

The :Matthews of this branch are Republicans of the original school. 
John C. Matthews came into the party when "John and Jessie" were 
maki'ig the race for the presidency as the party's first candidate in 1856, 
and within its fold has he. and his sons also, fought their political 
battles. 



THOMAS B. HENRY — In this personal record is presented one of 
the original members of the faculty of the Montgomery county High 
School — filling the chair of mathematics — whose family history has, 



328 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

since 1871, been associated with that of the early settlers of Montgom- 
ery county. This municipality is the place of his nativity and it has been 
the stage upon which his business and professional career has been 
chiefly enacted. Born and brought up on the farm and inured, somewhat, 
to its developing and toughening influences, and trained in the classic air 
of our state educational institutions, he now honors one of the noble 
professions of his state. 

Thomas B. Henry is a son of the late well-known pioneer, Dr. Wil- 
liam E. Henry, who settled on Table Mound in 1871. On the top of that 
sightly elevation, far above the surrounding country, much of his pos- 
sessions lay, and he passed the closing scenes of his life in the improve- 
ment of his claim, while also in the pursuit of health. The doctor was in 
feeble health, as a result of his army service, and his advent to Kansas 
was prompted in the hojie of physical, more than financial, benefit. While 
he busied himself with the initial work of inifu-oving a prairie farm, he 
also practiced medicine and was identified with a medical college, estab- 
lished in Independence in an early day, holding the chair of chemisti-y in 
the institution. 

The birthplace of the head of this prominent Montgomery county 
family. Dr. ^A'illiam E. Henry, was Warren county, Ohio, in the year 
1842. He received an academic education and graduated in medicine in 
"the Ohio Medical College," of Cincinnati, Ohio, and during the Civil 
war served in the 2nd Ohio Vol. Inf. as a private soldier. In the battle 
of Murfreesboro a musket ball shattered his left arm, the injury finally 
causing his death, on the 23rd of August, 1876. He was married in War- 
ren county, Ohio, in 1870, his wife being Miss Eaehel M. Butterworth, a 
daughter of Henry Thomas Butterworth, and a cousin of the late Hon. 
Ben. Butterworth, Mv C, of Ohio. The two surviving issues of this mar- 
riage are: Thomas B. Henry, of this notice, and William E., of Topeka, 
Kansas. 

Prof. T. B. Henry was born on Table Mound, in Montgomery county, 
August 17th, 1872. The farm continued to be his home 'till about his 
twentieth year, when he finished his course in the Independence High 
School and, after teaching a term in his home district, he entered the 
State Normal School. He completed the academic course in that institu- 
tion in June, 1894, and the same fall took the position of teacher of 
mathematics in the Arkansas City, Kansas, High School. At the ex- 
piration of his year's work he resigned to enter the State I'niversity of 
Michigan, where he took special work in mathematics and i)hilosophy. 
He transferred himself, in 1897, to the State University of Kansas, and 
graduated from that institution in 1898, with the degree of A. B. He was 
a"rhi I)eltaTheta"man, in the university, and, while in the normal school 
represented his society with credit in essay and oratory in the annual 
contests. His school education finished, he assumed his present station 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 329 

in life, as a member of tlie faculty of the Montgomerv County High 
School, to the educational success of which he has contributed in a high 
degree. 

June 8th. 1809, occurred the marriage of Mr. Henry and Miss Ellen 
Pugh, a daughter of the late pioneer, J. H. Pugh, of Independence. They 
have a splendid home on North Ninth street in Independence and their 
residence is one of the most attractive and commodious in the city. 



IIOBERT MAWSON DOBSON— Prominently identified with the 
live stock and farming interests of Montgomery county is R. M. Dobson, 
of Fawn Creek township. He is one of the self-made young farmers of 
the county and has been a resident of it for twenty-one years. A history 
of the successes and reverses in the rise of Mawson Dobson would detail 
a somewhat checkered career, yet it would show a gradual upward ten- 
dency, a continual nearing of the goal in the life of an ambitious man. 
Determination does much toward the accomplishment of a heai-t's desire 
and the achieving of life's aim is filled with experiences which add zest 
and interest in this particular career. 

Starting in life with an empty hand, but with a full heart and a 
strong head, states the condition of our subject at the real beginning of 
his career. At about sixteen years of age he assumed the station of doing 
a manly part toward the maintenance of the parental home. He was 
equipped with only a country school training, but it was sutficient to 
meet all the requirements of an ambitious youth of the farm. A part of 
his early life was passed as a farm hand and the profits of this toil served 
to provide him with the sinews of warfare in the more serious battles of 
life. Having no legacy, except a strong frame and a good name, he has 
provided both the opportunity and the material out of which his modest 
fortune has finally been carved. 

R. M. Dobson is a native of Illinois. His birth occurred in Scott 
county, that state, March 19th, ISGl, and he grew to maturity where he 
was born. His father, the venerable Robert Dobson, of Tyro, Kansas, 
was a native of the Queen's Dominions, being born in Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, April 7th, 1828. The latter came to the United States at twenty- 
one years of age and established himself in Morgan county, Illinois. He 
joined the 91st Illinois Vols, during the Rebellion and served three years 
and seven months in the Union cause, which service left him, as a legacy, 
a disability which has rendered him, ever since, an incapable and physi- 
cally incompetent man. For his wife, Robert Dobson married Mary A. 
Mawson, a lady of English parents, and who survives at the age of sixty- 
five years. Her children are: George W., Frances A., wife of Frank C. 
Moses, of Independence, Kansas; R. M., of this sketch; Elizabeth, who is 



330 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

married to Frank Smith, of Tyro, Kansas; Charles W., of Illinois, and 
Leslie, of Montgomery county. 

April 8th, 188G, K. M. Dobson married Sarah E. Godwin, a daughter 
of John B. Godwin, of Sullivan county, Indiana. Mrs. Dobson's mother 
was Miss Sarah V. Halberstadt, whose children numbered seven. Mrs. 
Dobson was born on the 3rd day of February, 1861, and has no children. 
She came to Montgomery county, in 1882, and for seventeen years has 
been a never-failing source of strength and encouragement to her ener- 
getic and industrious husband. 

Mr. Dobson began farming in Montgomery county on a small scale 
and in a modest way. He bargained for eighty acres of land in Fawn 
Creek township in 188.5 and, in 1890, sold it and purchased a part of what 
is now his splendid estate. His home was known as "the Stuckle place," 
and is in section 5, township 33, range 15, one of the fertile farms of the 
Onion creek valley, and one naturally adapted to the successful raising of 
stock. In this tract he owns four hundred and eighty acres in a body 
and, in addition, a half section of grass land near by. He engaged early 
in the buying and selling of stock and when he was a youth, yet in his 
'teens, he* was able to "drive a smart bargain" as a dealer and trader 
in stock. He feeds, annually, on his ranch about one hundred and sixty 
head of cattle and owns a bunch of thoroughbred Herefords which have 
contributed no little toward the income of the farm. With this class of 
cattle his success has been more marked and striking than with any other 
breed or grade. They are capable of more profitable development and are 
therefore the money-makers of the bovine tribe. 

Mr. Dobson is buried in interest in the development of his farm and 
herds. He does little toward the political phase of the county's history, 
and when he serves as a delegate to conventions and votes the Republican 
ticket he has performed his whole duty, as he sees it. He is a Mason and 
a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, of Independence, 
and of the Mystic Shrine, of Leavenworth. He is also a Woodmen of the 
Modern Camp. 



JOSEPH GENTRY SEWELI^One of the pioneers of Montgomery 
county whose brief career was filled with good deeds, and whose charac- 
ter was dominated by the elements of an upright life, was the subject of 
this personal memoir. His history with the west began in 1871, when he 
settled on section 30, township 33, range 15, Montgomery county, Kansas, 
and continued and was confined to that locality 'till December 29th, 
1882, when he died. The eleven years he spent here were years of inces- 
sant labor in the improvement and development of a home "where his fam- 
ily might be sheltered in comfort and sustained liberally with the fruits 
of honest toil. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 33 1 

Mr. Sewell purchased the claim-right of Mr. Chambers, the original 
settler of his farm, and himself patented the land in section 30, as well 
as a part of section 31. His career in early life had been that of a farmer 
and blacksmith, and to each of these callings he devoted himself in his 
new location. He erected a shop on his homestead and did the plow- 
sharpening, horse-shoeing and other blacksmith work over a wide scope 
of the surrounding country, thereby extending his acquaintance and estab- 
lishing himself in the confidence and good will of his fellow settlers. He 
transacted the business of the ordinary affairs of life, as they came along, 
with a plain, unassuming and dignified air and comported himself, al- 
ways, in a manner becoming the sincere and God-fearing man that he 
was. His life was a conspicuous one in the community and when it was 
suddenly terminated in death the shock of it and the accompanying grief 
extended far beyond the limits of his immediate household. 

Joseph G. Sewell was a native of Overton county, Tennessee, and 
was born December 6th, 1829. His father was W. D. Sewell, a farmer 
and a Baptist minister, of Virginia birth. He was born in 1800, went 
down into Tennessee, a young man, and married there, Susan Brown, 
who died at the age of seventy-six years. Rev. Sewell lived 'till 1880, and 
passed away in Tennessee, where he had done his life work. His children 
were. Elizabeth, who married Hardy Hopkins, and died in Missouri; 
Jonathan Calvin, who died in Texas; Joseph Gentry, our subject; Mary, 
wife of Jerre Taylor, of Tennessee; Washington, Isaac, Jesse and 
Stephen, of Tennessee; Lovania, who married Elijah Pritchard, deceased, 
and Celia, now Mrs. Baalam Roberts, of Overton county, Tennessee. 

In his youth Joseph G. Sewell acquired a country school education. 
He took up" his trade at the proper age and acquired proficiency in it by 
the time he reached his majoritv. November 20th, 1851, he married 
Catherine Maberry, a daughter of John and Mary (Spicer) Maberry, for- 
merly of North Carolina, in which state Mrs. Sewell was born, June 22nd, 
183-1. The Maberry children were William Madison, Catherine, Calvin, of 
California, Serena, deceased, married James Jordan ; Sarah, of Menephee 
county. Kentucky, is the wife of John Williams. In 1861, Mr. Sewell 
enlisted in Capt. McKinney's company — Tennessee troops — for service 
in the Confederate army, and was out two years. He participated in 
battle at Murfreesboro. Chicamauga and other engagements of im- 
portance and was wounded in the chin in the Chickamauga fight. On be- 
coming a civilian again he resumed his trade in his native state and con- 
tinued it in the main until his removal to Kansas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sewell's children are: Martha J., deceased, was a 
young girl of fifteen years; William and John, twins, both of Montgomery 
county ; tlie former a farmer of Fawn Creek township and the latter, 
John B., is a resident of Bolton, and was married in 1873, his wife being 



332 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Miss Maggie James, wlio has borne liim two sons and seven daughters : 
and Andrew Calvin, of Elk City, Kansas. 

In public matters. Joseph G. 8ewell took only a citizen's interest. He 
voted with the Democratic party, but had no interest in the outcome of 
any election, other than the good of the jiublic service. He was intensely 
moral and upright in his intercourse with his fellow men and, in his 
church relations, he was a Baptist and a deacon of the congregation. He 
was also a Mason. 



MARTIN VANBUREX SMITH— On the roster which contains the 
names of the heroes who fought that this country might live a free and 
united nation, is found the name of Martin VanBuren Smith, one of the 
pioneer farmers of the county, and a gentleman whose singularly up- 
right and correct life has exercised a powerful intiuence in establishing 
the high standard of civic righteousness now obtaining. Indeed, Mont- 
gomery county owes much of her excellence in matters of government to 
the "old soldier." Returning to the crowded farming sections of the east, 
after those years of strife, he naturally turned to the child whose birth 
had ushered in the din of battle, and whose strong young limbs were al- 
ready making rapid strides toward a prosperous future. Here in Kansas, 
he soon demonstrated that the discijiline of army life was the best pos- 
sible preparation for a civic career — that conti'ol of self is the basic prin- 
ciple of all right living. Fortunate, indeed, was Montgomery county to 
secure as citizens, in her earlier years, these men, for the four long years 
of hardship and suffering endured for their country had taught them 
well its value, and made them doubly desirous of seeing it the best gov- 
ernment on earth. 

Martin V. Smith passed the latter part of the .'jO's near the Missouri 
border and was thus prepared by contact with the stirring scenes of that 
time to respond readily to the call of his country. Early in 1861, he en- 
listed as a private in Company "G," of the Seventh Kansas, and. during 
the struggle, followed the fortunes of his regiment in the bush-whacking 
warfare carried on west of the Ozark Mountains. He was. finally, hon- 
orably discharged for disability and returned to his farm in Linn county. 
Mr. Smith was born in the ''Keystone State," in Warren county, in ISSi, 
and is the son of Wilson and Nancy (Jackman) Smith, both natives of 
the county, the Jaskmans having been among the earliest pioneers of that 
section. 

Our subject was one of a family of eight children— Charlotte, mar- 
ried William McDonald and lives in Warren countv; Martin was the sec- 
ond; then in order came Emily, Frank, Rosaline, Charles and Betsey Ann. 

Mr. Smith was reared to farm work, receiving the education common 
in those times in country districts. He remained at home until his twen- 




M. V. SMITH. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEIIY COUNTY, KANSAS. 333 

tieth year, when he came west, to Franklin county, Mo. He here engaged 
in work on the pioneer railroad of the west, and which afterward be- 
came the Missouri Pacific. A year here and a like period in Lee county, 
Iowa, brought him to Bates county. Mo., where he married and remained 
until his settlement in Linn county, in 185G. This was Mr. Smith's home 
until ISCiO, when he settled on a claim a mile east of his present location. 
In 1873. he purchased the farm upon which he now resides. It contains 
160 acres and lies four miles southeast of the county seat town of Inde- 
pendence. 

Mr. Smith has been twice married. The wife of his youth was Mrs. 
Mary Forbes, nee Kntipp. To her were born two children — Estelle, who 
married Frank Griffin, a farmer of Independence township, and whose 
children are Ethel and Effie; Augusta is the wife of Seward C. Clark and 
lives at Newkirk, Okla., with five children — Joseph, William, Seward, 
Edna and Mary. Mrs. Smith, the mother of these children, died in Linn 
county, Kansas, in .January of 1859, and in 1868, our subject was joined 
in wedlock to the lady who now presides over his home. Miss Addie, 
daughter of William and Eliza (Smith) Uickey. Mrs. Smith is one of 
seven children — Sarah Ann, widow of .John Brown, Honesdale, Pa.; Caro- 
line, deceased; Harriet, Mrs. Alvan Root, of Linn county; Almeda, de- 
ceased; Cushman, of I>earing, Kansas; Mrs. Smith; Emma was a twin 
sister of the latter. Mrs. Smith is the mother of six children — Frank H., 
who married Belle Wise, whose children are Don and Forest; Lillian is 
the wife of William Fortner, of Independence, whose son is Delbert; and 
Delbert, Hugh and Wesley E. are still at home. Hattie died, aged three 
years. 

As before intimated, Mr. Smith and his family have been potent fac- 
tors in the county's development. They are members of the United Breth- 
ren church, and he supports the Republican party by his vote. 



NATHAN M. FARLOW— Prominently identified with the agricul- 
tural and general material interests of Bolton and vicinity, is the gentle- 
man and worthy citizen of this review, Nathan M. Farlow. He was num- 
bered among the "second relief," or the influx of immigrants who came to 
Montgomery county some fifteen years after its pioneer days and gave 
to it a new blood and a renewed vigor of citizenship. October 20th, 1887, 
was the day he began his residence among the toilers and the prairie 
pioneers, and he located on section 16, township 33, range 14, munici- 
pality of Rutland. He was actively connected with farm culture and im- 
])rovement 'till November 11th, 1002, when he established himself and his, 
now reduced family, in the village of Bolton, where he is modestly and 
(piietly j)assing the evening of life. 

Nathan M. Farlow is a native of Orange county, Indiana, born Janu 



334 HISTORY Of MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ary ."Ih, 1842. His father, .Toiiathaii Fai'low, was one of the pioneers of 
the then Territory of Indiana, having settled there in 1811, an emigrant 
from the state of North Carolina. The latter was born in Orange county, 
the old "Tar Heel State" in ISO", and a(c<)ni])anied his father. .T()se])h 
Farlow, into Indiana, where the first work of clearing up the heavily-tim- 
bered region was just taking place. The family were of the English 
Quaker stock, whose antecedents settled in North Carolina from the col- 
ony in Pennsylvania and were of the direct followers of William Penn. 
Jonathan Farlow was a quiet, dignified gentleman, industrious and 
thrifty, and performed a manly and honorable part in the affairs of his 
ccninty in whatever capacity he was designated to occupy. He married 
Ruth, a daughter of Jdhn Maris, and died in 1873, thirty years after the 
death of his first wife. The children of the first marriage of Jonathan 
Farlow were: Jane, ^^•ife of Mark Hill, of Orange county, Indiana; 
Joseph, of Bolton, Kansas; Deborah, who died in February, 1900, was the 
wife of John B. Atkinson, of Montgomery county; Thonuis, who died in 
Orange county, Indiana, in January, 1886; and Nathan M., of this record. 
Mary Hill became the second wife of Jonathan Farlow, and tLeir child- 
ren were: Lindley, of Kokomo, Indiana; Ruth, who die<l in 1875; Ellen, 
wife of Joseph Trimble, of Orange county, Indiana ; and Sena, unmarried 
and residing in the same Indiana county. 

The Maris's are among the first settlers of Pennsylvania. They emi- 
grated from Inkborough. in the county of Worcester, England, in 1683, 
and joined the Quaker colony in Pennsylvania, (leorge Mai'is was the 
founder of this branch of plain Quaker folk and the records show that he 
left England on account of his arrest and imprisonment for permitting 
a meeting of this religious sect at his house. His friends armed him 
with a letter commending him to the colony in America, and reciting in it 
consistency of his religious life and other striking traits of real character. 
This George Maris is the eighth generation removed from Ruth Maris, the 
mother of the subject of this sketch. 

Nathan M. Farlow came to manhood's estate at a time and in a 
country when and where there was a prime opportunity to work. He 
"passed through" school in just a little while and it is not unfair to as- 
sume that while he was doing this feat he was also making a hand on the 
farm. He enlisted, January 4th, 1864, in Company "F," 13th Ind. Vol. 
Cavalry, under Col. G. M. L. Johnson. The regiment was assigned to the 
Army of the Cumberland, and saw service in the States of Alabama, Ten- 
nessee. Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky. He was with Gen. Grierson 
and participated in some sharp bouts with the enemy in its own country, 
prior to its final order to rendezvous at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where its 
muster our occurred November 18th, 1865, by special order No. 76. 

February 4th, 1868, Mr. Farlow married Martha Cloud, a daughter 
of Daniel and Mary A. (Milliken) Cloud, both of which families— the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 335 

Clouils and Millikens — were from the State of North Carolina. Beside 
Mrs. Farlow, tlie other Cloud children were a sister, Ann, deceased wife 
of James Jones, of Orange County, Indiana, and a brother, William 
Cloud, of the same county and state. Ml"s. Farlow was born February 
21st. 1849, was reared on a farm, where her mother died in 18G6, and her 
father in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Farlow's children are four in number, as 
follows: Elmer, a farmer of ^lontjiomery county, Kansas, is married to 
Ella Finney; Harry, a merchant of Bolton, is married to Carrie Metzger; 
Mamie, wife of Daniel Webster Finney, of Montgomery county, Kansas; 
William C, who occupies the family homestead in Rutland township, 
has taken him to wife, Blanche Brownell. 

Upon his return from the army Mr. Farlow resumed farming and has 
contiriued it without material interruption. He has participated in the 
affairs of his municipality as one interested in the public welfare and 
when such participation involved a question of political action, he has 
been an unswerving Republican. He never experienced confusion of opin- 
ions and consequent change of front when "the great breakup of 1890'' 
came on and he forecasted the comparative temporary character of that 
movement from the period of its first victory. Mr. Farlow is a trustee of 
the County High School, member of the G. A. R. and A. H. T. A. 



ABRAM G. EMPFIELD— Those who have resided within the juris- 
diction of Independence for a third of a century have known the subject 
of this review. His entry to Montgomery county dates along with the 
pioneers, for in February, 1869, he stopped near the "round mound," 
near Wayside, and proceeded to do the initial work on a Montgomery 
county claim. He had not had a capital training for the "rough-and- 
tumble" of the frontier, although he had driven his team from Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, across the states to Leavenworth, Kansas, thence to Topeka. 
Wamego. and finally, into Montgomery county. The trip prepared him 
for the continued out-door existence awaiting him in his new location and 
for a year he made the most of his rural environment. He really made 
no remarkable reputation as a farmer, yet he followed it long enough 
to get a taste of its difticulties and bitternesses in pioneer days. He dis- 
posed of his team of horses — partially living them up the first year — 
and acquired a yoke of cattle, and began turning over the prairie sod. 
He opened out several acres of land in this way and when the new town 
of Independence started up, and made some pretensions toward perma- 
nency, he left the farm and resumed his trade of a carpenter there. 

While Mr. Empfield has resided a few years on one of the good farms 
of Montgomery county, and which he has owned many years, his career 
has been passed in the county as a mechanic. Few men were better 
adapted in life to the trade he has followed. The handling of tools in his 



33^ HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

line seemed natural with him and his ideas in designing buildings and in 
the ajtproiuiateness and tastefulness of their finish were at once pleasing 
and in advance of his time. That he was popular and that he was always 
employed is no wonder, in the light of his success. He did his first work 
in the city in 1870. and for twenty-five years he was identified with the 
building interests of the county's cajiital. Some of his best work was 
done on the residences of \\'m. l»uiikin. J. JI. Anderson, (". W. Canning 
and George T. Guernsey. 

Having served "his time" at his trade, for the second time, Mr. Emp- 
field decided to occupy his farm and, with his wife, pass his afternoon 
of life in semi-retirement, in the enjoyment of the open air and concerned 
with only a few head of stock and with the general care and improve- 
ment of his farm. He owns two hundred and forty acres in sections 26 
and 27, township 33. range 15. the cultivation of which is done chiefly 
by proxy. 

Abram G. Empfleld was born in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, July 
20th, 1847. His parents were George W. and Margaret (Myers) Emp- 
fleld. The father was born in Indiana county, the "Keystone State," in 
1810. and died in Cambria county, Sejitember 17th, 1897, while the mo- 
ther was born in the same county in 1818, and now resides in Belsano, 
Pennsylvania. The father of George W. Empfleld was Joseph Emi)field, 
who came to the Uinted States an English boy, stealing his way over 
aboard a "sailer," and on reaching this country was sold, by the captain 
of the ship, to a miller, for the amount of his i)assage. He finally drifted 
into Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where he became a farmer, married 
and died in 1857. leaving three sons, viz : George W., Abraham and Jack- 
son, the latter being a minister of the United Brethren church and resid- 
ing in Salina, Kansas. 

Our subject is one of nine children, as follows: Thomas, of Belsano, 
Pennsylvania; Mary A., wife of Harvey Cooper, of Schuylkill county, 
Pennsylvania ; Susan, who married Amos Black and resides in Cherry- 
vale. Kansas ; Sarah, now Mrs. Isaac Mahau, of Cambria county. Pa. ; 
Abram, our subject; William W., of Ebensburg, Pa., and Margaret, wife 
of William James, of the home county in Pennsylvania. These are all 
The children who grew to maturity, except Martha, who is the wife of Jud- 
son Eeese, of Cambria county. Pa. Abram G. Empfield worked on the 
farm 'till near his majority, when he was put to learning the carpenter 
trade. As stated above, he was apt with tools and soon gave promise of 
great proficiency at the bench. "In December, after be was twenty-one, he 
left his home and friends and started west "to grow up with the country." 
He was immarried, had a small amount of money, and at Bloomington, 
Illinois, he left the train, joined some friends and purchased an outfit for 
the "overland" continuation of his journey hither. 

In 1877, Mr. Empfleld returned to I'ennsylvania and, in Cambria 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 337 

vouiiTy. on July 5th, married Mahala Campbell, a daughter of Henry and 
Rebecca (Hill) Campbell, farmers and old residents of the county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Campbell were both born in 1S2C, and still survive. Their 
children are: Mrs. Emi)field. Lewis, of Johnstown, Pa.; Abbie, wife of 
Sylvester Stover, of Fort Collins, Col.; Amos, of -Johnstown, Pa.; Susie, 
the youngest, is the wife of Amos McAlister, of Cambria county. Pa. Mr. 
and Mrs. Enqifield have an only child, a daughter, Rebecca M., wife of 
George M. Stewart, of Montgomery county, Kansas. 

Mr. Eaipfleld and his wife hold membership in the German Baptist 
church. Their lives have been passed in industry and they have achieved 
a jiosition among those who have aided in the development of their 
countv. 



DI-:L0S W. WILTSE— Introducing this article is the name of one 
of the early settlers of Independence township, residing in section 31, 
township 32. range 15. He owns a farm of 240 acres, improved in keep- 
ing with the iirogress of the county and has been a citizen of Montgomery 
county since September, 1874. He is the oldest settler now a resident of 
his locality — in point of residence — and when he purchased the improve- 
ments of the original settler of the "claim," they consisted simply of a 
log house, which he occupied ten years, and which is now used as a corn 
crib and serves as a daily reminder of the family's experiences on the. 
frontier. 

Delos W. Wiltse is a native of the state of Ohio, born August ISth, 
1S52. At six years of age he accompanied his parents, John and Mary 
(Owens) Wiltse, into Illinois and settled in DeKalb county. The parents 
were farmers, and the mother died the same year of our subject's birth, 
and left the following children, viz: Frank, of Green county, Iowa; 
Charles, who died young; Albert, of Green county, Iowa; Mary, "who died 
in 180(;. as the wife of Patrick Logan, and Delos W.. of this sketch. John 
Wiltse died in Green county, Iowa, in 1902, at ninety-one years of age. 
He wt;s born in New York state and his family was identified with Her- 
kimer county. He was reared a farmer and followed it all his life. His 
wife was a daughter of a Welchman, and he left New York and settled 
in the state of Ohio at an early date. He had brothers, Elijah and 
Stej>hen, of Illinois, and Henry and Otis, who passed their active lives in 
AVisconsin. 

Our subject came to maturity on a farm near Sycamore, Illinois. 
•His education was obtained in the district schools and was of a limited 
(lun-iuter. Heattendcdschoolonlyduring the winter months, after he came 
to be of use on the farm. He was married in June. 1S71, and began life in 
the calling to which he had been reared. His wife was Charlotte E., a 
-daughter of the late early settler. Ashman Partridge, of Montgomery 



338 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

county, Kansas. The latter was well known in the county he helped to 
improve and was one of the prosperous and wealthy farmers of Inde- 
pendence township. Since his removal to Kansas, Mr. Wiltse has con- 
fined his efforts to grain raising, with some stock, and has enjoyed a rea- 
sonable degree of prosperity. His efforts have universally been honorable 
and intelligent ones and these attributes, in a strong sense, govern the 
character of his citizenship. He was limited in resources on his advent 
to the county, having a team and a small amount of money and, in con- 
sequence, his first years on the Kansas prairie were economically, yet in- 
dustriously and comfortably i)assed. 

'J here have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wiltse four children, as fol- 
lows: Elmyra, wife of Samuel Lehr, with one child, Chester; Byron, who 
married May Young; and Walter and Otto, both at home. In politics the 
Wiltses of this branch are, and have been. Republicans, and our subject 
has always taken a good citizen's interest in the political and public af- 
fairs of his locality. He has served two terms on the school board in dis- 
trict 105 — "Four Corners" school house. 



JAMES BRADEN — One of the new acquisitions to the rural popu- 
lation of Montgomery county is James Braden, a. native of the "Keystone 
State," who, after a long residence in Missouri, in 1901, settled in Lib- 
erty townshi]). In the short time he has been in the county he has made 
many friends, his good qualities attracting all who have dealings with 
him. 

The family history of Mr. Braden carries us back to Beaver county, 
Pennsylvania, where he was born, March 10th, 1829. His father was 
Frank Braden, and his mother Rebecca Russell. The father died when 
his son was but one year old and the mother passed away when he was 
but eight years of age. Our subject was then adopted by Hanson John- 
son, one of the early settlers and leading farmers of that county. Mr. 
Braden remained with this family until the death of Mir. Johnson in 
1849, and was treated in every respect as a son. 

At the age of twenty, he began life for himself and remained in 
Beaver county, engaged in farming, until the breaking out of the Civil 
war, when he became a member of the 5th Penn. Heavy Artillery, and 
during his service, was, for the most part, in the quartermaster's depart- 
ment and was mustered out at Vienna, Va., July 18th. 1865. He reen- 
gaged at farming in Pennsylvania until 18G7, when he came west to War- 
rensburg. Mo., where he purchased a farm sixty-five miles east of Kansas 
City, on the Missouri Pacific railway. He cultivated this farm for eigh- 
teen years, when he sold it and rented a farm, until his settlement in Lib- 
erty township, as stated, in 1901. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 339 

The domestic life of Mr. Braden begau in the year 18.52, when he was 
happily joined in marriage in Beaver county, Pa., with Louisa Sanford. 
The family of eleven children which she has borne to her husband, are 
scattered to the four points of the compass, but all occupy honorable 
positions in the communities in which they reside. The eldest child was 
John H., now a practicing physician in Morgan county. Mo; Francis L. 
is a stock dealer at Independence, Kansas; Luther N. is a farmer and 
stock raiser in North Dakota ; John B. is a physician and practices in 
the State of ^^'ashingto^; Mary Louisa married Serena Camjibell and is 
now a widow, living in Oklahoma; Ella F.. wife of E. J. D. Miller, re- 
sides in North Dakota; Una L. is the wife of farmer Robert L. Smith, of 
Johnson county. Mo. ; HJerman D. lives in the Indian Territory ; Margaret 
J. married Charles Hite, a farmer of South Dakota; Amos resides in 
North Dakota, and Perry is a farmer residing in Liberty townshp. 

In the different communities in which .James Braden has resided 
during his life time, he has held a prominent and helpful position and 
has always been consistent in his endeavors for the uplifting of society. 
He has always been a consistent supporter of the educational institutions 
of the communities where he has resided and has voted, during his life 
time, the Republican ticket. In matters of religious concern, he and his 
family are consistant members of the Presbyterian church and liberal 
supporters of the same. His coming to the county is regarded, by those 
who have his acquaintance, as a decided gain to the rural population in 
the local community in which he is making his residence. 

The sons are nearly all members of some society. Herman is a Ma- 
son, Frank and Dr. J. A. are Modern ^^'oodmen, Perry is an Odd Fellow. 



EDWARD B. WEBSTER— Edward B. Webster, one of the more 
recent settlers of West Cherry township, is a native of Polo, Illinois, 
having been born in Ogle county. May 20th, 1844. He has been identified 
with the west since the fall of 1870, and his experience as a farmer has 
extended somewhat over the States of Iowa. Nebraska, Missouri and Kan 
sas, and in Msu'ch, 1892, he purchased his farm of three hundred and 
twent\ acres in .section 10, township 31, range Iti. which has profitably 
responded to his intelligent and energetic effort. 

The youth of Edward B. Webster was passed in the country and his 
education obtained in the rural schools. August 2fith, 18G2, he enlisted 
in Company "D," 02nd 111. Vol. Inf., his immediate commanders being 
Capt. Lyman Preston and Col. Smith D. Atkins. His regiment was as- 
signed to the Army of the West, under Gen. Rosecrans, during the greater 
part of his service. His was a company of mounted infantry and moved 
about with the cavalry forces. He was in the Chi(kamauga campaign and 



340 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

in the Atlanta campaign, up to the battle before the city, when he was 
shot through the right lung and was forced out of the ranks for about 
two months. He returned to his command after his partial recovery and 
was with it 'till mustered out of the service, June 22nd, 18G5, at Conrad, 
North Carolina. 

He took up the work of the farm again, after the war closed, and re- 
mained in Illinois "till the fall of 187(1, when he moved to Wappelo 
county, Iowa, where he resumed farming for twelve years, at which time 
he made a move into the far western ])lain. settling in Antelope county, 
Nebi-aska. There he took up a claim on the public domain, which he held 
and cultivated "till the autumn of 188!), when he returned southeast and 
rented a farm in Jackson county, ^lissouri, and, three years later, came, 
to Montgomery county, Kansas. 

Mr. Webster is a son of George E. Webster, born in Delaware county, 
New York. The father pioneered to Illinois, took up government land, 
and helped to build the Erie canal, before his departure from the "Em- 
pire State."' He was a son of Elijah AVebster, whose children were: 
George, Jerrad, Oscar, Navadis, Mrs. Mary A. Schriver, Mrs. Koxy A. 
Burger, and 5ft"s. Maria O'Kane. George Webster married Sarah Shaver, 
a native of Delaware county. New York, and a daughter of Jacob and 
Catherine (Burhouse) Shaver. George Webster and wife had two child- 
ren : AA'ellen H., of Loveland, Colorado, and Edward B., of Ihis review. 

In Wappelo county, Iowa, Edward B. Webster married Clara, a 
daughter of Samuel and Mary A. (Gleason) Pachwood. The issue of their 
marriage are: Mabel, wife of C. D. Shepard, of Washington. She has 
three children, James, Daniel and Earnest; Robert, of Bakersfield, Cal., 
married Ella Ogden; Edith, William, Iftirold and Blanche. 

Mr. Webster belongs to the Anti-Horse Thief Association, is a mem- 
ber of the school board of his district and honors the Grand Army of the 
Republic with his name on the roll. 



JOHN B. REA — The interesting character whose name introduces 
this biography has been numbered among the citizens of Montgomery 
county since November 28th, 1875, the year he established himself on sec- 
tion :>, township 33. range 14, and began the first work in the develop- 
ment of his Kansas home. As a character he is unique, in that the story 
of his life embraces the experiences of wide travel, beginning with the 
middle of the nineteenth century and continuing through many years of 
the next quarter of a century, during which time the sun shone on him 
from many distant points of our American continent. 

Born in Logan county, Ohio, November 28th, 1825, and reared and 
educated there, at twenty-four years of age he went to Mahaska county, 




JOHN. B. REA AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 34I 

Iowa, where he passed one year as a hand on a farm. The following 
spring — 1S50 — with a small fompaiiy. he nmde the trip with an ox team 
to Plaf-erville, California, being from May 1st to Septemlier l.'ith, on the 
jonrney. He engaged in mining, but at the end of a year had saved but 
little (1400.00) from his wages, and decided to return home. He took 
the bi-ig "Imanm" for San Juan, crossed Nicaragna lake and thence 
down the San Juan river to Greytown. There he took a steamer to Ha- 
vana, Cuba, and, a week later, sailed to New Orleans and up the Mis- 
sissippi river to St. Louis. By stage he went to Carthage, Illinois, and 
thence to his starting-point in Iowa, whcie he soon began his journey, by 
horse, to his home in Ohio. 

In December, 1852, he married and returned at once to Mahaska 
county. Iowa, where he jmrchased a farm, cultivated it a year and then 
took his departure for his eastern home. In 1857, he again went to the 
Pacific coast, taking ship at New York, crossing the isthmus and stop- 
ping at San Jose, where he worked on a farm one year. He staged it 
from Los Angeles to Sherman, Texas, and spent two years on a farm 
there. Hostilities between the North and the South caused him to return 
to his friends and he enlisted, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in Company ''K," 33rd 
Iowa Inf., under Col. Samuel Rice. He was in the Department of the 
West and passed much time in Arkansas, from his enlistment in August, 
1802. He participated in the engagement at Helena, July 4th, 1863, and 
was in the hospital at Little Rock during the Red river campaign. Re- 
joining his command, he went with it to New Orleans, to Mobile, andafter 
taking the latter, went to Fort Blakely, from which fjoint his regiment 
was crdered to the Rio Grande river, in Texas. After doing some ser- 
vice on this extreme frontier the force returned to New Orleans, by the 
way of Galveston, and was mustered out in the "Crescent City" in June, 
1865. 

The war over, Mr. Rea resumed farming in Ohio for a year, and 
then went back to Iowa, where he was married the .second time, Septem- 
ber 12th, 1866. This same year he started west and south in a wagon and 
located in Johnson county, Kansas, where he purchased a farm and 
owned it "till 1873. when he disposed of it and moved to Batesville, Ar- 
kansas. There he remained "till the beginning of the journey which 
brought him to ^lontgomery county, Kansas. 

His beginnings in this county were as primitive as any. His resi- 
dence was 14x16 feet to start with and the conveniences about the place 
were i;ll improvised and temporary. He has given his time to grain and 
grazing and his modest surroundings have been the result. 

John B. Rea was a son of Allen Rea, a farmer and native of Culpeper 
county, Virginia. His grandfather was Joseph Rea, of Culpeper county, 
and of Irish stock. The eight children of Joseph Rea were: Robert. Allen, 



342 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Thomas, Isaiah. Margaret, Saiah, Elizabeth and Deborah. Allen Rea 
married Maria Bishop and was the father of twelve children, viz: Mrs. 
Susannah Shark, George Ml., John B., Mrs. Mary J. Henderson, Mrs. 
Charlotte Hisey, Deborah, Mrs. Margaret Crowder, Mrs. Samantha Davis, 
Robe?'l, Mrs. Louisa Davis. .Joseph, of Olathe, Kans., and Carlisle, of Con- 
way, l\Iissouri. 

" John B. Rea married, first, Hannah Wickersham, who bore him: 
Joseph, of Tennessee, whose four children are Frank, Mrs. Deborah Rob- 
ertson, Capitola, Mary and Virgie; Mrs. Robertson has four children: 
Thomas, William, Flora and Mamie; William is deceased; Mr. Rea, our 
subject, married for his second wife, Mary J. Rice, of Jennings county, 
Indiana, and a daughter of James and (^alydia (Adams) Graham, natives 
of Kentucky. Two children were the fruit of this union, namely : Saman- 
tha Pilgrim, deceased, and Mrs. Nellie Jones, of Montgomery county, 
Kansas. The children of Mrs. Jones are Vivian Alfa and Charles, twins. 
Mr. Rea is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the 
A. H. T. A. He has ever maintained himself a worthy citizen and his 
standing in his community and county is above reproach. 



GEORGE W. LIPPY— In the spring of 1S72, the worthy citizen 
whose name is prefixed to this sketch, left Fulton county, Illinois, and 
drove his little family across the state of Missouri and into Wilson 
.county, Kansas. After a temi)orary sojourn he went over into Elk 
county and took a claim, which he held 'till the fall of 1874, when he sold 
it and came to the Verdigris river in Montgomery county, where he has 
.since made his home. His original farm comprised only forty acres, 
where he finally located, and to the development of it and to the acquire- 
ment of broader acres was his attention earnestly directed. So intense 
and concerted were the efforts of his wife and himself exerted that an es- 
tate of four hundred and fifty acres now represents their farm. Their 
home is in section 17, township 31, range 16, and the house which covers 
them was, originally, a simple log cabin. In its construction their funds 
.exhausted themselves before the cover was provided and the family watch 
was sacrificed to buy material for the roof. But this modest pretension 
:served the family as a home, and "tlicrc is no place like home." 

George W. Lippy was born in Miami county, Ohio, and brought up in 
Fulton county, Illinois. His parents, John and Sarah (Zepp) Lippy, 
settled in the latter place when George was only a baby. John Lippy was 
born in Maryland and was of German stock. He was the father of ten 
■children, namely: Elizabeth and Catherine Lasswell, George W., John, 
Eprhiam, Mrs. Susanna Markley, Armiuda Lee, Mrs. Jane Schlegel, Mrs. 
Edna Lee and William. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 343 

The birth of George W. Lippy occurred April 11th, 1844. His whole 
life was rural iu euvironnieut and, Sejiteuiber Sth, 1870, he married Eliza- 
beth Markley. Mrs. Lippy was born in Fulton county, Illinois, February 
4th, 1847, and was a daughter of Conrad JIarkley, a native of Ohio. The 
Markley children were: Conrad, Joseph, Mrs. Margaret Cornwell, Mrs. 
Susannah Richards, Jackson, John, Elizabeth, Mary. Conrad Markley 
married Ruth Foster, a daughter of Benjamin and Amanda (Cone) Fos- 
ter, and their children were: Amanda Wallieh, Elizabeth Lippy, wife of 
OTir subject; Louis ("., ^largaret Catron. John, Thomas, Jackson and 
Joshua. The first Markley children mentioned above were heirs of Jona- 
than Markley, of Pennsylvania, father of Conrad Markley, Mrs. Lippy's 
father. 

Mr. Lippy and wife have four children, to-wit: Nora Catron, of Ok- 
lahoma, with five children: George, Margie, Ruth, Louis and Ralph; 
Margaret, wife of G. S. ^McEvers, of Montgomery county, with three 
children: Maurice, Jlillie and Martha; John and Ruth Lippy, at the 
family home. 

The industry and thrift displayed by Mr. and Mrs. Lipjiy as they 
passed through life has been one of the marked features of their family 
trait. The management of their affairs indicates an unusual business 
sagacity and the possession of such an estate as theirs only comjiensates 
them, in a measure, for the sacrifices they have made. Misfortune has 
come to the family in recent years iu the mental aberration of the father, 
rendering him incompetent to assume charge of the domestic affairs. His 
noble wife has taken her place at the helm and the onward and upward 
movement of their pecuniary affairs has suffered no abatement. 



MATHIAS BLAES— The gentleman whose life work is briefly sum- 
marized in this article, is a representative of one of the numerous fami- 
lies of Montgomery county whose material interests mark them among 
the successful people of the municipality. The distinction of being pio- 
neers of the county also belongs to them and they have comported them- 
selves with credit as citizens of a great and growing commonwealth. 

Mathias Blaes is well worthy the honor of being the head of the 
Blaes family. His public spirit and enterprise, his general air of prog- 
ress and his extensive financial interests all conspire to this end. His be- 
lief in the encouragement of worthy objects has been demonstrated by a 
liberal support of the same and his open method of transacting business 
is a matter of general comment. 

The Blaes's were settlers from Cook county, Illinois, and came to 
Montgomery county in 1869. Mathias Blaes, our subject, was born near 
Chicago, Illinois, January 2Cth, 1856. Be comes of pure German stock, 
his father, Jacob Blaes, and his mother, Elizabeth Mbrch, having been 



344 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

born in Prussia. The parents were married in 1846, in Chicago, having 
come from Germany in that year, and settled in Cook county. Illinois. 
From that date until 1869, they followed the varied occupations of the 
farm, and when they came to Montijomery county they entered land — all 
who were of the projier age — and a large body of the public domain was 
thus gathered together. The father passed away at eighty-four years of age, 
while the mother still survives and is seventy-five years old. 

Seventeen children were born to this pioneer couple, fourteen of 
whom still live, namely : Christian, Mary E., Jacob, Elizabeth, Andrew, 
Mathias, John, Henry, Nicholas, .Mary G., Kate. Kegina. Anton and Anna. 
'These children are S('attered from Arkansas to California, and are main- 
taining themselves as good citizens in their respective abiding places. 

Mathias Blaes was a boy of thirteen years when his life was cast 
with the outpost of civilization on the Kansas frontier, and among the 
scattered fragments of IJlack Dog's and White Hair's Osage bands. The 
last obstacle to pioneer progress was not removed with the departure of 
the Indians, for floods and grass-hoppers and chinch bugs came along 
and for some years, in the early seventies, the lot of the white man was 
hard. Discouraged but not disheartened, the Blaes's fought their battles 
against adversity without yielding and came off gloriously victorious in 
the end. 

The district school was the only one accessible to Mr. Blaes and he 
ac(]uired the ground-work of a common and practical education. He 
made his home with his parents 'till Ajiril .3rd, 188.3, when he married 
Theresia Koehler, who came to the United States from Bohemia at six 
years of age. and to Kan.sas with her parents in 1879, and settled in Wil- 
son county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Blaes began their married life on their farm two miles 
north of Cherryvale. Agriculture and stock raising was the chief pro- 
duct of the farm until recent years, when the mineral development of the 
locality proved it to be rich in oil and gas, and this product — from the 
"Spindle Top Farm," as it has been named — yields its own handsome re- 
turn,-', each quarter, in royalties, from the operators of the lease. Eleven 
oil wells, many of which occupy the high plateau overlooking Cherry- 
vale, produce crude iwtroleum and a good gas well supplies the pumping 
station and the residence of Mr. Blaes with nature's perfection of fuel. 

The improvements on ''Si)indle Top" farm are in keeping with the 
substantial condition of its proprietor; large two-story residence, ample 
barn room and otber conveniences. The farm contains two hundred and 
twenty-two acres and is cultivated as assiduously as if the family treas- 
ury were not teeming with riches drawn from the bowels of the earth. Ita 
' fields are rich and fertile and are stocked amply with the various donies- 
•tic animals common to a well conducted farm. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 345 

Ten children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Blaes;, and all 
have learned to sjieak their mother, as well as the Engjlish, tonfjne. Ger- 
man is the langnage of the family circle, while English was learned in 
school and in contact with the ontside world. The children are: Agatha, 
Adolph J., Carl H., Arnold Edward, .\ntoinette, Colette, Theresia B., 
Frank Joseph. Anna L., and Omer ^^^ 



EDWARD .J. TRIBLE— An earlv settler of Montgomery county 
who has eiiipliasizod his i)rescnce here by positive and substantial life 
achievements, is I'^dward J. Trible. of Rutland township. February, 1S70, 
marks his advent to the county, at which early date he combined the busi-' 
ness of a freighter with that of a settler, and entered a tract of the public 
lands in Indejiendence township, as a starting point in his citizen career. 
He came to the county with mule and ox teams laden with flour and corn, 
which he sold to the Osages, then ((uartered in their villages about over 
the county and the farm which ^\'illiam Brust now owns is the site 
where Mr. Trible put forth his maiden efforts on a Kansas farm. 

Edward Trible. like other pioneers, made his first home in Mont- 
gomery county in a log hut. which he erected with his own hands. His 
stable matched his house and a "shanghigh" fence enclosed his field. Chief 
Nopawalla's camp was only a fourth of a mile from him and a friendly 
intercourse between the settler and the Aborigines was maintained. 

In 1872, Mr. Trible went on a buffalo hunt, fifty miles west of his 
claim, and killed all the meat he could haul. At that date Butler and 
Cowley counties, and all the country west of Ihere, was full of that lai'ge 
game, and it served the pioneers in good stead during a scarcity of native 
meat and short crops. This meat our subject sold at Joplin, Missouri, 
and in that vicinity he remained, working about the lead mines, for three 
years, returning thence to Montgomery county and settling the farm he 
now owns. He was then without means, so to speak, and he roughed it 
and starved it until Providence came to his rescue with earth's bounteous 
crops. He lived in a log cabin here. too. and the temporary buildings of 
the modest farmer covered him 'till their destruction by fire, in 1892, 
when the home of the jiresent day arose and gave him shelter. He is 
located on a tract of school land in section .30, townshij) 32. range 14, and 
is classed among the thoroughgoing and thrifty citizens of his township. 

December 2.5th. 1814, Mr. Trible, of this sketch, was born in Devon- 
shire, England. Hfe grew up there to the age of fourteen years, when he 
sailed for America and landed at Quebec, Canada. He went direct to 
Alton. Illinois, and them-e to Macoujiin county, that state, where he re- 
sided until lS(i7. In the sjiriiig of lS(i4. he enlisted at Cam)! Butler. 111., 
in Company "F," 1.33rd Vol. Inf.. Capt. Dagger and <V)1. IMiillips. He 



346 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

did guard duty at Rock Island, Illinois, during liis entire service and 
was mustered out at his place of enlistment December, 18G5. After 
spending a short time at home he migrated to Barton county, Missouri, 
from which point he started on his journey to Kansas and to Montgom- 
ery county. 

Edward J. Trible was a son of John Trible, whose father and mother 
were the parentsof John. Edward. Abram and Samuel. JohnTrible married 
Mary Oliver in Devonshire, and was the father of six children, as follows: 
Mrs! Grace Elred. of Carlinville, 111.; Mrs. Elizabeth Hobson, of Carrol- 
ton, 111.; Mrs. Mary Fink, of Lamar, Mb.; John, of Girard, 111.; Margaret, 
wife of refer Denby, and Edward J. 

In 1872, Mr. Trible married Mary J. Compton, a native of Ross 
county, Ohio, and a daughter of Wilson and Sarah (Brake) Compton. 
The issue of this marriage is six children, namely: Mrs. Maude Greer, 
with (hildren, Glenn and Audra; Mrs. Grace Furgeson ; Wiltz, of Kansas 
City; INIaggie. Elbirt and Blanche. 

" The first wheeled vehicle known in England was made by John 
Oliver, the maternal greatgrandfather of Mr. Trible. He lived in the 
county of Devonshire, where the family annals have existed from a very 
early time. 



ALEXANDER C. GREER— In 1884. the subject of this personal 
reference came to ^Montgomery county and identified himself with the 
settlers of Rutland township, where he owns one hundred and twenty 
acres of sections 27 and 33, township 82. range 11. He emigrated from 
Morgan county, Indiana, where his i)irth occurred October 11th, 1841, 
and where he grew u\> on a farm. His father, .John A. Greer, was a pio- 
neer there from Scott county, Kentucky, and a minister of the Christian 
church, dying the year following our subject's birth. 

Rev. John A. Greer was a native Irishman's son, James Greer being 
his father. James Greer accompanied his i)areuts, Stephen H. and Ruth 
(Anderson) Greer to Amei-ica as a child, where he married and. in Ken- 
tucky, reared his family of seven children, viz: James, Xathaniel, Henry, 
Alvin, Ruth, ]\Irs. Sophronia Smith. Mrs. ]Martitia Berry, and John A. 
The last named married Nancy Elsey, a daughter of John and Elizabeth 
(Montague) Elsey, native Kentucky people. Ten children sprang from 
this union, as follows: James, John E., Mrs. Elizabeth Carroll, Lyman 
M., Mrs. Ruth Williams, Nancy J., William H., Mrs. Amanda M. Poor, 
Alexander C, and Sarah, deceased. 

Stephen H. Greer, our subject's greatgrandfather, came from Ire- 
land to Maryland and served about five years in the Revolutionary war. 

The opi)ortunities of Alexander C. Greer, in youth, were only such as 
«ame to a country boy of his time, and he grew up with a strong body, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 347' 

a moral and upright young man. August 30th. 1862. he enlisted in Com- 
pany "F," .5th lud. Cav., Caiit. Felix Graham — afterward colonel — and, 
latei', under Col. Thomas F. Butler, in the 2.3rd Army Corps, commanded 
by Gen. Sherman. He was in twenty-two different engagements during 
the war and escajied both wounds and capture. He was in the fights at 
Bean Stati(ui, Bluiitville, Tenn.. and Huffington's Island. He helped cap- 
ture Gen. Basil I>uke and eleven hundred men, with a mere jtosse of fifty 
men. From Kentucky the command went into Tennessee, where it scout- 
ed over the eastern part of the state and fought the battles of Raytown, 
Strawberry Plains and Walker's Fort. The regiment then returned to 
Louisville, Kentucky, from whence it soon embarked on its journey to 
join Gen. Sliernmn, for the Atlanta campaign. On this campaign the 
cavalry led the advance and brought on the fighting all the way down to 
the city. After the Confederate stronghold surrendered, !Mr. Greer's 
command was sent back to Louisville, where he went to the hospital with 
a fever. He was discharged from there May 20th, 1865, and is now a pen- 
sioner on the roll of honor. 

Since the war. fMrmiiig has occujned the attention of Mr. Greer. He' 
was married in 1867. Klioda Parker becoming his wife. She was born in 
Morgan county, Indiana, and was a daughter of Starling and Mary 
(White) Parker, of .Jackson and Morgan counties, that state. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Greer have been born eight children, viz: Mrs. Ruth Hutoka, of 
Neodesha, Kansas; Mrs. Lily M. Botts. of Montgomery county, with 
children: Laura, Ella, Margaret and Marie; Mrs. Margaret M. Malcom, 
with tiiree children: Ira, Eva, and Ethel, deceased; Mrs. Dora Hewitt, 
of Indeiiendence. Kansas; Everett E., of Neodeslia ; .John E., of Indepen- 
dence; Mary .J. and Alice, yet on the family homestead. 

In politics Mr. Greer affiliates with the Reiniblicans and has been 
chosen to fill several local offices of his townshi]). He has attended 
county and district conventions in a delegate cajiacity, and has comport- 
ed himself as becomes a patriotic and worthy citizen. 



LUCIXOA W. ALLISON— One of tbe modest citizens of West 
Cherry township and one who has i)assed nearly a quarter of a century 
within the limits of Montgomery county, is Mrs. Lucinda W. Allison, of 
this record. She came to the county with her late husband, Jackson Al- 
lison, and settled, temporarily, west of Inde](endence. but. two years later 
purchased the eighty acre tract in section 20, township 31, range 16, 
where her home has since been maintained. 

In DeKal!) county, Tennes.see, Mrs. Allison was born, March 21st, 
184.5. lOight years later, she a<<oiMiianied lii-r jiarents into Kentucky, 
where, in Logan and afterward in .McClain cdunties. she grew up. She 
was a daughter of William C. and Maitlia (Helden) Doss and was tlie 



348 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

oldest of four children, viz : Luciuda. Ursula, wife of Thomas Sams, of 
Logan countv, Kentucky; Mrs. Mjiria J. Tines, of Butler county, Ken- 
tucky, and Mary E. William ('. Doss was a son of Jonathan Doss, who 
married a Pritchit aud reared an only child. The father was an Irish- 
man and the mother a Teuucsseean, and their home was in Virginia. 
William C. Doss" wife was a daughter of Isaac and Martha Belden, of 
Logan county. Kentucky, but the former a Virginian by birth. 

June .5th, 1871, Luciuda W. l>()ss married Jackson Allison, a n.ative 
of Franklin county, Kentucky, and a son of Harrison Allison, a Virgin- 
ian, with Scotch-Irish lineage. Jackson Allison was one of four in 
family, namely: Jackson, John, Eli and Joseph. 

Soon after her marriage, Mrs. Allison and her husband removed to 
McClain county and remained there 'till their emigration toward the 
setting sun. Mr. Allison passed his life as a farmer and died February 
26th, 1901. Among his rtrst acts as a young man was his enlistment in 
the Confederate army, where he served as wagon-master in Kentucky and 
Tennessee, being in the army for a period of four years. After the war 
he was appointed jailor in Calhoun, McClaiu county, but in the west his 
life was a quiet and unassuming one. He left two children at his death, 
Elmo, of Montgomery county, with children, Lela and Conrad H. ; and 
Miss Ella Allison, at home. 



THOMAS W. AXDER SOX— When Montgomery county was yet an 
outpost of civilization and the Red Man still held sway, Thomas W. An- 
derson, of this sketch, united his fortunes with the sparse settlement of 
Independence township, and entered a tract of land near Independence. 
He engaged actively in the development of his new farm and ownd it un- 
til 1876, when he exchanged it for interests in Cherryvale, in and around 
which place he has ever since resided. 

Coles county. Illinois, was the native place of Mr. Anderson, and 
there, December 11th, 1836, he was born. James Duncan Anderson was 
his father and his mother was Luciuda Threlkeld, both parents being na- 
tives of Kentucky. In 1832,. they left their native state and settled in 
Coles county, Illinois, where, in 1811. the father died at forty-five years, 
while the mother lived to be forty-eight years old. Of their four child- 
ren, Thomas W. is the sole survivor. 

Being left without parents at eight years of age, our subject was 
reared under the care aud guidance of his maternal grandparents. Con- 
ditions were such that an education was impossible to him and a term 
of three months in a country school was all the school advantage he had. 
The Threlkeld home was his home 'till December 5th, 1855, when he mar- 
ried Elizabeth Helton and the young couple set out to do for themselves. 

Mrs. Anderson was born in Tennessee, in 1837, was a daughter of An- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY,, KANSAS. 349 

(hew iiud Maliuda Neal (Black) H^eltou, of Tennessee, and English birth, 
resijectively. In 1S54, the Heltons started to Texas by river boat — down 
the Ohio and up the Red river — and while going up the latter Andrew 
Helton, the father, was stricken with cholera and died March 22nd, 1854, 
at forty-nine years of age. This misfortune disheartened the mother and 
children, and they returned to their Illinois home, where Malinda Helton 
died, January 1st, 1S.5G, at forty-two years old. 

The Helton children were: Leanah E., born April 30, 1830; Alfred 
C, born August 20th, 1831, and died in 1S.j2: .Tames F.. born October 
30th, 1S83, died in Kansas City; Mary H., born October 22nd, 1835; 
Elizabeth, born December 27th, 1837; Emeline F., born September 27, 
1840; Milton E.. born November 14th, 1843; Thomas M., born November 
9th, 1845; Henry C, born March 18, 1848; Landou H., born May 2, 1850, 
and George W., born July 16, 1853. 

Early in 1805, Thomas W. Anderson enlisted in the 123rd Illinois 
Vol. Inf., but was subsequently transferred to the Olst Illinois regiment, 
in which he served 'till the close of the Civil war. Returning to his fam- 
ily, he continued farming in his native state 'till 1860, when he came to 
Kansas and jiassed a year at Fort Scott. On coming into Montgomery 
county he found it what he desired, identified himself with its agricul- 
tural interests and has done a modest, though substantial, part toward 
the material development of the county. 

\^'lien he became identified with ("herryvale, he took up plastering, 
but followed the trade only a short time, when he erected a few houses 
for rent and bought a few acres near the city, and has been occupied 
largely with the care and improvement of his property. In 1892, he was 
appointed postmaster of Cherryvale, being the second Democratic incum- 
bent of that office, con.imissioned for four years. His activity in politics 
in liehalf of many as])ii-ing friends commended his candidacy to the favor 
of his jiarty and his ajipointment to the postmastersliiji was the result. 
He has l)een justice of the i)eace of DruTii Creek townshiji and as a citizen 
has comported himself with dignity and patriotism. 

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have ten surviving children out of a family of 
twelve as follows: Lemuel E., born Se]itcmbcr ."ith. lS5(i; Mary Olive. 
born November 12. 1858, is the wife of William Richie: Lucinda. born 
October 7th, 186(t, is now Mi's. C. Friley; Stanley A., born July 31st, 1862, 
died Septend)er 13th, 1864; William F., born Septendier 7th. 1864; Isaac 
T., born October 29th, 1866; John J. W.. born May 1st. I860; Louisa M., 
born :March 4th. 1872. is married to M. L. Brooks; Thomas T.. born June 
9th. 1874, and died November 5th, 1885; Cyrus R., born August 17th, 
1876, was a soldier in the 2(lth Kansas in the I'hilii»piiie L^lands; Sallie 
Kate, born ^lay 29th, 1879, is now Mrs. Oliver Ili'dley, and Charles Uitts, 
born Septendjer 5th, 1882. Lemuel Ray Anderson, a grandson of Mr. 



350 HISTORY OF MOXTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and Mrs. Anderson, was born May 1st, 1900, and is being reared, ti'ained 
and educated by them. 

Having acquired a modest competency, Mr. Anderson is passing liis 
declining years in partial retirement. But for the presence of their 
grandson he and his wife would be alone in their comfortable and hos- 
pitable home, just northwest of the city limits. 



JOHN T. CLAY— John T. (May is one of the largest farmers of 
Liberty township. He was born in I'ike county, Ohio, March 14, 18.3S. 
His father, Thomas Clay, a native of Virginia, married Elizabeth Moore, 
also a native of Virginia. They came to Ohio with their parents, when 
very young, settling in Pike county, where Mr, Clay, Sr„ died at the age 
of seventy years. The mother's death occurred at the age of sixty-five. 

There were .seven children in the family, all deceased except our sub- 
ject, John T., the only survivor of the Clay family. The latter was reared 
in* Ohio, where he had only limited opportunities for getting an educa- 
tion. His marriage to Sarah Moore occurred February C, 1861. The 
war connng on, Mr. Clay did not enlist, but furnished a substitute to fill 
his place. He did patriotic service by staying at home and raising corn, 
wheat and stock, to help feed the large army of Union soldiers, that had 
to be fed. 

In 1881, he came to Kansas and settled fourteen miles west of Wich- 
ita, where he bought a half section of land. He lived thei'e two years, but 
became dissatisfied and sold his land in 188.3, and removed to Mont- 
gomery county. Here he liought three hundred and twenty acres on the 
Verdigris river. Two hundred acres of this was bottom land, covered 
with heavy timber at the time of its purchase, but now it is all in the 
very best cultivation, and he raises, on an average, two thousand bushels 
of wheat every year, besides thousands of bushels of corn. His stock 
consists of hogs. princi])ally, a huge number of which he feeds every year. 

His home is situated on the east side of a large bluff, where the cold 
west or north winds cannot reach it, and is located six miles due north 
of Coffeyville. After years of hard work and untiring industry, Mr. 
Clay has made for himself one of the mosft productive farms in the 
county. 

Twelve children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clay, viz: Charles 
and Daniel, deceased; Thomas V., who lives in the Indian Territory; 
Catherine, wife of W. E. Bever; Amanda, wife of S. R. Selby; Elizabeth, 
Mrs. Charles E. McCorkle; and Louisa, wife of Marion McCorkle. Five 
children died in infancy. 

Politically. ^Ir. Clay is a l>emocrat. He has held office at different 
times, having been treasurer of Liberty township two terms. He is 




J. T. CLAY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 351 

mpU iiiul favoi-nblv known iuul is worthy of the respect and honor in 
whiih he is held. 



JAMES E. KINOAID— Tlie subject of this personal narrative be- 
came identified with Kansas first in 1885, at which time he emigrated 
from Chariton county, Missouri, and settled in Clark county, Kansas. He 
became identified with the country west of the Mississippi river in 1875, 
when, in company with his brother, Alexander, and an uncle, the trip was 
made from Orange county, Indiana, into Missouri and settlement made 
in Chariton county. 

In Orange county, Indiana, ilr. Kincaid was born November 3, 1856. 
His parents were farmers and his childhood and youth were, thei-efore, 
passed in a country home. His education was obtained in an attendance 
upon the winter terms of a country school and when he reached his 
eighteenth .year his career as a pupil ceased. 

While a resident of Missouri he maintained himself on a rented 
farm and sjtent ten years in the state. 

With two teams and equipments, as his partial accumulations, he 
departed for western Kansas in the autumn of 1885. and experimented 
"with farming out there for four years. This venture proved a mistake, 
for he virtually lost his savings of former years and, "broke" and almost 
stranded, he went to Cowley county, Kansas, where he woi-ked Charles 
Hendricks' farm on the shares, taking one-third of the crop. He remained 
in that county till 1894, when he became a seeker of fortune in the new 
Oklahoma country and made the race for a claim. He obtained one iu 
"K" county, lived three years of the ses^en passed there, in a "dug-out," 
proved up on his farm and, in 1900. sold it for f.3,500.00 and returned 
to Kansas, This time he settled in Montgomery county, where he pur- 
chased of George T. Guernsey, four hundred acres in Rutland township, 
the fai'm lying in sections 25 and o(), townshij) .32, range 14. 

Grain farming occujties 'Mr. Kincaid ]irincipally, but cattle and hogs 
yield him a ])rofit from the suri)lus from his fields. 

Mr. Kincaid was orphaned at the early age of four years. His moth- 
er passed away in less than a year after his birth and, in 186.3. his father, 
also, died. His father was William Kincaid and his paternal grandfath- 
er was Alexander Kincaid, a native of Kentucky. The family of the last 
named comjtrised Andrew, (ieoi'ge. William, Mt's. Belzora F. Walker, 
Mrs. Frances Edwards, Mrs. Mary Padgett, Mrs. Cordelia Poe and 
Henry A. 

William Kincaid married Belzora P.ishop, a daughter of Rufns 
Bishop, of Tennessee. The children of this marriage were: R. Alexander, 
of Chariton county, Missouri; -James E., of (his I'eview. 

In 1878, .James E. Kincaid married Margaret -J. Padgett, of Indiana, 



352 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and a dauglitei' of Joseph and Barbara Padgett. Joseph William died 
at thirteen nionths. ("liarles Edward died aged about two years. Emily 
B. and Oliver 'SI', are the children born to Mr. and ]Mrs. Kincaid. 

William Kineaid's life was brief but active and devoted to the work 
of the farm. He was born at Lexington, Kentucky, and went into Indi- 
ana as a young man. He enlisted there in Company "A," Sixty-sixth 
Voluteer infantry. War of the Rebellion, and furloughed home on ac- 
count of wounds. He rejoined his command, was taken sick and died in 
the hospital at Pulaski, Tennessee. 

The death of the jiarents of James E. Kincaid was a blight upon 
his life through childhood and youth. He knew no permanent and wel- 
come home till he made one for himself and when he began life's stubborn 
battle it was single-handed and without financial help. Although he has 
experienced a number of reverses, his ambition has never flagged and dis- 
couragements have been brushed away. He has always maintained him- 
self among the best citizens of his county, whei'e he has occasionally been 
honored with public trusts. 

He is a Republican, politically, and was treasurer of his township 
in "K" county, Oklahoma. He and his wife hold membership in the 
Christian church and he is a Workman and a member of the Fraternal 
Aid J.nd A. H. T. A. 



JACOB B. KLINEFELTER— One of the substantial settlers of 
Montgomery county who came to it among the first years of its municipal 
existence was Jacob B. Klinefelter, of Cherry township. He was pre- 
pared for a life of "ups and downs" on the frontier by a service of nearly 
four and a half years in the volunteer army and the sound of martial nui- 
sic had hardly died within him when the civil march toward the prairies 
of the west began. If he encountered hardshijis, they were tame incidents 
in his career, and if fortune smiled upon him it was but nature's symbol 
of appreciation of the sacrifices of one of her noblemen. 

It was in 1.S71 that Mr. Klinefelter came to ^lontgomery county, sin- 
gle and with limited means, and for the first three and one-half years he 
was a wage earner by the month ; first for the ]iioneer, George Evans, and 
second, in the old saw-mill established on the A'erdigris river nearby. He 
then entered a tract of the x>wblic domain, six miles north of the present 
city of Cherryvale and at once occujjied himself with the work of its im- 
provement. Beginning with 1879, he was absent from his farm for 
eight years, having migrated to Colorado where he was first employed in 
railroad work, as f<.^'nian of a jiack train for the company building the 
road, and subsequently he went into the mines and labored in the dig- 
gings for seven vears. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 353 

Retniiiiii^' to Montfioiiu'iy county, be resinned the cultivation of his 
farm. His soil is rich and black and produces an abundance of grain 
and seeds. It is conveniently improved and the profits from its surface 
have ]>la<ed its owner far beyond the panjis of want. He has his place 
well stocked and nianaues it with that intelligence that always marks 
the successful farmer. 

Jacob R. Klinefelter was born in York county, Pennsylvania, July 
4, 1880, and his ancestors were of the early settlers of that place. His 
parents, Peter and Mary (Baker) Klinefelter, were born in that county 
and lived there till 1852. when they emigrated, and settled in Christian 
county. Illinois. There the father died at the age of eighty-one and the 
mother at six years younger. Of their four children. (Uily two survive, 
namely: rornelius. of Illinois, and -Jacob B. 

A limited attendance ujion the country schools sufficed for the men- 
tal training of Jacob B. Klinefelter. He accompanied his parents to Illi- 
nois, where he was married to Amanda Pierce, who soon died, leaving a 
child. Mary, still living in the "Prairie State." When hostilities broke 
out between the divided sections of our country in 18(51. ^Ir. Klinefelter 
was among those who responded to the President's call for 7.5,000 troops. 
He enlisted in the Eighth Indiana battery and began his part at putting 
down the rebellion at Wilson creek. Chief among his fifteen hard-fought 
battles were: Wilson creek, second battle of Corinth, Stone River, Chicka- 
maug.i. Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, Dalton, Resaca, Ken- 
nesaw Mountain, Peachtree Ci'cek, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. He 
was in many smaller tights and skirmishes and had many "close calls" 
during his fotir years, four months and twenty days in the army. He 
carries scars made by two Rebel balls and while he was thus severely 
wounded he never i)ermitted himself to be captured, preferring death to 
imjuisonnient in a Southern stockade. 

From August. 18<>r), till his advent to Kansas Mr. Klinefelter was .-i 
farmer in Christian county. Illinois. When he had entered land in 
Montgomery county, he saw the necessity of a help-mate and, August 
2.3. 1872, he married Eva Heltz. born in Germany, September 29, 1851. 
When seven years old. Mrs. Klinefelter came to the United States with 
lier ]'.irents. -Tohn and Christina (Barsch) Heltz. and for twelve years 
resided in Indiana. In 187(1, they came on to Kansas and settled in 
Montgomery county, where the mother died in 1002. and wbere the father 
survives at the age of eighty-eight years. Ten children were l)orn to this 
venerable coujile. the seven living being: Katie, Maggie, Michael, Eliza- 
beth. Susan. .John and Mrs. Klinefelter. 

The issue of the nmrriage of Mr. and X 's. Klinefelter was five 
children, viz: I'niil. .\da. \\'illiam, Mayiiard and f.izzie, all of whom still 
suriound the family "liearthstone." 

For thirteen vears .Mr. Klinefelter tilled the office of justice of the 



354 HISTORY OV MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Iieacc of Lis township. His first vote was cast for "John and Jessie" in 
the Fremont campaign, and his next Presidential ballot for Abraham 
Lincoln, whom he personally knew many years before he became Presi- 
dent. Republicanism has always remained his slogan and he has al- 
ways united his efforts with that party iu Montgomery county. 



THOMAS J. WARNER— On a farm in Lewis county, West Vir- 
ginia, Thomas J. Warner, of Rutland township, was born, December 10, 
18C6. He came to mature years about iiis native heath and acquired the 
rudinients of a country school education. He left the old home in 189B 
and went into old Virginia where, in Rockbridge county, he was engaged 
in farm work for four years. Deciding to seek his fortune in the west, he 
returned home in a few mouths and then migrated to Welch, Indian 
Territory, in September. 1901. Having not found the object of his search, 
after a few weeks he came up into Kansas and, at .Jefferson, in Mont- 
gomery county, he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which 
he parted with at sale after cultivating it one year. He came to Rut- 
land township from Independence creek and owns now a quarter section 
of section 14, township .33, range 14. 

Mr. Warner's father was George O. Warner, born in Pendleton 
county, West Virginia, and a son of John Warner. The latter had chil- 
dren • William, Zebedee, George G. , James, of Taylor county, W-_'st Vir- 
ginia; M. J. H.. of Labette county, Kansas; Mli-s. Rebecca Smith and 
Catherine. George G. Warner married Lucinda Clark, of Lewis county, 
West Virginia, and a daughter of John and Margaret (Bonnett) Clark. 
The five children of this union were: Ida F. , Thomas J., John M., of Cal- 
ifornia; William W.. of West Virginia; Mrs. Giennie Zinn, of Ritchie 
county. West Virginia. 

April 24. 1890. Thomas J. Warner married Irena J. Mohler, of 
Rockbridge county. Virginia, a daughter of David H. and Mary V. (Shel- 
ton) Mohler, of Virginia and West Virginia, respectively. The two 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Warner are Mary L. and Ida M. 

The varied pursuits of the farm have occupied Mr. Warner through 
life. The efforts of his active life liave been fairly rewarded and he is 
today master of the situation that confronts him. In politics he is a 
Demociat and he and his hold allegiance to the Methodist church. 



CHARLES WASSERM'.VN LAMB— It is our privilege to relat^^ 
in this sketch, a few of the events in the life of one of the few mountain- 
eer characters of the old time, yet I'cniaining, and to suggest a career 
filled with exciting and romantic incidenls enacted from the metropoliti- 
cal sliore of the Atlantic to 1lic placid waters of the Pacific and over 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 355 

plain and mountain of the northwest. An experience jileaned from a 
ramble that started from the metropolis of the "Empire Slate" in 18.52, 
and ended sixteen years later in the midst of a band of Osages on the 
virgin prairies of Kansas. 

The frontier has been almost obliterated and. with its passing, the 
characters who were identified with it have, many of them, gone to their 
reward on the other shore. Their lives were spiced with incidents of ex- 
ploration and conquest which, if recited in intricate detail, would rival, 
in interest, some of the experiences of "Kit Carson" in the Rockies or of 
James B. Hicock, the once-famous "Wild Bill" of the western plains. 
Yet few of them left any connected narrative of their ex[)eriences and 
"went away" with the jiages of their book of life blank as to the essential 
facts of their romantic careers. 

History, as told in the lives of the peoi)le and confined to the real 
affairs of life, possesses a peculiar interest in the study of man and indi- 
cates his trend of mind, or mental l)ent; and while, in this particular sub- 
ject, we touch uj)on, in a general way, the events which have transpired 
as a result of his early inclinations, it furnishes us with an insight into 
his makeup and heljis the reader to understand the man. 

Charles W. Lamb 1ms, as inferred from the introduction hereto, 
had a somewhat checkered, though honorable, career. His life has been 
surrounded by all the arts of peace and it has led him into paths where 
dang>r hn-ked and where the brutal assassin only awaited the discovery 
of his presence. The sjjirit of adventure which seized him on the ap- 
proach of manhood, in New York City, and urged him to the summit of 
almost every American mountain jieak and. unscathed, through the lair 
of many a human foe, has been gratified, and his advent, as a pioneer, 
amonii the scattered settlers of Montgomery county, marked for him a 
new life and the opening of a new career. 

Born in Hartford county, Connecticut, July 19. 1830, he was a son 
of German parents, his father being Thomas Lamb and his mother Fan- 
nie AVasserman. both of German birth. The parents moved to ~Sew York 
City during the childhood of our subject, where they died at eighty-four 
and eighty-two years, respectively, leaving four children, as follows: 
Fannie, <'atherine. Nathan and Charles; the first three being citizens of 
California, at the (iolden Gate. 

Charles W. Lamb grew up in New York City, where he acquired a 
fair education, beginning life as a clerk in a wholesale establishment in 
the city. He mastered the details of merchandising in the nine years he 
was thus emjdoyed and, at twenty-two years of age, yielded to a consum- 
ing Ocsire to roam and went to the frontier in the west and opened u 
store in Nebraska. Four years later he again became restless and leaped 
across the plains to Colorado. He engaged in the mining and mercantile 
business in that state, beconsing more and more infatuated with the wilds 



356 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of the far west. His ambition not yet satiated, he traversed the rocky 
ranges to the northwest and threaded tlie territories of Idaho, Montana, 
Waslnngton and even made liimself somewhat familiar with the British 
northw est. 

As he stopped along the way to prospect some ore-bearing region 
or to resume a merchant's life or to practice at the blacksmith's forge, 
he took part in the affairs of the people and came to know the white 
man'M crude civilization of the frontier. His journeys he made, carrying 
his pack in the saddle, and as he climbed the rugged mountains and 
pierced the dark canons of the Rockies and Sierras, on many an occasion 
he felt the chill that danger's warning gives and oftentimes barely es- 
caped with his life. Sixteen years of a strenuous life, unsurpassed in the 
intensity of its excitements and unequaled in its tension on the human 
nerves, sufficed to gratify his youthful longing and Mr. Lamb wended 
his way eastward and chose his future home in Montgomery county, 
Kansas. 

In 1808, he took a claim five and one-half miles north of where Cher- 
ryvale now stands and founded a civilized colony right among old White 
Hair's band. The haunts of the Red ]Man were everywhere about him 
and the shrill and terrifying bark of the coyote added to the wildness of 
the s''ene. Allies of space separated neighbors and a trip to the nearest 
town consumed days of time. But time turned the frontier into settle- 
ments and the civilizing agencies of a composite citizenship brought 
order out of chaos and established all the institutions of peace. To the 
credit of Charles W. Lamb let it be said that he particiinited in all this 
change and was a part of it himself. He has acquired, by industry, title 
to three hundred acres of land and has equii)ped it with all the heredita- 
ments necessary to make it a valuable and attractive place. His farm is 
in section 17 and lies on Drum creek, at the mouth of which stream the 
famous Indian treaty was made. 

Mr. Lamb was united, in Omaha, Nebraska, in marriage with Eliza- 
beth Vansickel, a Xew .lersey lady and a daughter of Andrew and Sarah 
Vansickel. Mrs. Lamb was born ilay 27. 18:^7, and is a rejjresentative 
of one of the ancient American families, her forefathers having come to 
the New World from Germany three hundred years ago. The Vansickels 
acquired a large body of land in New Jersey, which has remained undis- 
turbed in the family name. Two children have blessed the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Lamb, namely: Charles, -Ti'.. who resides in Sumner county, 
Kansas, and who has children, Windell and Bessie, by !SIiss Elizabeth 
Windell. now his wife. l!ess, wife of W. D. Barker, is their second child,, 
and she resides in llic ii.irental home. She has two children, Fannie and 
Arthur Barker. 

Mr. Lamb became a Democrat early in life and has aided the ef- 
forts of that party in many campaigns. He has been a justice of the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 357 

peace a number of times, in Cherry township, and, in all things, has 
maintained himself an upright citizen. 



GEORGE II. WHITMAN— A gentleman who has had a rather re- 
markable career, especially in his earlier years, whose genial and versa- 
tile personality is a factor of much attraction to his host of friends in the 
county, is (Jeorge H. Whitman, a leading implement dealer of the rural 
village of Liberty. He is a gentleman of wide experience in business and 
social life and is a most compauiouable man. He has traveled over many 
portions of the world "with his eyes'" open and has profited by the mental 
breadth and dejith, that travel brings. 

George H. Whitman is a native of New York State, born in Mont- 
gomery county, in the year 1833, and a son of George and Susannah 
(Green) Whitman. At four years of age, his parents removed to the 
then fai'distant State of Illinois, where they settled in Peoria county, 
where Mr. \Aliitman was reared to manhood. His father was a Method- 
ist Episcopal minister and labored in Illinois until his death in 1847. He 
left «i family of four children, of which our subject is the eldest. The 
others are: Ennly, who married -lames Moore and, after his death, 
Charles Lister, and lives at ^^'ellsfield. Illinois; Isaac A., lives in Colora- 
do; and Fanny, who was the wife of Walter Vale, is now deceased. 

When a youth of nineteen years, Mr. Whitman left home and crossed 
the plains to the Pacific coast. He then took i)assage on a vessel and 
visited China, being in that country when Commodore Perry did such 
splendid service in opening the Japanese ports to the commerce of the 
United States. From there he went to London, England, and then re- 
turned to Xew Orleans. After a period in this city he again shipped on 
board a vessel bound for France and visited Havre. That was in 1855, 
and in the latter part of that year he returned to his home in Illinois, 
when; he remained and where he lived at the time of the Civil war. 

He enlisted in the army in the latter part of the war and served 
until September of 180.^. Upon returning from the war, he settled in 
Bureau county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming until 1871, the 
date of his settlement in ilontgomery county, Kansas. He i)urchased a 
quarter section seven miles southwest of Indejiendence, for which he 
paid|l,10(t.flO. He cultivated this jiroperty for some years, then sold it and 
remoxed to the town of Tndej)endence and for a number of years, was 
"outside n:an"' for the imj)lement firm of Funk & Whitman. In 1S86, he 
returred to Illinois where he spent five years, after which he moved to 
Wappelo county, Iowa, and remained here three years, engaged in farm- 
ing. In 1804, he came to Liberty township and jinrcha-sed a farm one 
mile south of the village of Liberty, paying $2,200.00 for one hundred 
acres. He held this for a period of four years and then disposed of it 



358 HISTORY OF MOXTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

to the Foster Brothers and engaged in the implement business with hi* 
son, Newton E. Whitman. Fonr years later, he sold his interest to a son, 
Clinton A. Whitman, since which time the style of the firm has been 
Whitman Brothers. This is one of the largest implement firms in the 
county, maintaining, besides their Liberty establishment, a branch store 
at riieri'yvale and doing a very large and prosperous business. They are 
agents for the Milwaukee harvester and binder, one of the best on the 
markt't. and of which they sold during the season of 1002, forty-six new 
machines. They are also agents for the J. I. Case line of implements and 
the Canton line of implements, all of which are popular and excellent 
makes of machinery. 

On the 7th day of March. ISOl. George Whitman was joined in mar- 
riage to Mary J. Pettit. a native of New York (Niagara county). Eight 
children were born to this union, of whom seven still survive, viz: 
Eudora E., wife of D. F. Blue, of Liberty township; Clarissa, wife of 
Stephen Gray, of Marshall county. Illinois; Ira P.. died in infancy; 
Henry Eugene, who is married and lives in Marshall county. Illinois; 
Fannie, at home; Clinton A., who is married and lives in Cherryvale; 
Newton E., of Liberty. Kansas; and Luther E.. who lives near Winfleld, 
Kansas. 



JAMES H. SCOTT— The well-known citizen whose name initiates 
this historical sketch has passed twenty-three years as a resident of Mont- 
gomery county. He first saw the county in 1879 and in the following 
year brought his family out from the east and established them on his 
Indei^endence township farm, in sections 22 and 23. township 33, range 
15, nicidest, fertile and substantially and attractively improved, 

Mr. Scott is of Irish birth. Belfast was his native city and his 
natal day and year were December 0, 1840. His father was Kev. James 
Scott, a ^letliodist minister, and his mother's maiden name was Jane 
McCicgor. The father was born in 17iMi and died at New Buruside. Illi- 
nois, in 1880. The mother bore eight children — five of whom came to the 
United States — the mother died in Ireland when otir subject was a small 
boy. Those of the family now living, beside James H.. are: William il., 
of Belfast, Ireland, and :Mrs. Mary J, Threldkeld. of Hampton. Kentucky. 
Rev. James Scott located at Quincy. Illinois, when he first came to the 
new world and was engaged in religious work for over fifty years. He 
afterward established his family in Brown county, Illinois, and there 
James H. Scott, of this record, was brought up. 

Our subject was the fouith of five children in the family and came 
to maturity on a farm. He a((iuired a good common school education 
and himself engaged in teaching district school before the outbreak of 
the Civil war. He enlisted at Metro]>olis. Illinois, August 11, 18G1, iit 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY' COUNTY, KANSAS. 359 

Company "K," Twenty-ninth Infantry, Capt. J. A. Carmichael's com- 
pany. The regiment was assigned to Grant's eommand along the Missis- 
sippi river and participated in the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, 
in whifh latter engagement Mr. Scott received a wound in the left shoul- 
der, but instead of entering the hospital, he furloughed home and there 
recuperated in the quiet among friends. Returning to his regiment, he 
took part in the second battle of Corinth and in the siege of Vicksburg. 
Alargepartof the Twenty-ninth Illinois being captured at Holloy Springs 
Mississippi, Company "K" was placed on board one of the Federal gun- 
boats and performed service in the navy for some six months, or until 
the cajitured portion of the regiment was "exchauged" and rejoined their 
comrades and resumed their old position as an integral part of the con- 
quering army. Being orderly sergeant of his company, Mr. Scott was 
made captain of one of the twenty-four pound howitzers of the gunboat 
while in the navy. The regiment rendezvoused in the vicinity of Vicks- 
burg after the fall of the city, for some months, and when it moved, went 
to Natchez, Mississippi, where scouting and guarding and patrol duty 
occupied its time till September, 1864, when, owing to his increasing 
deafness, our subject was mustered out. 

Returning home, Mr. Scott continued teaching school and took up 
the study of medicine, continuing both till his hearing became so bad 
that he was forced to abandon them. He owned a farm in the county 
where he lived and the cultivation of it occupied his attention. Since 
that date he has been a farmer. He has not been actively engaged in the 
work himself — being much of the time, in later life, an invalid — but his 
interests have remained those of the farmer and so he has classed him- 
self. 

Jlay '). 1872. James H. Scott was united in marriage with Mary A. 
Wright, a daughter of John R. Wright, who married Maria H. Sterling. 
The Wrights were from Mt. Holly, Jlorris county. New Jersey, where 
Mrs. Scott was born March 11, 184.5. Mr. Wright died in Tope county, 
Illinois, in 1880, and his wife survived him till 189."). when she also passed 
away. Their childi-en were Amos, Cooper and Martha, all deceased; Mrs. 
Scott; Ella, wife of -James L. JIurphy, of Metropolis, Illinois; Lucy, who 
married Anson Neely, and died leaving one child ; Archer, of Pope coun- 
ty, Illinois; and Emma, also deceased. 

The family of M,i-. and Mrs. Scott consist of the following children, 
namely: Maria -T.. born in 1873; Martha P.. of Ottawa, Kansas, born 
1875;'Lillie K., born 1877; Walter J., born 1880; Roy H., born in 1882; 
Stella A., born 1884; and Charles E., born 188G. 

In politics. Mr. Scott affiliates with the Republican party. His am- 
bition has been only to .see a fair and proper administration of public 
affairs and to be [)erinitted the full and free enjoyment of the blessings 
of our Republic. 



360 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

WILLIAM H. FROST — In mentioning the pioneers of Montgomery 
county it is appropriate to include in the list all those who made settle- 
ment in the year 1S70, as well as those scattered few whose lot was cast 
with Ihe county at an earlier date. While many of the throng of immi- 
grants of 1870 have passed to the great beyond, there are still conspicu- 
ous examples of those hardy and determined advance guard of civiliza- 
tion left to tell the story, and among them is the venerable William H. 
Frost, of this review. In comparison with the great flood of emigration 
which came out of the east to settle the plains of the west, the quota 
from New England is, in numbers, inconspicuous and unimportant. 
But the shortage in quantity is fully made up in the quality, for the New 
England emigrant was of sincere purpose, vigorous and active mentality, 
and industrioiis in a high degree. All these attributes apply strikingly 
to the subject of this article and the fulfillment of his destiny has been 
achie\ed in Montgomery county. 

William H. Frost was born in Oxford county, Maine, November 4, 
1826. His forefathers were of the colonial stock of New England and 
were employed with agricultural pursuits. His father was William 
Frost — born in 1800 and died at his old home in 1860 — and his mothei* 

was Mary Stevens, a daughter of Stevens, a repi-esentative of 

another of the pioneer families of Maine. William and Mary Frost were 
industrious and thrifty, bore themselves highly honorable before the 
world and were consistent niciiibcrs (if the Methodist church. Mary 
Frost died in 1833 and William took, for his second wife, ]\Iary Files, who 
was the mother of the last named child in the following list, all of the 
others being the Issue of William and ;Mary : Joel, who died in Maine; 
Charlotte S., who married Harmon Cummings and resides in her native 
state; Harriet, wife of Henry Smith, of Massachusetts; Warren, who 
died young; Levi, also deceased; William H.. our subject; Nathaniel and 
Laura, twins, the latter the widow of Charles Haskell and living in 
Norway, Maine; Polly, who married Lennell and lives in Lewis- 
ton, Maine; and Roswell, still in the old "Pine Tree State," on the home 
farm. 

The subject of this review began life as a farmer, but soon deserted 
the calling and became identified with railroad building, in the depart- 
ment of grading and laying of track. He was employed on the Boston and 
Lowell road, on the Scranton and Great Bend, in Pennsylvania, on the 
doubling of the track on the York and Erie road, on the Canandaigua and 
Niagara Falls railway, on the Illinois Central, in Illinois, and its exten- 
sion from I>ul)U(]ue into Iowa. and. lastly, on the Warren and Mineral 
Point railroad, concluding his work in 1857. He reengaged in farming 
in Stephenson county, Illinois, just before the rebellion broke out. and 
enlisted from that county in Comjiany "A," Ninety-second Infantry, as 
orderly sergeant. He was promoted, in time, to first lieutenant and wa& 




WM. H. FROST. 



rilSTORV OF MONTGOMRIIY COUNTY. KANSAS. 361 

discliiiijicd witli tliMt c iiiissioii ;tt Concord. North Carolina, at the close 

t)f the war. Within si.x months after the Ninety-second Illinois entered 
the service, it was mounted and became a cavalry reginient and in Kil 
Patrick's command. Mr. Frost was in the battle of Chickamauga, par- 
ticipated in the Atlanta campaign and went thronjih with Sherman's 
army tp Savannah. He was with his regiment and took part in the work 
done by the victorious army in its march through the Carolinas and, 
when the war was over, his regiment was detained at Concord, North 
Carolhia, for six months when it was ordered to Chicago, Illinois, where 
it was paid off and discharged. July 7. 1865. 

For the five years succeeding the Civil war. Mr. Frost was employed 
-with his farming interests in Illinois. In the fall of ]87(), he disposed 
of his ])ossessions there and came to Kansas, taking up his location in 
Pawn Creek township. Montgomery county. He purchased a quarter 
section of land and was occupied with its improvement, and with other 
interests kindred to the farm, till 1887. when he left his estate of two 
hundred and seventy acres to other hands and became a resident of Inde- 
pendence. During the course of rural development in his neighborhood, 
the Missouri Pacific railroad built through the township and established 
the station of Jefferson near Mr. Frost's farm and a part of the little 
village of Jefferson is actually located on his land. 

Mr. Frost was united in marriage first, in Stephenson county. Illi- 
nois, in 1855, with Elizabeth Dann. who died in Montgomery county, 
Kansas, In 1887, leaving the following children, to wit: Burton and Ella, 
of Jefferson. Kansas, the latter the wife of Ainsworth Cummings; Lora, 
who married Samuel Hooker and resides in White, South Dakota; and 
Charles A., of Colorado Springs. Col., whose wife was Miss Victoria Hall. 
May 30. 1890. Mr. Frost married Mrs. Sarah A. Rhodes, an Illinois lady 
but of New York birth. 

In politics the early members of the Frost family acted with the 
Whigs, but when that old party ceased to exist our subject's father and 
one son joined issues with the Democrats. The other sons, including, 
of course, William H., Ijecame Republicans, and whatever political record 
the latter has made has been achieved in the ranks of that party. In 
church matters he is a Baptist and has been a deacon in the Independ- 
ence congregation for many years. In business matters his safety and 
reliability are noteworthy facts. He retired from the farm with a com- 
petency sufficient for his future comfort — a reward for the labor and re- 
sponsibilities of earlier years. When the Commercial National Bank 
was oiganized, he was one of the stockholders and succeeded Ex-Gov- 
ernor Humphrey as its vice-president in 1888. As a citizen, Mr. Frost's 
life stands as a worthy exami)le to the generations of today and is an in- 
spiration to them to live rightly before men. 



362 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

DAVID HECKMAN— Thirty-three years ago. in February of 1870, 
the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this review, filed on the 
claim ui)on which now stands the i)leasant rural village of Liberty. 
Those were the days of the beginning of things in Montgomery county, 
when the coyote and Indian roamed over much of the county at will and 
each, in his way, made it interesting for the lone white settler in his 
scantily covered shack. As Mr. Heckman sits in his comfortable modern 
residence, surrounded with all that goes to make life desirable, he can 
hardly realize the many changes that have come to pass; but that they 
are here, he is well-assured, and satisfaction is his only feeling. 

The Heckmans are from the "Keystone State" and arc of German 
descent. David was born in Armstrong county, in 1847, and is the son of 
Abraham and Esther (Clingensmith) Heckman, Abraham in turn being 
the son of I'hilip, who came to the countj' in an early day and died there 
at the age of sixty years, in 1839. These early members of the family 
were tillers of the soil, Abraham still residing on the old homestead. He 
was ninety-one years of age on the 24th of July. 11)02. He is the father of 
ten cliildren. eight of whom are still living — Henry is in Oregon; Mary 
Ann in I'ennsylvania ; Peter. William, John and Catherine (twins), and 
Margaret are also in the "Keystone State." 

David Heckman grew to manhood amid the pains and pleasures 
(and there were both) of farm life in his native county, remaining on the 
homestead until he was twenty-three years old. He then came west and 
located, as stated above, in Liberty township. He immediately erected 
the i)rimitive residence of that day, which had the distinction, while 
it stood, of being the first one in the town of Liberty, which was after- 
ward laid out on the claim located by ISIr. Heckman. Our subject deeded 
the cbiini on the 24Ui of July. 1871, and immediately sold it to Capt. Mc- 
Taggjut and Capt. Heard, who platted the town in the same month. Mr. 
Heckman continued to engage in agriciulture until 1877, when he pur- 
chased a stock of goods and opened a store in the town, in company with 
Edward Barnett, under the firm name of Barnett & Heckman. The 
style of the firm changed, in 1881, to Heckman Bros., and in 1886, to 
David Heckman, our subject buying his brother's interest. He has con- 
tinued the business since and is regarded as the leading merchant of the 
village. Mr. Heckman's citizenship has been of that unselfish character 
which looks to the interest of his town and county, rather than the 
aggrandizement of self. He has always taken great pride in the town 
and has j)roved his friendship by many practical demonstrations, admin- 
istering, at times, the unpaid positions of trust necessary in the munici- 
pal affairs, and sacrificing, cheerfully, time and money in its advance- 
ment. In state and national affairs, Mr. Heckman supports the Demo- 
cratic party. 

Mrs. Heckman, prior to 1875, was Emma A. Barnett. She is a 



history: of Montgomery county, Kansas. 363 

daugbter of Edward and Lucretia Barnett. both parents deceased. 
They were worthy and respected residents of the county for long years. 
But ( ue child was born to Mrs. Hecknian, its death occurring in infancy. 
As a solace to their loneliness, they adopted a little girl, Miss True 
Thornton, who is now an inmate of their home. 



T. H. EARNEST — One of the best known men in Montgomery 
county and a man who has had a prominent part in its development, is 
the gentleman here mentioned, T. H. Earnest, at present the efficient 
postmaster of Cherryvaie, and ex-Iiegister of Deeds of the county. He has 
passed the greater i)art of his life here, in connection with the railroads 
of the state, having been, for a number of years, conductor and yard- 
master on the Santa Fe system. 

Sangamon county, Illinois, was the place, and July 15, 1857, the date 
ofth<»birthof our subject. He was a son of P. L. and Elizabeth A. (Thomp- 
son) Earnest. The father was a native of Sangamon county, Illinois, 
while the mother was born in the "Keystone State." The former was, 
during life, extensively engaged in the lundjer business, and in August, 
1867, removed to Ottawa, Kansas, where he resided a number of years. 
He removed to Cherryvaie in 1883, where he was one of the prominent 
factors in the city's development and where he died, on the 27th of Octo- 
ber, J 898, having attained seventy- two years of age. He was a consist- 
ent member of the Presbyterian church and was a highly respected and 
deserving citizen. While in Ottawa, he served a term of four years as 
postmaster, and in the several communities with which he was con- 
nected, was always a man of affairs. Mrs. Earnest survives him, being 
tendeily cared for in the home of our subject. She is the mother of ten 
children, but three of whom are now living. 

T. H. Earnest passed the period of his boyhood in Ottawa, Kansas, 
whei'e he received a thorough training in the town schools. He, however, 
was a boy of spirit and of great independence and, at the early {\ge of 
thirteen years, he entered upon an active career as a railroader. He was 
one of a crew running between Ottawa and Kansas City, at that age, and 
did his work so efficiently that he was, later, given a position as a con- 
ductor. In this position he continued until 1881, when he became yard- 
master for ten years. His popularity in the community resulted in his 
election, on the Republican ticket, in 1889, to the office of Register 
of Deeds. In the election of that year, he was chosen by a good round 
majority and two years later, was re-elected, serving a period of four 
years in the office, and conducting its affairs with great satisfaction to 
his constituents. On tlie expiration of his term of office, Mr. Earnest 
returned to the railroad and continued in his position as yardmaster 
until his appointment as postmaster, on the 9th of December, 1902, one 



364 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of tho first appointments made by the Koosevelt administration. No more 
obliging or jiopular official has ever ministered to the wants of the peo- 
ple of C'herryvale than he. 

Marriage was contracted by our subject on the 6th of September, 
1881. Mrs. Earnest, prior to that time, was Miss Flora E. Thompson. 
She i-^- a native of the State of Iowa and is the daughter of W. H. Thomp- 
son, I'ow deceased. 

An interesting family have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Earnest, the 
eldest of whom. William L., is his father's assistant in the office, as is 
also Grace B., who acts as stamp clerk. Harry clerks in the grocery 
house of J. F. Ki'ing, while Koy E.. Jessie B. and Hazel J. are bright 
young school children. Mrs. Earnest is a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and. prior to her marriage, was one of the 
poi)uhir and efficient "school marms" of Montgomery county. In fra- 
ternal matters, Mr. Earnest affiliates with the A. O. U. W. and in politi- 
cal affairs, acts with the Republican party, in the councils of which, in 
his county, he is looked upon as a safe adviser. 



JOSEPH L. JAMES— In 1870. there settled near Wayside, in Mont- 
gomery county, the gentleman whose name precedes this article, together 
with a considerable family, all from the "Blue Grass State" of Ken- 
tucky. His children have been reared in the ])recincts of the county and 
are now res])ected members of ditt'erent communities in the west, and 
tilling resi)onsible places in society. The family is held in high esteem in 
The county, always having stood for virtue and equity wherever they have 
resided. 

Joseph L. James was born in Ohio county. Kentucky, on the 7th of 
March, 1827, the son of Samuel James and Sally Borah. The family is 
of English descent, grandfather .lohn James having immigrated to Vir- 
ginia in an early day. where he was prominently identified with the 
tobacio business, having been an inspector of tobacco at Eichniond for 
a number of years. 

Samuel James was reared to manhood in the "Old Dominion State" 
and came to Kentucky with his parents and their family of ten children 
and located in the then vast wilderness in the eastern part of the state. 
There the parents continued to reside until their death. Samuel James' 
education was limited, owing to lack of facilities in that primitive re- 
gion, but he managed to secure enough to be able to transact the ordinary 
business of life. He remained in the home neighborhood until his mar- 
riage to Sallie Borah, a native of Pennsylvania and of Dutch ancestry. 
To this nuirriage there was born ten children, as follows: Jefferson, de- 
ceased at sixteen years; Magdalene, Mrs. Lloyd Rodgers, of Kentucky; 
her children are: Sarah, Emerson, John and Alphonso (twins). Several 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 365 

of tliL-.se sons are ciuitc i)roiiiiiieiit in public life in the "Blue Grass State." 
The third child of Samuel James was Joseph L. ; the next younger was 
Lucy Jane, who married ("aittain Devol ; Sally, Mrs. Kogers, of Ohio 
(•oun1\, Kentucky; S. M., also a resident of the home county; John A., 
killed during the war; and Kelly, who died in infancy. 

Joseph L. James was reared to manhood in the "I>lue Grass State," 
and on December 25, 1850, was joined in marriage with JIartha A. 
Shelton. This lady was a daughter of Ralph Shelton, of Butler county, 
Kentucky, and came to Kansas with our subject, where she died October 
25, 18112. Mr. James continued to reside in Kentucky until the year 1870. 
when, on July 5, he arrived in Montgomery county and located on the 
fiU'Tii which is now his home. His preenii>tion consisted of one hundred and 
sixty acres and consists of very fine land upon which he has erected many 
substantial imi)rovenients since the date of his settlement. He passed 
(hrougli the hardships of the pioneers of that early day, but has a rich re- 
ward in the splendid home which is the result of his labor. 

During his residence in the county. Mr. James has taken an active 
interest in the welfare of his community, serving in the different uure- 
munerative otHces of school district and township and always evincing 
a lively interest in affairs. A Democrat in his earlier years, he has, since 
the rise of the Reform party, given his allegiance to the furtherance of 
reforms in government as proposed by its platforms. In matters of relig- 
ious moment, he and his family have been loyal supporters of the Church 
of Christ, and have been a source of great strength to that denomination 
since their coming to the county. 

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. James have all grown to mature 
yeai's and have families of their own. The eldest was Paulina A., born 
October 1. 1857, and died December 6, 1858; Sylvanus A., born January 
17, 185;^, married Melissa Webster and is a farmer of Rutland township; 
his cliildren are: Hettie, Allan, Curen. JOdith, Ella, Paul and Alice; Mary 
James born March 18, 1855, married John Sewell, proprietor of a hotel 
at Bolton ; her children are : Seymour, Lloyd, Etta, Mary, Gertrude, Grace. 
Lilly and Ethel. Diogenes S., who is mentioned extendedly in this vol- 
ume; Harry K.. born September 11, 1858, is a farmer and school teacher, 
and mairied I'iiza Kelly; his three children are: Opal, Pearl and Ruby; 
Aurora, born July 8, 18(!0, married William C. Sewell and lives in Fawn 
Creek township with her children. Gentry, Annie, Walter, Stella, Harry, 
Paul and James; Sally O., born April 17, 1862, lives in Oklahoma with 
her husband, A. J. Puckett ; Laura J., born April 21, ISGl, married John 
Finle\. a druggist of Bartlesville, Indian Territory; Joseph B., born 
March 2(!, ISCd. married Ella Bell, of Caney township, and now resides 
ou Mr. James' farm with their daughter. Hazel Lucile; JIartha A., born 
June 18, 1808. is wife of Walter Hudson and lives in Ruthmd township 
with their three children — Earl, Harold and Marie; Moriah A., born 



366 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Jauiiaiy '2G. 1S70. married Carrie Roberts and is a fanner and school 
teacher in Oklahoma; they have two children — Ralph and Cecil. 



MRS. MARY RADKN— The subject of this brief notice is a repre- 
sentative of one of the worthy and noted families of Montgomery county. 
Since the Centennial year she has resided in the city of Independence, 
where she and her late husband attained prominence and substantiality 
in social and commercial life. 

Mrs. Baden is of pure (ierman stock and was born in Ontario, Can- 
ada, on the Kith of February. 1857. Her parents. George and Margaret 
(Richart) Becker, were born in the French province of Alsace, now a 
part < *■ the German Empire. Mrs. Becker was a daughter of George and 
Margiiret (Roth I Richart and had children, Mary.widow of John W. Baden 
of this sketch; ilrs. Anna Hiebler, of Mancos, Colorado; John, of Denver, 
Colorado; Mrs. Kale Nessel, deceased; Mrs. Emma Dittmer, of Inde- 
pendence. Kansas; Mrs. Louise Condon, of Denver, Colorado; and Lena 
Becker, who resides with Mrs. Baden. 

George Becker came to America a young man and settled in Canada, 
where he was a resident until 1865, when he brought his family into the 
United States and established himself, for a brief period, at Somonauk, Il- 
linois In ISO!), he identitied himself thoroughly with the west and took 
lip his location at Hund)oldt, Kansas. lie is a farmer by occupation 
and still resides near Humboldt. 

Mary (Becker) Baden grew to womanhood in Humboldt, Kansas. 
Her education was limited by the character of the schools of the place 
and at nineteen years of age she came to Montgomery county and made 
herhomein Indeiieudence. February 22, 1879, she married John W. Baden 
a rising young merchant of the city and a native of Hanover, Germany. 
In his family were brother and sisters, John W., Henry and I'eter. Mrs. 
Mary Dittmer, of Montgomery county, was an only sister of these broth- 
ers. John W. Baden learned the cooper's trade in Hannibal, Missouri, 
where lie first settled on coming to the United States. He came to Mont- 
gomery coimty, Kansas, and ran a cigar factory in Independence for a 
time. He engaged next in the grocery business in the county seat and, in 
jiartiiorship with his brother, Henry, built up a large and tlourishiug 
business. He was shrewd as a financier and gave much promise of beconi 
ing a man of great wealth. He was cut down in the prime of his useful- 
ness. April 25, 1889, a severe loss to his firm and to the community and an 
irreparable loss to his family. He left five children, viz: Henry, William, 
John F., Anna M., Emma M. and George Edward. 

Mr. and Mt's. Baden's lives have shown best in their work as citizens, 
in behalf of their favorite church. Commendable religious sentiments 
dominated their natures and in the Lutheran organization in Independ- 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 367 

ence their active work and their infJuence have had a beneticieut effect. 
Mrs. Baden has continued the good work begun by them both and wher- 
ever a religious or an educational cause can be forwarded by a reasonable 
appeal to her generosity it is seldom withheld. She manifests a commend- 
able jiublic spirit toward worthy objects which i)romise good to the fu- 
ture and lends a friendly ear to the cause of public enterprise. 



O T. HAYWARD— For the past three years one of Elk City's most 
successful financial institutions, the Elk City Bank, has been under the 
management of the gentleman herein named. Mr. Hayward was^ for 
many years, one of the county's most successful farmers and still owns 
one of the best four hundred- acre farms in the southern part of the 
state. He became interested in banking .several years ago and discov- 
ered such an aptitude for the business as to cause his selection as presi- 
dent of the above institution. The bank is one of the solid enterprises 
of the town, having been doing business now for twenty-one years. It 
is capitalized at |10.000, with |30,00(l surplus, and carries deposits ag- 
gregating 1124.730. with loans of $|1 52.523. Its official roster is as fol- 
lows. President. O. T. Hayward; vice-president, L. W. Myers; cashier, 
VV. I>. Myers; directors, M. L. Stephens, J. W. Berryman, L. W. Myers, 
W. D. Myers and O. T. Hayward. 

O. T. Hayward is a native of Illinois, born in Christian county, 
January 6, 1848. His parents were Robert and America (Lee) Hayward, 
the fatlier a native of Connecticut, the mother of Virginia. They were 
married in Christian county, Illinois, where they were among the earliest 
jiioneers of that section of the State. The mother died here, in 1857. 
She was a member of the Presbyterian church, a most devout woman and 
"full of good works."' The father died in 18G8, at sixty-tive years. He 
was not a communicant of the church, but was a great Bible student and 
of most exemplary character. Their family consisted of thirteen children, 
of whom but four are now living. 

Mr. Hayward was reared to manhood on the home farm, receiving 
a good common school education, and being well grounded in the homely 
virtues incident to a well-ordered farm community. At nineteen, he began 
working for himself and for three years continued in the home neigh 
borhood. An attack of "western fever" at this time culminated in Iiis 
settling in Montgomery county on a claim four and one-half nules east 
of Elk City, in Louisburg towiishii). He improved this for several years 
and then purchased the tirst })iece of the farm — which he now owns — later 
addirig to make up the four hundred acres. This farm is at present in 
charge of one of his sons. The years of intelligent cultivation ])ut upon 
this jiiece of land by our subject resulted in its being classed among the 
most desirable pieces of farm property in the county. He resided on the 



368 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

farm until 18 — , when he took up his residence in town. Mi'. Hayward's 
long connection with the agriculturists of the county makes him a famil- 
iar figure throughout this section and an undoubted authority on land 
investments. Socially, he affiliates with the Odd Fellows, in which or- 
gai)iz:iti(m he has tilled all the chairs, and in church connection, he and 
liis family are communicants of the Christian denomination. He votes 
with Ihe Democratic jiarty. 

The marriage of ilr. and Mrs. Hay ward was an event of the 161 h of 
February, 1873. She was a daughter of J. J. and Nancy Gregory, her 
christian name being Sarah. Her parents now reside in Louisburg. To 
the marriage of ilr. and JMrs. Hay ward have lieen born seven children: 
Allie .1., Mrs. Lair: Frederick, of Oklalumia: Adda May, Mrs. W. D. 
Myers, of Elk City, with one child, Arlena; William Lee, a farmer at 
Frederick, Oklahoma, married Bertha Rice, now deceased and has one 
child, John O. ; Minnie O., who married F. L. Johnson, of Columbia, Mis- 
souri — one child. Hay ward; AValter W.. resides on his father's farm, mar- 
ried l^dna Worley; George L.. a clerk in the bank; and Charles G.. a 
si-hodlboy. These children are all splendid exani]iles of what correct train- 
ing will accomidish and are taking their part in the dift'erent communi- 
ties of which they are, working members. Mr. Hi^yward is a worthy ex- 
ample of what industry and economy, coupled with sound business 
sense, will do for the average American boy, and his career should be an 
insjiiration to the ambitious youth of the day. 



SAML'EL BOWLBY — A successful business man and financier of 
Independence, and a gentleman whose presence in the west dates back to 
the early sixties, when he identified himself with the frontier and barren 
region of California, and, in 1880, cast his fortunes with Montgomery 
county, Kansas, is Samuel Bowlby, whose name precedes the introduc- 
tion to this article. His name has gone abroad in the county as a dealer 
and speculator in real estate and the winnings which have rewarded his 
judgment have placed him, financially, among the solid and independent 
men of the county. His more than a third of a century in connection 
with western men and methods has thoroughly assimilated him and he 
enters into the spirit of modern progress as a leader and not as a dull 
follower in the wake of our inevitable advance. 

Like the march of civilization, the Bowlbys have kept pace with the 
westward advance from their original home in New Jer.^ey, where 
Thomas Bowlby was born, to the Alleghanies and the Mississippi valley, 
across "the great American desert" to the silver-capped peaks of the 
Rockies. The arts of the husbandman have been pursued with every 
halt and the slopes of the M1ssissipj)i basin, from Ohio to the crest of the 
Rockies, have responded to the family touch. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 369 

A glaiK'e ;it tlio fainil.v historv of the IJowihys sliows tlieiu to be iu- 
digeiious to the State of New Jersey, where Tlioiiias Bowlby. the paternal 
giamlfatherofoursubject, reared a family of nine children, as follows: Re- 
becca, Ebenezer, Samuel C, Adam R., Jacob M.. Louisa, I\Iary, William I. 
and David. Adam R., our subject's father, was born October 28, 1804, 
and died in Montjiomery county, Kansas, in IS.")."). His first wife was 
Martha ^McDaniel, of Batesfown, New Jersey, who died in 1834, leaving 
him two sons and a daughter, viz : John M., a farmer, of Maroa, Illinois, 
who married ^lary Ann Fitzwater and has children : Kittie, Elmer. Cora, 
Emma and Nona; the second son, W. I., nmrried Margret Haywood and 
has t>^o children. Birt and William; and the daughter, Anna M.. married 
Mr. (iarrel for her first husband and Jlr. Saltziiian for her second, and is 
now 1 widow. Her children. Flora and Belle, are daughters of Mr. 
Garrei. 

Adam R. Bowlby's second wife was Mrs. Mary McGrew, whom he 
niai'ried in 1840. She was a native of Batestown. New Jersey, also, and 
was li(uii in 181(1. She was a daughter of Samuel and Armina (Garey) 
Oliver, wlio. in 182.5. settled in Clermont county, Ohio, where Mary mar- 
ried Andrew ^IcCirew. whose three children were JIartha, Thomas A. and 
■Oliver, surviving. The last named is a resident of Springfield, Illinois. 
She and Mr. Bowlby were the parents of four children, as follows: Sam- 
uel, the subject of this sketch; Andrew M.. Armenia and David. An- 
drew resides in Salt Lake Pity, Utah. Armenia was the wife of Daniel 
lilosier. of Tnde]iendence. Kansas, and has children : Georgia. liirt. Jes- 
sie (deceased), Samuel and Bonnie. David Bowlby is a farmer and 
stockman, near Stockholm, Oklahoma. In 1881. Itaniel Blosier and wife 
became residents of Independence, where the husband engaged in the 
carriage business, in connection with Samuel Bowlby, of this review. 
Some years later he removed to Springtield, Missouri, where he and his 
wife lioth died. Samuel Oliver was born in 1783 and died in 1839, while 
his wife was born in ITltO and died in 18.")2. Their children were: John, 
Mary, William, Rebecca, Margaret, Caleb, Sally Ann, Susan and Samuel, 
all born in Batestown. New Jersey. 

In March. 1841, Samuel Bowlby was Ijorn in Clermont county, 
Ohio. His youth was jiassed in the ;i((nos]ihere of the farm and his life was 
thus rural and his educational accpiirement from the country school. He 
left his native place, upon attaining his majority, and crossed the con- 
tinent to the Pacific coast where, in California and Idaho, he spent the 
next live years at work in the mines. He next engaged in the stock busi- 
ness in Colorado and later dropjied (h)wn into New Mexico, where he con- 
tinne>l the same avocation and also became interested in mercantile pur- 
suits. In 1S8(). he disjiosed of his possessions in the mountains and es- 
tablished his connection with independence. Kansas, where he jjurchased 
]ir(ipcity on Second street and. for more than twenty years, has been 



370 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

more or less extensively engaged in handling city real estate. In 1888, 
he became the owner of his present home and Several farms near the city 
are on the tax rolls in his name. 

In 1878. Mr. Bowiby married Martha J. Arnett, in Las Vegas, New 
Mexico. Mrs. Bowiby was born in Madison county, Arkansas, and is a 
daughter of William and Martha J. (Wood) Arnett, who. in 1868, iden- 
tified themselves with the far west. Mr. and Mrs. Bowlby's children are: 
Dollie. born in 1879, died at six years old; Daisy May, born June 1, 1885, 
died July 1. 1887; and Juanita, the youngest, was born January 1, 1890. 

As a resident of Independence, Mr. Bowiby has taken a sincere inter- 
est ill its municipal affairs, having served four years on its common 
council. For a number of years he has been oflBcially with one of its 
institutions he assisted in organizing and has, for nineteen years, been a 
member of its board of directors and a lai'ge holder of its stock. He is 
widely known throughout Montgomery county and an universally warm 
and friendlv feeling is entertained for him wherever he is known. 



MARTIN L. STEPHENS— One of the very early settlers of Mont- 
gomery county is the gentleman whose name heads this personal nara- 
tive. He is the owner of a splendid estate of five hundred and sixty 
acres in Louisburg township, in which he settled as early as 1868. He 
has witnessed the gradual growth of the substantial improvements which 
has made his township noted for its handsome properties; his own not 
losing in comparison with the best. 

Mr. Stejihens came to Kansas fv<mi Kentucky and settled first in 
Jefferson county, in May, 1869, but the nuinth of July following he came 
into Montgomery county, where he has since resided and where his life 
achievements have been wrought. He is a descendent of one of the pioneer 
families of the "Corn Cracker State." and was born in Whitley county, 
in 1845. He was a son of Solomon and Kachel (Mur]>hy) Stephens, and 
a grandson of Elisha and Sallie (Richmond) Stephens. The grand-par- 
ents were from the first settlers of Whitley county, where their position 
as farmers rendered them among the well known people of their locality. 
They brought up nine children in the old Kentucky home and there pass- 
ed away, the father in 1864 and the mother in 1900. The names of their 
issue were: William. Solomon, Elizabeth, Joel, Margaret, James, Saraii. 
Joshua and Elisha. 

The children of Solomon iind Rachel Stephens were: Sarah, who mar- 
ried ^^'illiam Ryan and resides in Ellis county, Kansas. Her children 
are: Sidney, Granvil, John, Elisha, Susan, Thomas, Welle, Martha and 
William. Clark, the second child of Solomon, married Jennie Stevens, 
having one child, named Lurinda. Nancy, the third, married William C. 
West, a Tennessee farmer, and has issue: Catherine, Sarah and Wil- 




MARTIN L. STEPHENS. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY^ KANSAS. ^71 

liam. Henry T., the fourth, resides ou the old Stephens homestead, and 
is the father of: Princes M., Harvey E., Bertis, I'earley May, Truey, 
Alice. Ida Maude, Daisy Jewel, Henry Ernest, Atley Albert, Wni. M. 
lioodiiian. .'^usan Myrtle and Goldie E. Retsy, the tiflli, hecanie the wife 
of Joseph Ryan, of Butlerville, Ind., and has children:. Jane, William, 
Julia, Henry, John, Sarah, Lucretia, Malinda and Moses. Patsie, the 
sixth, of Solomon's family, married Richard Trammel and is a resident 
of M'hitley county, Kentucky. The next child, Elizabeth, married J. B. 
Ryan, now a farmer of Rush county, Kansas, and her children are: Wil- 
liam. Keziah, Francis, Martha and Sarah. The eighth child, Annie, mar- 
ried Richard Wilson, of Elk City, Kansas, and is the mother of: John, 
James Franklin, Nellie, Laura, Loretta and Wm. Harvey. Susan, who 
married ^lariou Ryan, of Rice county, Kansas, has children: Wil- 
liam. Bettie Ann. Ella, Lottie, Volney, Ebin and Flossie. The tenth, 
Solomon il. Stephens, married Susan Davis, of Whitley county, Ken- 
tucky. The eleventh, married Wm. Meadows, of Whitley county, Ken- 
tucky, with children: IMary, Albert, Hettie, Edward and twins, Minnie 
L. and Maretta F., and Rachel and one, name unknown. Rebecca Jane, 
the twelfth, died in infancy. 

On the 2(lth of July. 1879, Martin L. Stephens married Malissa. a 
daujrhter of James and Eliza (Reno) Javeus, who settled in Louisburg 
township, in ISClt. and were emigrants from Beaver county, Pennsyl- 
vania, where ilrs. Stephens was born. To this marriage were the follow- 
ing children born: jMeshach M., born February 27th, 1861, married 
Myrtle !McHenry. of Elk City, Kansas; has one son, named Herald 
Paul: but reside in I-ouisburg townshi(); Robert Herbert, born -Tune 
2nd, 1883; Josephine, born August 9th, 1888; and Stella Alice, born Jan- 
nary 29th, 189.^. 

Taking up the hardships of pioneer life, Mr. and Mrs. Stephens are 
entering tlie period of advanced age with all the comforts of life. The 
industry and economy of earlier years was a guaranty of this condition 
of inne|)endeuce and their wi.se generosity with the things with which 
l)ounte<)US nature has provided them shows our subjects' cai)acity to ap- 
preciate and their ability to enjoy the material favors thus bestowed. 

Mr. Stejihens has given his endeavors to the cultivation of his farm, 
but has taken an interest in public affairs of his township as well. He 
1ms acted with the Republicans, being one of that party, and was once 
cho.sen treasurer of his townshij) and member of the County High School 
P.oard. He regards honor as the chief characteristic in man and prac- 
tices a hi-;!! standard of it himself. 



0]>IVEK 1". (JAMBLE — One of (he pioneers of .M()iiig(»mery county 
4ind a gentleman who ha.s been connected with the varied private affairs 



372 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

of his county, is Oliver P. Gamble, of Independence, the subject of this 
sketch. He came to the county the 12th day of August, 1809, and located 
on a claim in Inde|(eiideuce township, which he improved, partially, and 
disposed of, and passed the next four years on a new farm near Table 
Mound. In 1879, he moved into Sycamore township with his real hold- 
ings, i.ud has since been acquiring tract after tract of its fertile soil, until 
he is listed for taxes on seven hundred and forty acres of land. Since 
1880, he has been a resident of Independence, giving his attention to labor 
of a lighter and more congenial character than that of the farm and 
where lie also has some substantial financial connections. 

Oliver P. Gamble came to Kansas from Allegheny county, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he was born August 14th, 1840. His father, Samuel H. 
Gamble, was born in the same county and state and was a son of John 
(;amble. a paymaster in the army. War of 1812. In civil life the grand- 
fatliei' was a school teacher, and hotel keeper on the Baltimore and 
Washington turnpike. He died about 180G. at the age of ninety years. 
Sanniel H. Gamble passed his life in his native county, was, liy occupa- 
tion, a farmer, and died in 1887. He was one of the following family: 
Oliver. Samuel H.. Hiram. John. James and Mary. 

Samuel H. Gamble married ilargaret Irwin, a daughter of John 
Irwin, a representative of one of the old families of Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania. He lived an active and successful life, was a Democrat 
'till the formation of the Republican party, when he changed politics 
and became a Reimblican. His children were: Sarah, wife of Caleb 
iMlmundson, of Allegheny county. Pa.; Harriet, deceased, married Mr. 
Preidenthal: Oliver 1*., Dr. Jno. H., who died in 1898; Rebecca, wife of 
Wm. Hayden, of McKeesport, Pa. 

Our subject passed his youth and early manhood in various em- 
jiloyments. with coal-hauling and working on lock No. 3, on the Monon- 
galiela river predominating. At twenty-two years of age he enlisted in 
romi)any "E." ISoth I'a. Inf.. Gol. E. J. Allen, and was in the service in 
the war of the Rebellion from August. 18G2, "till April, 1803. His initial 
tight was the battle of Second Bull Run, then followed Antietam and 
Fredericksburg, where, Decendjer 13th, he was wounded in the right 
elbow by "buck and ball" and put out of action. In April, 1863, he left 
the service and as soon as he had recovered sufficiently to make a hand 
at wc]k, came out to Miami county, Kansas, where he secured employ- 
ment with Wilson and Irwin, driving team for them on construction of 
Hie Fort Scott and Gulf railroad. He remained in that vicinity 'till 1809, 
when, with a small supply of legal tender, he made his way to Montgomery 
county and became a permanent citizen. 

For ten years after he left the farm Mr. Gamble was a contract 
teamster in Independence, and, following this, he engaged with the rental 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMBEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 373 

and loan department of the Citizens National Bank, where he has charge 
of a lar<ie and ini]>ortant business. 

In February. 1874. Mr. (ianible married Harriet Hefle.v. a daughter 
of Levi Hefley, a Kentucky gentleman, who came to Montgomery county 
early, from Belleview. Iowa. John and Cade Hefley, brothers of Mrs. 
Gamble, are well known citizens of Independence, and a sister, Mrs. 
Lucinda Chapman, resides in Burden, Kansas, and another sister, Mrs. 
Agnes Rowe, resides in Portland, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Gamble have 
no children. Mr. Gandde is prominent in local Grand Army circles, is 
Past Commander and attended the national encampment of the order 
at Washington, D. C. 



WILLIAM S. HAYS* — On historic irJquirrel Hill, where are now the 
boulevards, the stately homes and the wealth and fashion of the city of 
Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, settled the head of a family whose posterity 
is numbered among the substantial citizenship in our American daily 
life, and whose antecedents include the good blood of some of the favored 
families of the British Isles. .Tames Fleming came from Scotland, in 
17G4, and settled at Ft. I'ilt. where he ojieued the first store and pur- 
chased a tract of land from Ihe heirs of William Penn. This tract em- 
braced about all of the land at the junction of the two rivers and the 
high point overlooking the rivers and country below was called "Squirrel 
Hill." Gen. Braddock opened this country with his military road in 
1755, and with the growth of Pittsburg "Squirrel Hill" became the 
famous suburb of the city. James Fleming was the maternal great- 
grandfallier of the subject of this sketch, and the Flemings and the 
Hays's fulfilled their missions and rendered useful and patriotic service 
in many avenues of their country's development. 

On his m.aternal grandmother's side Mr. Hays is a lineal desceudcnt 
of the famed Flora McDonald who, although offered thirty thousand 
pounds by the enemies of Charles Edward for the surrender of the fugi- 
tive jirince, refused to reveal his identity a7id saw him safely aboard a 
French man-of-war, disguised as her maid. Her niece, born in Glasgow. 
Scotland, in 177(;, was our subject's grandmother, and she died on '•S(piir- 
rel Hill"' in 187-1. James Fleming, grandfather of our subject, reared 
eight sons and two daughters, of whom Lewis, a veteran of the Rebel- 
lion, died April 9th, 190:}; Josiah, who raised a company at New Orleans 
about 1835, to fight for the freedom of Te.xas from Mxican ojjjiression, and 
was lietrayed by Sant;i .Vniia's men in Tex;is, wlio murdered twenty-seven, 
in all. of this comj)any ; James was a wealthy Snutlieruer, who had a p**- 
sition in the navy yard at Norfolk, Va., and furnished sons for "Stone- 
wall" Jackson's army; William Hays was drowned in the Monougahela 
river while attempting to rescue a man; Willason Hays died while jiass- 



374 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ing tlirough the Indian Territory, in 1853; and Robert died in Californi.a. 

Tliis branch of the Hays family emanated from Robert Hays, grand- 
father of William t^. Hays, of this review, who came to America from 
Ireland at four years of age, during, or just after, the Revolutionary 
war. Robert Hays married a Hughey, who came to this country from 
Scotland when very young, with the Neals — her cousins — who were mur- 
■dered by the Indians at Bloody Run, Pa., in 1780. Ephraim Hays was 
one of a family of eight children, and married Mary Fleming, both of 
whom died near Pittsburg, Pa., at seventy -eight and seventy-six years, 
respectively. Theii' children were: (ieorge, who died young; Maggie 
and Emily, who reside in Pittsburg; Mary, who died in 1901; Robert, of 
Steul)enville, Ohio; James F.. of Raltimore, Md., the father of the only off 
spring of this family; and William S., our subject. 

Dr. George Hays, Colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Reserves, and 
Gen. Alexander Hays, who was killed in the battle of the Wilderness, are 
of the same family as the subject of this notice. Hugh Hays, who died in 
Louisville, Kentucky, was the father of Will S., the poet and ballad- 
■vvriter and staff correspondent of the Courier-Journal. Dock and Robert 
Hays, lawyers of Louisville, and E. W. Hays, cashier of the First Nat- 
ional bank of Kentucky for thirty-five years, were also sons of Hugh 
Hays, and belonged to the same general family. 

' William S. Hays came to manhood about Pittsburg, Pa. When he 
look up the serious duties of a loyal citizen it was to enter the army as a 
I)rivate in Company "C," 103rd I'a. Inf., in 1861. His regiment formed 
a part of the Army of the Potomac and, for lack of space, eliminating 
interesting details of his service and confining the sketch to the main 
facts of our subject's history, we find him, rain-soaked, in front of the 
Rebel fortifl<'ations at Williamslnirg on the night of May 5th, 18C2. He 
was with McClellan's army, chilled to the bone, yet ready to renew battle 
when dawn should break. He was the first of a number of volunteers to 
respond to a request for tree-climbers, to investigate the position of the 
enemy's forces, and found them to have retreated to Richmond. >Ir. 
Hays belonged to Casey's Division of the 4th Corps, which suffered so 
severely at the hands of the Confederates at Fair Oaks and Seven Pines, 
and our subject was probably nearer the Rebel capital at this time than 
any other '"boy in blue," until its evacuation. 

On the night of May 30th, 1862, Hays and McKee, bunk-mates, were 
stationed on the Fortress Monroe and Richmond road, in a down-pour of 
rain, and in the morning, cold and hungry and still unrelieved. No fires 
were allowed on picket and McKee said: "I'll dig a hole and build a fire 
below the picket line." they were in such distress. A few pine knots and 
a match soon had their coffee steaming, when, suddenly, a voice called 
•out, "that smells awful good, Yank. I wish I had some"! A rebel i)icket 
was within twenty feet of them and undiscovered. "All right, Johnnie, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 375 

what have you to trade?" "Nothing"! "Nothing to trade, nothing to 
eat," said tlie Yanks. "Can .vou swap a Richmond paper for coffee?" 
And in about twenty minutes McKee and the Johnnie had made the ex- 
change and the news that Joe Johnston's army of 65,000 men was fixing 
to gobble up a part of McClellan's army was gleaned, and between twelve 
and one o'clock the whole of the Kebel army started (he fun by paying 
their respects to Hays and McKee. McKee fired at the rebel skirmish 
line, the rebel picket clii)ped the brim of McKee's hat. Hays got in 
the third shot and the tremendous engagement was on. The two Yan- 
kee pickets were too late in retreating and were made prisoners and 
started toward Libby prison. A cannon ball struck a tree presently and 
so scattered the cavalry escort that our Federal friends made their es- 
cape among the pines. As Mr. Hays came along to different Union bat- 
teries, he found them horseless and almost manless, and some of them in 
the hands of the enemy. He aided in dragging Fitch's battery through 
Gen. Couch's Division, a half mile to the rear, and got it into action. It 
was in this engagement that Mr. Hays met a son of his uncle, Fleming, 
whose sons went into the Confederate army. They exchanged experi-- 
ences afterward and it was discovered that at several places they had 
faced each other in deadly conflict. Continuing through the jieriod of 
his service, Mr. Hays was in every engagement or raid his company took 
part in, in one of which every third man in it was killed or wounded. 

At the close of the war there was not much left of the original 103rd 
Pennsylvania regiment. Five years after the war, three companies of 
it had' not a survivor, and nearly Ihe whole of the regiment had either 
been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. 

Ju the performance of duty, Mr. Hays was always willing and 
prompt, as a soldier, and the fear of man was not in him. When off 
duty, he often ventured far beyond the lines of the camp, irrespective of 
the proximity of guerrilla bands, and the boys claimed that he knew 
everybody within five miles of camp. Just before the eud of the war. 
Colonel Leghman ordered him oft" of the picket line and into the hospital 
for treatment, and the surgeon who examined him, discharged him and 
sent kim home to die. "But Kill wouldn't die. His mother patched him 
up with some herbs'' and his iron constitution did the rest. Although 
he recovered, he is troubled with a recurrence of his army affliction, pe- 
riodically, and has frequently been brought near death's door. While 
his service and his ailments from service would entitle him to be a pen- 
sioner on the roll of honor, he has never drawn one cent from the gov- 
ernment since it settled up with him at the close of the war. 

Resuming civil life, Mr. Hays went south, but found the feeling 
against the Union soldier too bitter to warrant his remaining, and he 
took Horace Greely's advice and "came west to grow up with the coun- 
try." In 1868, he camped on the Osage Diminished Reserve for the first 



376 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

time and roamed over the southwest awhile. Deciding to locate in 
Monl<:omery county, he first located a claim at the junction of the Verdi- 
gris and Elk rivers, but the sudden overflow caused him to change his 
plans and he entered land just belowHell's Bend," on the Verdigris, 
"where Hell broke loose regularly, once a week." He fought off and out- 
stayed the claim-jiiiiipiMs. dcsti'iiyed their foundations and tore down 
their houses, while he. himself, made his home in his wagon-box. 

lie engaged in the cattle business in his new home and was dis- 
puted the right to either cut hay, or even live on the land. After some 
trouble, peace was made with Mad Chief and his band of Osages, and lit- 
tle, save the thieving and petty olfenses of the Indians and Hell's Bend's 
gang, served to worry or disturb the pioneers. Mad Chief was a lieuten- 
ant ill "Beever's band," the chief of which accosted Mr. Hays with the 
query as to why he was there, and ended the interview with the threat 
that every white man would be driven off of the reservation. The pow- 
wow ended in a compromise between Hays and the Indians, after a day's 
wrangle. Hays agreeing not to put up hay only on the Elk river bottom. 
He permitted the Osage ponies to feed at the stacks in winter, and 
presented the chief a beef, whenever the cattle were brought in. Mr. 
Hays' first hay was burned by Indians as soon as it was put in windrow. 
" On one occasion, Mr. Hays broke up the firing of his haystacks 
by the Indians, by taking one of them out of the crowd and driving 
him across the prairie, for punishment, at the hands of the Indian agent. 
At another time, he returned a bunch of horses to some timid settlers 
from a northern county, simply going into a corral where the Indians 
had driven them, cutting them out and driving them off, after the band 
had demanded money for their ransom, and refused to deliver them up 
to their owners. At several times, Mr. Hays was ordered off the reserva- 
tion by the agent, but he forgot to go. Because of his firmness with the 
Osages, some of them felt a grievance toward our subject, and made ef- 
forts to run him off, but they made no headway at this. This dissatis- 
faction continued till the spring of 1870, when the Osages fired all the 
hay h"^ had and left him without feed for his stock, burned some of the 
cattle in the corral, and many calves in the prairie grass. 

From 1869 to 1871, there were three log houses burned on ]\Ir. Hays' 
claim, two box houses destroyed and four log foundations cut up and 
burned. His claim was ordered vacated by the agent, who told him, 
through letters, that he never should have a foot of the Diminished Re- 
serve. Once he sent U. S. Marshal Hargrave to arrest him and take 
him out of the Indian country, but for some good reason, the marshal 
didn't do it, and after an acciuaintance had sprung up between them, 
Hargrave said, one day, "Bill, if I had known the kind of a man you are, 
I don't know where you would be today. I started to arrest you once, 
by order of I. T. Gibson, and on my way up I met a lot of Osages going 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 377 

down to the asent with a storv of your 'roiiiul up' with tlioui, and the 
version they gave of the affair, led mc to think you were tlie devil, and 
I had no business with you without soldiers." 

Every summer, for fourteen years. Mr. Hays spent the summer on 
the trail. He operated in Kansas and the Territory and everybody 
seemed glad to meet "Rill Hays," from Ked river to the Kansas line. He 
had several hundred aires fenced, in the Cherokee Nation, and, under the 
act of the Couniil. no man was allowed to fence more than fifty acres. 
But many fenced a thousand acres and, often, the Cherokee officei"'s depu- 
ties came along, with their wire cutters, and let down fences every- 
where. Ati old Irish woman complained to the authorities that "it bate 
the divel that Ihim houns coot ivry body's tince but thot mon Hoais, and 
divel the bit did Ihe slinks touch et !'' 

The region of the Territory was a wild country until recent years. 
It was full of Iiandits and petty thieves, and the only two subjects dis- 
cussed by them, apparently, was "cattle and kill." The juarshal 
rounded u]) a motley crowd of law-breakers every year, and yet each 
year the cro]) grew larger. ^Ir. Hays was brought into contact with 
them, in the course of his work, but escajied their wrath, and had no se- 
rious mixu]) with them. The Daltons were bad, but no worse than some 
other.<. He mel them often, and saw them the day they lay dead in Cof- 
feyville, when they tried to outdo Jesse James, by robbing two banks at 
once. 

In manner and bearing, ^Ir. Hays is niiassuming and imjiretentious. 
He is averse to jiushing himself forward and reserves no special merit 
to himself. He has led a successful life and been a conspicuous and use- 
ful citizen of Montgomery county, and it is meet that some such ex- 
tended mention of his experiences as this sliould appear in a history 
of his own county. He has never married, having passed his life in the 
families of neighbors or tenants, and being "uncle" to them all. 

Farmingandthei-aisingof stock have constituted only a small portion 
of the interesting exjieriences in the life of Mr. Hays. He was in the 
banking business, when the panic of 1892 came on, and the story of his 
defense of the depositors, against the attempted assimilation of the 
bank's funds, to their own advantage, by some of those near to the insti- 
tution's management, would furnish something of a sensation to the 
patrons of the defunct bank. 

Mr. lia\s makes no jiretense to jioiitical leadership and has little 
sympathy for professional politicians. He has no use at all for the 
chronic office-seeker, and not the greatest regard for the candidacy of 
any man looking for votes. However, against his wishes, he was nom- 
inated, in 1881, for county commisioner, and was pitted against the 
"political sweep-stake as a vote-getter in .Montgomery county," whom 
he defeated. It was duiing his ofBcial inciimbemv That the ontstandingr 



378 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

warrants of the county were called in, paid off and cancelled, and the 
county levy reduced from one dollar to seventy cents. The county did 
business on a cash basis and, so far as the member from Sycamore was 
concerned, "the board turned its back on all proposed contracts that 
contained nothing but cheap talk, smiles and boodle." 



THOMAS FRANKLIN BURKE— Ex-register of deeds, Thomas F. 
Burke, of Independence, has resided in Montgomery county twenty 
years. Fourteen years of that time he was engaged in farming in Syca- 
more township, and only abandoned rural pursuits to assume publio 
office, to which he had just been chosen. After five years of official ser- 
vice, in one of the most important positions in the gift of the people of 
Montgomery county, he retired, and became a member of the real estate 
firm of Heady & Burke. 

Mr. Burke's parents were early settlers of Macon county. Illinois, 
Micajah Burke, his father, emigrating from Hardin county, Kentucky, 
in 1832, and founding the family on the bleak prairies of the "Sucker 
State." Virginia was the original American home of the family, and 
early in the century just past, John H. Burke, grandfather of our sub- 
ject, joined the throng of immigrants to Kentucky, remained there some 
years, and accompanied his son, Micajah, into Macon county, Illinois, 
"where he died, in 18.54. He was a shoemaker by trade, married and had 
a family of two sons and six daughters. James Burke was his other son 
and he brought up a family in Illinois. 

Micajah Burke was born in Virginia in 1803 and died in 1SG3. The 
labor of the farm furnished him with employment through life and he and 
his wife, nee Lucy Ann Pasley, of Kentucky, reared a family of seven chil- 
dren. Mrs. Burke was a daughter of Rev. Henry H. Pasley, a ^lethodist 
minister of Hardin county, who was a native of the State of Kentucky. 
Mrs. (Pasley) Burke died in 1892, at seventy-two years of age, being the 
mother of: John H., of Macon county, Illinois; James W., deceased; 
Robert Y., of lola, Kan.sas; Thomas F., Adelpha C, deceased, wife of 
Henry Stevens, of Macon county, Illinois; Joseph W.. of the home county 
in Illinois; and Lewis I)., of Pueblo, Colorado. 

Tlioinas F. Burke grew up in the country where school advantages 
were not of the first order. His enlistment in the army, for service in 
the Civil war, marked his exit from the domestic and parental fireside. 
He joined Company "A," One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Infantry, 
first. Col. Tupper, and, later. Col. Maddox. The regiment formed a part 
of Grant's army, operating on the Mississippi river, and its first engage- 
ment, in which Mr. Burke participated, was at Haines' Bluff. Then 
came Champion Hills, and the siege and capture of Vicksburg. The 
army then came up the river to Memphis, and started on its journey from 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 379 

there to join the Federal troops, operating; in the east. Mi-. Bnrke took 
part in the Missionary Jl\d<xo battle and was present, with his re<jinient, 
at the relief of Gen. Bnrnside, at Knoxville, Tennessee. During that win- 
ter, the command with which Mr. Burke was serving, was stationed at 
Larkinsville, Alabama, and the following spring, it took \ip the work of 
the Atlanta campaign, at Kesaca. Ceorgia. Was in battle at r>allas, Hig 
Shant.v and Kennesaw ]\Ionn1ain. in which latter the troojps charged the 
Confederates and cajitured their redoiibt. The One Hundred and Six- 
teenth then went to Kossville. (Georgia, on orders, and was in the fight 
of the 21st and 22d of September, in front of Atlanta. On the 28th, it 
was at Ezra Ohapel, where Mr. Bnrke was struck on the head with a 
Rebel ball, which, in time, caused blindness of the right eye. After a 
term in the hospital, at ^larietta. Cetirgia. he returned to his regiment, 
and was in the fight at Jonesboro. The command then marched back 
to Atlanta and followed Hood to the Tennessee river, near Chattanooga; 
returned to Atlanta and took u]i the march "to the sea." Mr. Burke par- 
ticipated, with his company, in the charge on Ft. McAllister, at Savan- 
nah, in which engagement he was color bearer, and he believes he placed 
the first banner of the stars and stripes on the Rebel works. At Savannah 
the One Hundred and Sixteenth Hlinois was embarked aboard a ship 
for Pocataligo, South Carolina, where it disembarked and went to 
Charleston and on to Goldsboro. North Carolina. Took part in the 
engagement at Bentonville. North Carolina, marched on through 
Raleigh, to Petersburg, and into Richmond. Virginia, the late Confeder- 
ate capital. Leaving there, the army marched to the Grand Review at 
Washington, D. C, and terminated "its services and celebrated its vic- 
tories in the grandest military disjday the world ever saw. Mr. Burke 
was discharged at the Capital, but was mustered out at S].ringfield. Illi- 
nois, with a ]>roniotion from private to color-sergeant, and with three 
years of arduous and ]iatriotic service to his credit. 

On returning to his old Imme, <iur subject donned the habilimentS: 
of a farmer and resumed civil jiursuits where he left olT three years be- 
fore. For thirty-two years, in Hlinois and in Kansas, he continued at 
his favorite calling, and only separated from it at the behest of the 
people to assume public oflice. 

October 22, 1871, ]\Ir. Burke married Ellen Nesmith, a daughter of 
Samuel Nesmith, a lawyer l)y jprofession and an Ohioan by birth. The 
Nesniiths were English, their family home being Londonderry, which this 
branch left, came to America, and settled at Londonderry, Connecticut, 
away back in Colonial times. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Burke are: 
Walter S., of Denver, Colorado; Alice G., wife of Morris Humes, of Em- 
l)oi'ia, Kansas; Bessie F., and Arthur N., of Denver, Colorado. 

In his i)olitical life. Mr. Burke is an avowed Republican. He has 
ever taken a keen interest in local politics, aiid was tirst elected Register- 



3So HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of Deeds in November, 1897, by a majority of sixtv-six vots, being the 
only candidate on his ticket to "pull throuoli." In 1809, he was reelected, 
this time receiving a majority of three hundred and fifty-two votes, and 
being again the only Republican candidate to win on the county ticket, 
except the surveyor and coroner. His service as county recorder was ef- 
ficient and pains-taking and it included the time from January, 1898, to 
January, 1903. 



THOMAS WHISTIJOR— Wliat shall Montgomery do when these 
"first settlers" have jiassed to their reward? There seems to have been 
something in the virgin soil of her boundless jirairies which inoculated 
them with the virus of contentment and good nature, patriotism and 
devotion to the state of their adoption. They broke the sod and from its 
upturned loam, drew inspiration for the battle of life, which carried 
them safely through the heat of the day, and which still gives forth its 
benign influences as they enter the evening shades. Retired from the 
activities of life, they yet exercise a potent influence in the conduct of 
affairs in the wise council whicli they give to the younger generation. 

In Thomas Whistler, of Elk City, is found one of these first settlers 
of the county, the singularly correct life which he has lived having 
brought to him, in a large measure, expressions of appreciation and 
good cheer from a very wide circle of friends, Mr. Whistler is a native 
of Maryland, born in the county of Baltimore. November 9, 1836. Samuel 
Whistler, his father, and Elizabeth Ford, his mother, were natives of 
Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively, and in their day, were loya,! 
and respected citizens, whose lives were without blemish. The father 
was a worker in iron and also followed the plow in season. He died at 
the age of fifty-six years, his wife surviving him some years, and ])assing 
away during the (JO's. There was a family of six children: Abram, 
John and Elizabeth are now deceased; Lottie, Mrs. Richard Herbert, a 
widow, living in Pennsylvania; Mary, Mrs. Thaddeus Crow, resides in 
Virginia ; and the subject of this sketch. 

Mr. Whistler was reared to the rigors of farm life, and there devel- 
oped that constitution which has carried him through nearly seven 
decades of a busy life. He worked on the home farm until September 
of 18fi2, when he caught the step, which swung past him, for the battle- 
fields of the south and took up arms for the defense of the Union. His 
enlistment was as a private soldier in Comi)any "G," Second Maryland 
Volunteer Infantry, Army of the Potomac. His service was entirely in 
the east, his comi)any being in many of the gi-eat struggles which took 
place between Lee and the different leaders on the Union side, and stood 
grim and silent across the pathway of that proud chieftan at Appomat- 
tox, as he vainly endeavored to extricate himself from the toils. During 




BENJ. MURFHY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 38 1 

these years of war. Mv. Wliisilcr was fortunate in receiving no wounds 
and kf'opinn; out of the foul ]irison pens of the south. His discharge, in 
July ('f ISGu, was received in ilie consciousness of having contributed his 
mite to the establishment of the principle that "all men are equal before 
the h.w." 

Mr. Whistler returned to the farm, which he continued to till until 
the si)ring of 1872, when he joined the flood-tide of emigration, which was 
flowing to the west and whici. landed him in one of the best counties in 
Kansas. He opened a claim in Louisburg township, and, for twenty- 
one years, he passed through the experiences which were the lot of all 
the early settlers who worked hard and intelligently turned their crops. 
In 1893, he retired from active work, and has since lived in the enjoy- 
ment of the competence which his labors brought him. He still keeps in 
touch with the occupation which he has followed through life, having 
in his possession, three farms in the county, aggregating five hundred 
and fifty-two acres, all of it in the gas belt, and, therefore, of unusual 
value. 

Mr. ^^"his(ler has been thrice married. The wife of his youth was 
Mary E. Stockdale, wliom he married in 185(5, and who died at twenty- 
four ,^ears of age, in ISUO, leaving two children: Mary and -John. The 
son has been, for a number of years, a prominent factor in the county's 
afifairs, having served in various offices of trust, and is now a repre- 
sentative of the county in the state legislature, having been elected by 
the Republicans of his district, in 1002. He made a good I'ecord in the 
halls of Icgislalion and will be heard from in the future. He has been 
twice married, his first wife, Nannie Owen, dying in 189G, She was the 
mother of Burton, Thomas, Edward and Eva (twins), .John, George and 
Anna. His present wife is a sister of the first, Eva Owen, whose one son 
is named after the martyr president, William M(J\inley. The second 
child of our subject's first marriage was a daughter, Mary, who died in 
childhood. Jlr. ^Vhistler's second marriage occurred in Decemljer of 
1862. to Agnes Y. Hayes, who bore him a son, Thomas Seth, who died 
at one year, the mother dying in 1868. His present wife was E. J. Seev- 
er, prior to December of 1872 — the date of her marriage to Mr. Whistler. 
She is a native of Kentucky, and is the daughter of .John and Mary 
Seever, both now deceased. She is a member of tlie Christian church, 
while our subject contents himself with mendjershii) in that grand organ- 
ization, the Grand Army of the Republic. Both are the center of a very 
large circle of friends, who unite in unanimous appreciation of their 
many sterling qualities. 



BENJ.\MIN MURBHY— The forerunners of civilization are the 
pioneers of a new country. They arrest nature, in her undisputed sway 



382 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

over the vast realm, and introduce an active, energetic force, armed witli 
the arts of peace and with a single thought — the building of homes. In 
this category of distinguished jtersons, our subject. Benjamin ilurphy. 
belongs. He was here in Montgomery county among the first, neigh- 
bored — according to the custom — for a time, with the aborigines, and 
from the day of his advent, was consumed with the idea of achieving 
a home. It was the 1st day of November, 1868, that he, with others from 
the same point, located on Elk river, taking his claim in section 9, town- 
ship 82. range 1.5. and also a jiart of section 10, embracing a quarter sec- 
tion, in all, which he improved and resided on for many years. His home 
is almost on the bank of the sinuous Elk and the substantial character 
of his domicile indicates the permanence which swayed him in an early 
day. 

^(r. Murphy had been a resident of Kansas for ten years wlien he 
settled in Montgomery county. He was a pioneer to ("offey county and 
settled near LeRoy, from which point he brought his family to Mont- 
gomery county, in 1869. He was born in Posey county, Indiana, Jan- 
uary IG, 1834, and is a son of Jesse Murphy, who went with his father, 
James Murphy, into Posey county, in 1804, from North Carolina. James 
Murjihy left Indiana and went to the Republic of Texas, where he could 
own slaves, and died in Anderson county, now the State of Texas, in 
1861. His first wife was Elizabeth Cox, who died in Posey county, In- 
diana, being the mother of six sons, namely: Jesse, John, Aaroji , James, 
who (lied in Oregon , Noah , and Thomas, who died in Texas. John died 
in IliJiiois. and Noah and Aaron died in Indiana, while Jesse died in Illi- 
nois, hi 185(1. Crandfather Murjihy was a soldier in the war of ISl:.'. and 
helped light the battle of Tippecanoe, under Gen. Harrison. 

Jesse Murphy was, like his father, a farmer. He married Sarah 
Russell, who survived him two years, and bore him four children, as 
follows: William, of Illinois; James, deceased; John, who lives in Illi- 
nois, and Renjamin. our subject. These sons grew up in the new coun- 
try of Illinois, where there were few opportunities for 'boys without 
means and no advantages for an education worth the name. The conse- 
(|uence was. Benjamin learned little beyond reading, writing and a smat- 
lering of arithmetic. March 6. 1856, he married Sidnev Tiuer. a daugh- 
ter of Richard Tiner. from Tennessee. Mrs. Tiner was a Jenkins. Mrs. 
Sidney Murphy died in Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1873, leaving 
nine children, namely: Richard and Elnora, who died without heirs; 
Queen V.. wife of Henry Primmer, of I'ueblo, Colorado; William, of 
Labette county, Kansas; Emma, Mrs. John Hooper, of Montgomery 
county, Kansas; George, of Independence, Kansas; Effie, wife of J. H. 
Carpenter, of the Indian Territory; Jesse, and Ida, wife of William 
McCloud. January 25, 1876. Mr. Murjihy married Mrs. Maria McCarney, 
widow of Thomas McCarney. and a daughter of John and Zeruah (Barn- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 383 

hard) Black. Mr. Black omigrated from his native State of Pennsyl- 
vania, to Morrow county, Ohio, where Mrs. Mnrphy was born, but now 
resides with our subject, at eighty-eight years of age. Mrs. Murphy was 
born August 12, 1843, and is the third child of her parents, the others 
iDeing- Henry, of Greenwood county, Kansas; Ann E., wife of Joseph 
T'nderhill; I-ydia. wife of William Stei-ling, of Henning. Minnesota. 
Ezra McCarney. of Independence. Kansas, is Mrs. Mur[)hy's first child. 
Her others are Ada, deceased; Cora, wife of James H. Newmaster, of 
Montgomery county, and Earl, yet under the parental roof. 

Benjamin Murphy left Illinois in 1858, with an ox team, bound for the 
prairies of Kansas. He had scarcely become acclimated, when he respond- 
ed to 1lie call of the Pi-esident for troo])s to put down the rebellion of 1.S61. 
He enlisted in Company "F," Ninth Kansas Cavalry, at lola, under 
command of Col. Lynde, and served on the border, between Missouri and 
Kansas, and in Arkansas and the Indian Territory, during his three 
year's period of enlistment. He was in the battle of Prairie Grove, and 
Newtonia, and saw much skirmishing and rough-and-tumble service. His 
three and one-half years experience in the field fitted him for a life on the 
border and among the Red Men, when he came to settle in Montgomery 
county. Nopawalla's band of a few hundred Osages, was camped 
not far from his homestead, and Chetopa and Strike Axe were farther 
up Elk river, with the warriors of the tribe, and with these bands some 
little intercourse was indulged in by the settlers. The collecting of trib- 
ute ofl of the settlers and the satisfying of an unsatiable appetite, from 
the larders of the same, were the uses to which said settler was put. The 
Eed Jfan also indulged in a little horse stealing, to break the monotony 
of the seasons, but the losses of the "Pale Face" on account of this di- 
version were insignificant. 

Mr. Murphy has jiarticipated, with his fellow townsmen, in the af- 
fairs of local government, and has never failed to take the interest of 
a good citizen in political contests. He has served on the school board 
and once was postmaster of the little town of Radical. He holds a mem- 
bership in the United Brethren church. 



CAPT. LYCCRGUS C. MASOX— In the following biographical re- 
view, posterity is tendered the salient events in the life record of the pio- 
neer, patriotic and honored citizen, of Independence, Capt. L. C. Mason. 
The date of his settlement, the period of his residence and the distin- 
guished character of his citizenship, ail conspire to render him a {lerson 
of renown, and it is these attributes which furnish the inspiration for 
this article, and the honor of the man which justifies its production. 

The oracle of fate decreed his nativity a hallowed spot. Born where 
was nurtured the youth of our martyred President, and where conditions 



384 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and circunistanees justified his suooestive but commonplace title of 
•■Railsjilitlei," Lvcuigns ('. Mason grew up. amid the sacred memories of 
the Tresident's youtli. and came to manhood, strengthened and animated 
bv the success of his public life. A native of Indiana, and of Spencer 
county. Capt. Mason was born October 1, 1840. His father, Christopher 
J. Mason, was born in Ohio county, Kentucky, in 1813. and grew up and 
married, in his native county. Ellen Morgan, and in 1832, crossed the 
sinuous and watery boundary of the state and settled in Spencer county, 
Indiana. There the frontier coujde established themselves, in the heavy 
woodland, and began tlie process of hewing out a home. Like many of 
the Kentucky pioneers, the Masons were from Yii'ginia, where -J. H. Ma- 
son, the grandfather of our subject, was born, married Elizabeth Jack- 
son, a cousin of the famous ex President and expounder of Democratic 
doctrine, and. about 18!KI, took his family into the new Commonwealth 
of Kentucky, (irandfather Mason was born about 1779 and died in Han- 
cock county, Kentucky, in 18G3. His children were eight in number, and 
none, save Christojther J., emigrated from his Kentucky home. They 
were: .James, Josejih, Henry, ("hristoplier J., Mary, Margaret, Jane and 
Elvira. 

Christojiher J. ^Mason spent sixty-four years near the scene of his 
Indiana settlement, contributed no little to the material and interna-1 
development of his county, and died in October, 1896. forty-nine years 
after the death of his wife. Their children were: Cordelia J., wife of 
Dr. J, H. Houghland, of Rockport, Indiana; W. T., a banker of the same 
city; and Cajit. Lycurgns, of this notice. 

Clubbing, sjjrouting. rail-making, farming and, lastly, attending 
school, constituted the annual routine of L. C. ilason's early life, with 
strongly marked emjihasis upon the physical occupations. Getting an 
education was insigniflcant, in comparison with the physical developer— 
chopjiing and grubbing — and if he dug into his books half as much as he 
dug into the ground, he was sure to become an accomiilished scholar. 
In October, 1801, he enlisted in Company "F," Fifty-eighth Indiana Vol- 
unteers, Capt. Crow's company, regiment in command of Col. Carr. Mr. 
Mason was mustered in as a sergeant of his company, and the regiment 
was ordered to Louisville from Princeton, Indiana, and it became a part 
of the Army of the Cumberland. Ater the battles of Stone river, Chick- 
amauga and Missionary Kidge. our subject was transferred to the engi- 
neering corjis, with the rank of first lieutenant. His was a company of 
j)ontoniers, and aided in bridging every important stream from Chatta- 
nooga to Atlanta, from which latter point it went with Sherman's army 
to the sea. The Captain's company helped bridge all the streams about 
Savannah, and, after the fall of that city, inarched north through the Car- 
olinas with the victorious Federal forces. On to Richmond, building 
bridges enronte and, finally, to Washington, D. C, where it participated 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 385 

in ihc (iiaiid review. At Savanniih. oiir subject received his captain'.s coni- 
inis-«ioii. and was in coniniand of liis company from then to the final mus- 
ter out and discharjie, at Indianapolis, in August, 1865. 

On resuming civil pursuits, Capt. Mason engaged in the produce and 
tobacco business, flat-boating on the Ohio river. He engaged in traffic 
witli ]ilanters along the lower Mississipjii river, and occasionally made 
trii)s to New Orleans. For live years — ISfifi to 1871 — he followed this 
species of domestic commerce and closed the business with an accumu- 
lation of some capital and a roving and wandering habit. His army life, 
also, contributed to his spirit of unrest, and he came west in response to 
this peculiar mental bent. He came to Cherryvale, by rail, and staged 
it across to the new town of Indei)endence, in Montgomery county, Kan- 
sas. His first home in the county was the Caldwell House, then kept by 
Larimer & AIUmi, and named in honor of U. S. Senator Caldwell, of 
Kansiis. At Humboldt, enroute, he met Lynmn U. Humphrey, who in- 
duced the Captain to become a citizen of southern Kansas. He spent 
the first two years as a loan broker and drifted, gradually, into grain, 
jKirk i nd cattle buying, following it till 1876, when he purchased a farm 
in the Verdigris bottom, just east of the county seat, and entered upon 
its cultivation and improvement. His farm now embraces seven hundi-ed 
acres, as valuable an estate as the county affords. He owns much valua- 
ble jiioi)erty in Independence, and his homestead on the east bluff, over- 
looking the valley of the Verdigris, is one of the handsome places in the 
city. He is a heavy stockholder in the First National Bank and has 
been vice-president of the instil ution since 1887. 

Captain Mason is well known as a Republican. He was honored by 
his townsmen, in 1881, to the chief magistry of the city, and was re- 
eleited to the office the following year. He has declined other political 
honor;-, preferring jirivate life to the encundjrances and annoyance of 
jiublii office. 

After two years spent in Montgomery county, Capt. Mason started, 
June 1. 1873. on an extended tour of Europe. He left New York and 
reached Glasgow, Scotland, without important incident. He visited, re- 
spectively, Edinburg. London. Amsterdam, up the Rhine to Vienna, 
wheie he attended the "World's Fair" two weeks, being honorary com- 
missioner to the celebration from Kansas. He visited, next, Ti'ieste, Ven- 
ice, Rome. Naples, saw Mt. ^Vsuvius and the leaning tower of I'isa, was 
on top of St. Peter's cathedral in Rome, passed through the German Em- 
pire and capital, viewed the Swiss mountains and the beautiful city of 
Geneva, jiassed through Lyons and spent some time in Paris, France. 
While in (ieiiiiany visited Strasburg, and in ISerlin saw the great soldier 
and lOmjieror, William I. of I'russia. He returned to London from Paris 
and visited the Parliament House and other noted ]daces, saw the great 
commercial port of the world. Liveriiool, and sailed for America from 



386 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Glaspfow in September, reachinp; home in October, after an absence of 
four months. 

October 23, 1873, Capt. Mason married Marv V. Britton, an Indiana 
lady and a daughter of Thomas P. Britton. who.se ancestors were also 
Virginians. Thomas P. Britton was married to Miss Evaline Bayless, a 
native of Tennessee, but of Virginia ancestors, August 21, 1829. Mrs. 
Mason is proud of the fact that her greatgrandfather, Benjamin Bayless, 
was a revolutionary soldier. She had several uncles who served in the 
Mexican war and also had a brother in the Mexican war, and one, Frank 
L., served in the f'ivil war, 18(51-65, and was a prominent man in Texas 
during the reconstruction period. Gen. Forbes Britton, a graduate of 
West Point, uncle of Mrs. Mason, was very prominent in the settlement 
of Texas. Mrs. Mason was born in Spencer county, Indiana, in 1845, and 
is the mother of Evaline E. and Eugenia Mason, educated and accom- 
plished daughters and the life of the family circle. Capt. Mason is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity in a dual sense, holds a membership in For- 
titude Lodge and his daugiiters belong to the Eastern Star. Their sup- 
port in religious matters is given to tiie Presbyterian church, of which 
the family are consistent members. 



WILLIAM LASSEY— Since the year 1878, the subject of this per- 
sonal review has been a citizen of Montgomery county, Kansas. Until 
recently, he maintained a leading jiosition as a farmer in West Cherry 
township, but is now withdrawn from active affairs and is in modest re- 
tirement in the city of Independence. 

With no attempt at extravagance in statement, the Lasseys have 
been aggressive Americans and have been a positive factor in our internal 
development. Wherever fortune has cast them, the members of this branch 
of the family have occupied a conspicuous place as citizens and, in peace 
or in war, duty's first call has l)eeii obeyed. As artisans or as farmers 
have they led lives of usefulness, and with this brief reference to their 
position the life story of our subject is here narrated. 

William Lassey was born in Monroe county, Michigan, November 20, 
1841. His parents, William and Mary (Richardson) Lassey, were im- 
migrants from Yorkshire, England, where the father was born in 1808. 
In 1833, the latter came to the I'nited States and resided for two years 
in the State of Massachusetts, going thence to Monroe county, Michigan, 
where, near the town of Monroe, he erected the first pa])er mill built in 
the "Wolverine Stafe." He was a millwright by trade and was employed 
at this and in the operation of factory and farm for more than forty 
years. His wife died after their fourth child was born, and for his sec- 
ond wife he married Mrs. .Jane ( Inglis) Gardner, a Scotch lady, who 
bore him two children and died in Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1883. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 387 

The issue of his first marriage were: William, Jr., of this notice, wlio 
was the third cliiltl; Richard, the oldest, who died a Federal soldier in 
Libby prison ; John, of Monroe connt.v, Michijtan ; and ilarv, wife of Har- 
mon Ellinger, of Sycamore townshij). By the second marriage the two 
children were : Joseph H., of Cloud county, Kansas, and Sarah, who resides 
with her brother, William. The father died in 1887. Mrs. Jane Lassey 
had two daughters by her marriage to Mr. Gardner, viz: Jane, wife of 
David Navarre, of Sycamore township, and JIarion, wife of Herman "Xes- 
sel. of Monroe, Michigan. 

As Mr. Wni. Lassey. Jr., aiii)roached his majority the great Civil war 
came on and when he would, in the natural course of events, engage in 
civil pursuits, jiatriotisni inoinpted his enlistment in the army. He join- 
ed Company "A." 4th Michigan Inf.. three months' men, in April, ISGl, 
and was elected orderly sergeant of the comjiany. He re-enlisted in 
August following and served continuously "till his term of enlistment ex- 
pired in August, 1864, when he was mustered out of the service at Detroit, 
Michigan, after a service unusual for i(s rigor and iutensity. He took 
jiart in twenty-three hard-fought battles, from first Bull Run down 
through the calendar, including the siege of i'oriiiown, Hanover ('ourt 
House. Mechanicsville. New Market, Malvern Hill, Harrison's Landing, 
Gainesville, second Hull Run, Antietam, Shepardstown Ford, Fi-e<lericks- 
burg.Chancellorsville, (Jainesville. Va., (ietlysburg, Braudy Station, I'.ris- 
tow Station, Raj)paliannock Station and Mine Run. 

On leaving the army ]Mr. Lassey engaged in the Itusiness of railroad- 
ing. In 1878, in company with his father's family, he came to Kansas, 
to build them a home, when Montgomery county was being settled u]), and 
the farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which has recently been aban- 
doned, evidences the thrift and independence which the household has 
enjoyed. He is a Democrat in jiojitics, a I'resbyterian, an Odd Fellow 
and a member of ild'herson I'nst G. A. R. 



JAMES MURPHY— The substantial farmer of West Cherry town- 
shij) whose name heads this personal notice, has an abiding faith in the 
continued ascendency of Montgomery county. Its agricultural and min- 
eral wealth give assurance of jiermanency and the character of its citi- 
zenship is a guarantee of its continued and onward march. When, in 
187!t, Mr. .Murphy saw Southern Kansas for the first time, its appearance 
was in striking contrast with tlie internal development which has taken 
{ilace since. In 1880, when he located in Montgomery county and set- 
tled on section 35, township 31, range 10, the work of liome improvement 
had only just begun. He caught the spirit of enthusiasm with the rest, 
and the raw (juarter, with the little shanty, has broadened to a half sec- 



388 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

tion, with splendid hereditaments and with a wealth of fertility and pro- 
ductiveness that brinjis gratifying: returns. 

Mr. Murphy, though of Irish blood, is a native of the "Wolverine 
State." He was born in Macomb county, Michigan, August 2, 1854, and 
lived in that state until he was twenty-four years old. His father was 
Humphrey IMurphy, likewise his grandfather, both native of County Cork, 
Ireland. fJrandfather Murphy came to the United States with his family, 
and first sto[)])ed in Troy, New York, but, eventually, came on to Detroit, 
Michigan, and in that state passed his active mature life as a farmer. 
Hum[ih7'ey Murphy, Jr., came with his parents to America when a lad of 
nine years. When a young man he — in 1810 — went to California, during 
the gold excitement, via the Isthmus of Panama, and spent about three 
years there, working at different points along the coast, but chiefly around 
Marysville. He was successful and returned to Michigan, bought a farm 
in Macomb county and there died. While a child of about three years old 
his father went to Rio Jeniro, Brazil, but only remained a short time, 
returned to Ireland, and. after a short residence there, came on to the 
Ignited States, as above stated. 

Humphrey Murjihy, Sr.. married Mary Murphy and had one child, 
only, who was the father of .James, of this review. Hum]>hrey Murphy, 
Jr., married ^largaret Mclneruey, a native of County Clare, Ireland, and 
a daughter of John and Mary Murphy. Eight children were born of this 
union, as follows: James, our subject; John, of Seattle, Washington; 
Thomas, of Kay City. Michigan; ]\Irs. Mary Friedhoff. of Tortland. Ore- 
gon; Charles B.. of llie Klondyke; Catherine, Ignatius, of Macomb county, 
Michigan ; and Cornelius J., of the same state. 

James Murphy married Ella Laduke, born in the same county and 
state with himself. Her birth occurred April 2, 186.5, and she was a 
daughter of Joseph and Clarissa (Frink) Laduke. natives of Canada and 
New York, respectively. Two children, Humphrey and Edward, make 
pleasant the home of Mr. and ]Mrs. Murphy, and are stalwart and useful 
young men. 

Id his youth ]Mr. ilurphy attended the common schools of his native 
Michigan and, when seventeen years old, became useful as a nmn of the 
farm. When he left home in 1870, and sought sunny Kansas, he spent 
a year as a workman on the Southern Kansas railway. Then, purchasing 
the firsi quarter .sedion of his present fai'ni, he became a member of the 
old craft, and has done an effective work in the material up-building of 
Montgomery county. 

He is a Democrat in politics and acts with his party from motives 
of patriotism rather than for spoils. He has served as a member of his 
district school boai'd for eleven years, and holds a membership in the A. 
H. T. A. The family are members of the Roman Catholic church. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 389 

AMANDA J. DAUGIIERTY— Posterity will l>e interested in the 
•settlor of the frontier. Their trials, their hardships and sacrifices will 
be reiul with a zest that the experiences of others do not furnish. Amanda 
J. Daugliertv was anionjj' the early comers. As the wife of Jacob 0. Tay- 
lor, she drove into 51ontj>()iiier\- county, in October, 1870. from LeKoy, 
Mower county. Minnesota, being nine weeks on the journey. They had 
two teams with them, and from Kansas City — where one driver de- 
serted — she took the reins of the missing driver and conii)leted the over- 
land voyage to their destination. 

The first three days passed in Montgomery county, were as campers 
along the Verdigris river, among the Osages, when Mr. Taylor traded one 
of his teams to settler McCuUough for his claim-right to a quarter in 
section 28, township 31, rage 16. Into their 13x13 log cabin the family 
moved, which yet forms one room of their more recent and modern resi- 
dence. In April, 1871, Jlr. Taylor was drowned in the Verdigris river, 
leaving his widow and baby boy almost within the grasp of starvation. 
Food was scarce in their larder, for a time, and once peas formed their 
sole and only diet. Keyatt, a half-breed Indian, learning of their condi- 
tion, supplied ttour and other provisions, until the stringency of the times 
was otherwise relieved. 

Eight months after her husband's death, our subject married N. A. 
Dangherty, a settler of Montgomery county, of the year 1870. The latter 
took a claim on Salt creek, was engaged in farming and improving his 
land. Jlr. Dangherty is a sou of John and Rachel Daugherty and was 
born in Ohio. His experiences, as a pioneer of this county, were some- 
what jiarallel with those of other settlers of his time and he has a record 
of an industrious and well-spent life. The noted Indian, Mad Chief, was 
his neighbor, and when he died, the Daughertys helped lay him away in 
the Indian burying-ground, near the Verdigris I'iver. 

Nathan A. Daugherty enlisted in Company "G," One Hundred and 
Twenty-second Ohio \'olunteer Infantry, in 1802, and served under Gen. 
Milroy, at Winchester, Virginia, where he was taken prisoner, and was 
in captivity about forty days, seven days being spent on Belle Isle. He 
returned to his regiment in November, 18(i3, and served under (ien. (Jrant 
until May (i, 18(;4. He was wounded, in the Rattle of the Wilderness, 
on that day, and discharged, on account of wounds, February, IStia. 

Amanda J. Daugherty was born in Tanneytown, Maryland, April 
1, 1844. She was a grandtlaugliter of .Jacob Slaughenhaupt, a German, 
who had nine children, as follows: Samuel, Jacob, John, Betty, Catherine, 
Barbara, Annie, JIai'garet and Susan. Jacob Slaughenhaupt, Jr., mar- 
ried Susannah Hill, a native of Carroll county, Maryland, and a daughter 
of Clement and I'^lizabeth Hill, natives of England. Of this union, eight 
children were born, iiamelv: Marv Batdorf, Annie Caldwell, of 



3go HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Low-den, Iowa; Amanda J., of this review; Jacob, of Ouray, Colorado; 
the remaining four are deceased. 

Amanda J. Slaughenhaupt first married Jacob C. Taylor. Mr. Tay- 
lor was born in Pennsylvania, and his parents were William and Nancy 
Taylor, of that state. The young couple were married in 1862, in Cedar 
county, Iowa, and afterward moved to Illinois, then to Wisconsin, later 
to Mi^ssouri and to Minnesota, and, finally, to Kansas. Of their mar- 
rige, a son was born, Charles Taylor, a well-known farmer of West Cherry 
township, Montgomery county. 



SMITH B. SQUIRES— We initiate this article with the name of a 
pioneer whose residence in Alontgomery county has been continuous since 
the 23d of June. 1808. at which date he settled in Sycamore township, 
and began the long and tortuous road to success, through the medium 
of a Kansas farm. He had scarcely attained his majority, but he had 
passed through a military experience that made young men old and this, 
with a decided turn toward versatility, earned him. at once, a position 
among the useful and prominent young men of the county. 

The "Keystone State" furnished myriads of the best settlers of 
Kansas, and the shops, the farms and the counting-houses sent delega- 
tions of her sons to "Bleeding Kansas'" to help in the first work of na- 
ture's reduction in the development of our great state. Smith B. Squires 
came with these clans and began his journey toward the Occident in 
Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred March 21, 
184G. His father was George W. Squires, a blacksmith, born in Brad- 
ford county. Pennsylvania, in 1823. The latter served two years in the 
army, during the rebellion, as a government horse-shoer, having charge 
of a shop at ^Slurfreesboro, Tennessee. He came to Kansas, at the head 
of his family, in 1868, and died at Humboldt, in 1881. He made his trade 
the occupation of his life. Charles Squires, who was born in Marysville, 
Connecticut, made the journey across the mountains, into Pennsylva- 
nia, In a two- wheeled cart, of the most primitive pattern. He died, in 
1864, leaving ten children. At twenty-two years of age. Charles Squires 
married Mary Webb, and when he ended his long journey westward, he 
was in Herrick township. Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He was left 
an orjihan at seven years old, with two other children, and was bound 
out nt ^larysville, Connecticut, to a ship-yard master, where he learned 
ship-blacksniithing, and when he cho.se the sjtot for his home in the 
"woods" of the "Keystone State," he was four miles from his nearest 
neighbor. He died at eighty-seven years of age, in 1864, and his wife 
lived to the age of eighty-eight years. The following were among their 
family of thirteen children : Judson, George W., Constance, Charles, 
Pembroke, Lydia, who married Asa Bixby; Harriet, Susan, wife of 



HISTORV OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 391 

. Bowen; Albina, who married John Angle; and Rebecca, wife of 

Frederick Baldwin. The Squires' of this record were of Scotch ante- 
cedents, their forefathers having settled in New England during the 
American Colonial period. 

George W. Squires made his second trip west in 1855, when he lo- 
cated in Milldgeville, Illinois. There he met with financial misfortune, 
lost all his property. Sending his wife and three children back to Penn- 
sylvania, while he "rustled" a new stake in the west, he made his way to 
the Pacific coast, where wages were good and work was plenty. In two 
years, he had accumulated sufficient to "start" again, and he returned to 
Pennsylvania and, on the North Branch canal, he purchased an acre of 
ground and built a small tavern. He opened the place, met with success, 
erected a larger house and added a feed veard to his place. For eight 
year.s the family labored and lived there, and saw their savings all swept 
away in an hour and lay in ashes at their feet. The west again seemed 
to beckon the father and he came, with his family, to Wilson county, Kan- 
sas, where, near what is now the city of Neodesha, he purchased an 
eighty-acre tract of land, where he passed his remaining years of life. He 
was a quiet, plain man, without political ambition, and was a Repub- 
lican. For his wife, he married Ellen Bixby, of Scotch-Irish stock, and 

a daughter of Bixby, a native of Rhode Island. Their children 

were: Smith B., our subject; Andrew F., a prominent farmer of Wilson 
county. Kan.sas; Matilda, wife of W. A. Phillips; Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Dekalb West— both deceased; Adda, wife of Ira Berry, of Ft. Scott, 
Kansas. 

The educational advantages of Smith B. Squires were of the rural 
type and were somewhat interfered with by his youthful entry into the 
army, during the Civil war. In the month of November, 1861, he en- 
listed in Company "D," Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and 
gave two years and five mouths to the service of his country. His regiment 
belovjged to both the First and Second Brigades of the Second division 
of the Third Army Corp, Army of the Potomac, and he took part in bat- 
tle at Kerntown, Winchester, Front Royal, Port Republic, Cedar Jloun- 
tain and Second P>ull Run. His first enlistment expiring, he reenlisted 
in the First New York Veteran Cavalry, Comjiany "G," and was engaged 
chiefly in patroling the Federal lines in the Big Kanawa Valley, in Vir- 
ginia, where he was in the saddle almost continuously during the winter 
of 1804-5. He was discharged June 23, 1805, returned to his father's 
home and went to work at the blacksmith's trade. He was master of his 
trade when he came to Kansas and, while there was not sufficient in this 
line 1o keep him busy then, it helped, along with other employments, to 
sustain him, and i)rovided many a dollar he would not otherwise have 
had. He was able to turn his hand to anything with a good degree of 
proficiency, but saw-milling, blacksmithing and farming occupied him 



392 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

largely, and he finally settled down to fanning. His operations included 
stock and grain raising, in a modest way, and when he left Sycamore 
township, to assume county office, his farm lay in sections 12 and 24, 
township .31, range 1.5. 

In municipal affairs, he has rendered valuable service, and he has 
never been passive in county jjolitics. He served his township as its 
treasurer, was twice elected its trustee, and. in November, 1897, the Fu- 
sion party elected him sheriff of Montgomery county. He was reelected 
in 18119 and served, in all, five years, retiring from office in -Januai-y, 1903. 
His right to the office, as a hold-over, under the new law — passed in 1901 — 
was contested, in 1902, by the Governor's ap])ointee. merely to test the 
law, and it was the only office so contested in the state. 

Mr. Squires was first married April 20. 1866. the lady of his choice 
being Sarah Donnelly, who died December 20, 1897. The issue of this 
marriage were: George W. , Ellen, wife of Willis Monfort; Grace, who 
married Cassius McPeck ; James O. , and Clara, wife of Patrick, Clen- 
non, all residents of the Indian Territory. May 15, 1899. Mr. Squires 
married Alice Clements, a daughter of J. J. Williams. She was born in 
Morganfleld, in the State of Kentucky, in 1852. 

In Odd Fellowship and Masonry, Mr. Squires has abiding interest, 
being a member of the "subordinate." and having taken the Koval Arch 
degree, A. F. & A. M. He is also a :\Iodern Woodman. 



PATRICK H. CALLAHAN— Seated in the dooryard of the comforta- 
ble rural home of P. H. Callahan, one of the most substantial of Sycamore 
township's citizens, the biograi)her was given the following resume of his 
life and family history: 

Grandfather, Owen Callahan, was born in Dublin, Ireland. In this 
city he continued to I'eside. and was married and reared a family 
of four sons: Luke. Thomas. Kiilmrd and .lames. All these sons but 
Riduud, took up the occupation of farming, at which they passed their 
lives. Richard apprenticed himself to the carpenter's trade and. during 
his life, piirsued that avocation. He married, in Ireland, Elizabeth 
Moye-s, a lady of English des<ent, who became the mother of ten chil- 
dren : Thomas S., now a resident of the old home, in Dublin, Ireland; 
Lecia Leonard, resides in Dublin; Louise Deakin. Brooklyn, New 
York; Richard, died in Rock Island, Illinois; Joseph, also resides in 
Dublin; Eliza Baker. Muri)hysboro, Illinois; and Patrick H.. the es- 
teemed subject of this review. Tliree others deceased. 

As noted, Patrick H. Callahan is the youngest, but two, of this fam- 
ily. He was born on the 41h of Ajiril. 1828, in Dublin, in wliich city he 
continued to reside until he was eighteen years of age. At the early age- 




PATRICK H. CALLAHAN AND WIFE. 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMEBY COUNTY, KANSAS. 393 

of eleven, he was ap[>renticed to the carpenter's trade, and became a full- 
fledfjcd JDUi-neynian and, leaving home, he crossed tlie channel to Eng- 
land, wliere he continued to follow his trade, in various places, until 
184S, when he turned his face westward toward the great Kejinhlic of 
the T'nited States. He landed in New Vork Cit.v on the 4th of May, of 
that \ear, and remained there until ls."4. eiiiiijoyed at his trade. Hear- 
ing that Kock Island, Illinois, all'orded better advantages for young 
mechanics, he came west to that i)Iace, and wa.s a resident there until the 
year 1870, the date of his coming to this state, with his son-in-law. Ken- 
janiin Jones. He made the trip overland, an<], upon his arrival in Mont- 
gonii'ry county, tiled upon the land which now constitutes his farm — 
one hundred and sixty acres, in section 7, township :n, range ID — since 
which time he has added one hundred and sixty acres, and has three 
hundred and twenty acres of land. 

Mr. Callahan wa.s one of the pioneers of his section of the county, 
and when he settled there he had plenty of wild neighbors, in the shape 
of antelojie, deer, wolves and Osage Indians. He built a small cabin, and 
t)egan the battle of life anew, on the verdant prairie. 

As a helpmeet in this battle, Mr. (Jallahan had his life companion, 
whose name, prior to their marriage, in July, 1850, was Catherine Baker. 
Mrs. Callahan was a native of New York City, and was christened by 
Bishoj) .Mattiiews Yasser, the founder of the famous girl's school. Yas- 
sar College. Her parents were Thomas and Mary Baker, both of whom 
were natives of County Meath, Ireland. 

Mr. and Mrs. Callahan were blessed with eleven children. Those 
living are: Mary Jones, Montgomery county, her children being: Mary, 
Ida, Arthur, Rose, Harry, Florence, Lou, Leslie and Barton ; Thomas, 
resides in Walnut, Kan.sas. his children being: Herbert, Edward, Freder- 
ick, Lawrence. \'anrc. Maurice. Aul)rey and Rosalie; Mrs. Kate Cook, 
resides in this county with her children: Frank, Lovel, Roy and Nellie; 
Mrs. Nellie Stephens, deceased, also resided in the county; her children 
are: Mary, William, Catherine, Thomas, Jfargaret and Nellie; William is a 
farmer of the county and has one child. Mary; Harry, the youngest chikl, 
resides in Oklahoma and has one child, named in honor of his grandfath- 
er, the subject of this sketch. 



MAKYIN L. TRUBY— In this brief biography the attention of the 
reader is called to the life work and antecedents of a pioneer settler of 
Montgomery county — John Truby — of whom the subject of this article 
is a direct descendant and worthy successor. He came to the county 
just when its business and social life was forming and emjihasised the 
sincerity of his purpose by eslalishiug himself in a business which became 
the cliief commercial enterprise of its character in Independence and 



354 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

which, under the control and manag;enient of his son, Marvin L. Trnbv, 
of this review, has become the leading jewelry house of the county. 

John Truby was born near Elkhart. Indiana, in 1830. His parents 
were of Tennsylvania German stock and his father, Philip Truby, settled 
in the new country about Elkliart at a very early period in the history 
of the "Hoosier State." The latter was a blacksmith and had five sons, 
all of whom became jewelers. John learned his trade in South Bend, In- 
diana, and was engaged in business at Lincoln, Illinois, until 1871, when 
he decided to seek favor and fortune in Kansas. He opened out, as a 
watch nmker and jeweler, in one of the two buildings of the block bound- 
ed by Eighth street and I'ennsylvania avenue, and by Main and Myrtle 
streets. His store roou) was a small frame, set on jiiles over the ravine, 
which crossed the townsite then, and occupied the lot on which the Com- 
mercial National Bank now stands. It was approached by two or three 
steps leading up from the street and he carried on his business there for 
some years. He remained and continued in the block till 1880, when he 
moved to the block north and was succeeded, in 1880, by his son and was, 
even Ihen, until his death, an active factor in the conduct of the firm's 
business. 

In his business life and in his private life, John Truby was a sin- 
cere, clean and honorable man. He was absorbed in his own affairs, yet 
he was loth to shirk a public duty when it was required of him. Next 
to his own progress, he was interested in the welfare of his town and he 
gave much of his time, both as a citizen and as an official, to the promo- 
tion of measures to that end. He was several terms a member of the city 
council, and, perhaps, twenty years, he aided in the management of the 
business affairs of the city of iTidependence. While serving as chairman 
of the imjtrovement committee of the council, he started the movement 
in favor of heavy stone sidewalks, and it spread and largely enveloped 
the city. The innumerable ways in which he demonstrated his public 
spirit and unselfish devotion to municipal affairs, marked him strongly 
as one of the controlling forces in its progressive and onward march. He 
was interested in Masonry and was an entliusiastic Knight Templar. He 
suitpoi'led Democrat jirinciplcs and policies and exercised no individual 
prefeience for any religious denomination. 

In 1859, he married Sarah E. Duflf, a daughter of J. E. Dufif, of Lo- 
gan county, Illinois. Mrs. Truby was born in 1843, and makes her home 
in Independence. In 1890, after a wedded life of thirty-seven years, Mr. 
Truby died, leaving the following children : Ettie, who married G. A. Har- 
per and died without issue ; Lizzie T., wife of W. W. Martin, treasurer of 
the Leavenworth Soldiers' Home; Marvin L., our subject; Lieffy, whose 
first husband was the late S. C. Elliott, a young attorney of much promi- 
nence and promise, of Independence, but who is now the wife of James 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNXV, KANSAS. 395 

C. Stone, well known as a banker in Leavenworth, Kansas; Irene and 
Daisy Tnibv, of Leavenworth, Kansas. 

Marvin L. Truhy was but live years old when he accompanied his par- 
ents to Independence, Kansas. He was born in Logan county, Illinois, 
August i, ISiM). He was educated in the public schools of this city and 
acquired the trade of watch-maker and a knowledge of the jewelry busi- 
ness by constant association with his father. The date of the beginning 
of his career in business is almost as indeterminable as the end of it, but 
for twenty-five years, at least, he has been known to the trade of his 
town. In 1889, he succeeded his father in the proprietorship of the Truby 
jewelry business and has maintained it one of the substantial mercantile 
establishments of the city. 

June 20, 1887, the wedding of M. L. Truby and Minnie M. Bishop 
occurred. Mrs. Truby is a daughter of William T. Bishop, a prominent 
pioneer merchant of Independence, Kansas, whose store was situated on 
the site of the office of the Independence Gas Company. Mr. Bishop set- 
tled in Independence in 1870, came here from Liberty, Missouri, and 
lived in the first plastered house in town. He died, while in business, in 
1880, leaving his widow — nee Maggie Bright — with six chilren. Mr. and 
Mrs. Truby's two children are Marvin F. and Prudence. 

Mr. Truby has achieved high honors in Masonic circles. He joined 
the order in 1S!»1, is S. W. of Fortitude Lodge, of Independence, Scribe of 
Keystone Chapter and I*. C. of the Commandery of Knights Templar. He 
is a member of Abdallah Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. and holds membership 
relations with the Wichita Consistory, thirty-second degree. At a meet- 
ing of the Supreme Council of the thirty-third degree Masons, at Wash- 
ington, D. C, in 1001, he was elected Knight Commander of the Court 
of Honor. He is also, an Elk. 



JOHN B. ADAMS — Among the first settlers of Montgomery county 
is John B. Adams, of Independence, one of the promoters of and a mem- 
ber ot the firm of the Security Abstract Company, a corporation doing 
business in this city. Mr. Adams accompanied his father to the county in 
1869, and, as a lad of fourteen years, aided him in the reduction and im- 
provement of a new farm in Fawn Creek township, where their settlement 
was made. Little had been done, however, when the family took up its 
residence in Independence — in 1871 — and from thenceforth our subject 
has passed his life in this city. 

He was born in ("layton county, Iowa, September 2.3. 18.55. and his 
parents were John Q. and Phoebe ( Ballow) Adams. The father was 
born on the townsite of Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1822, a child of pio- 
neer parents. Samuel Adams, our subject's grandfather, brought his 
family out from Massachusetts into the wilds of Indiana, early in the 



396 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

nineteenth renturv. and passed away a citizen of that state. He married 
Mrs. Adams and reared a family of fonr children. His oldest son, John 
Q. Adams, left Indiana in 1847 and settled in Clayton county, Iowa, and, 
in 1857, settled in Green county, Illinois. While there, the rebellion 
broke out and he enlisted in Company "E." Sixty-first Infantry, as first 
sergeant, and served three years and four iiionths. He jiarticipated in the 
battle of Sliiloh, took ])art in (irant's Mississippi camiiaign and in the 
Red river ex])edition. He was married in the State of Iowa, in 1848, to 
a daughter of George Ballow, a Virginia gentleman, who came west and 
resided in the States of Iowa, Illinois and finally settled in Linn county, 
Missouri, where he died, in 18f)4, at the age of ninety-three years. 

On settling in Independence. Kansas, John Q. Adams engaged in car- 
penter work, and was a builder of some of the pioneer structures of the 
town, among them, the Caldwell House. He continued this till 1875, 
when he died, from the ett'ects of an accident. His widow survived him 
till 1902. when she passed away, aged seventy-five years. Their children 
were eight in number, namely: Charles H., of Independence; John B., 
of this review; Susan, wife of George McNaughton, of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri; Stella, who died in 1900, was the wife of Charles Joyce, of Inde- 
pendence; and Frank S.. of Kansas City, ^Missouri. George A. and Eliza 
died in '.nfancy. 

John B. Adams was educated in the public schools of Illinois. He 
began life, as a jiriiiter. in the office of the Independcuce Tribune, and 
was there from 1871 to 1874. He became a clerk. Ihen, in the Independ- 
ence jiostoffice and filled the i)osition seven years. His next regular em- 
ployment was as deputy, under Clerk of the Court H. M. Levan. On 
retiring from the court house, he formed a partnership with Thomas S. 
Salathiel, and became a member of the Security Abstract Company, upon 
its incejjtion. 

October, 1883, Mr. Adams was united in marriage with Mary W. 
Grew, a daughter of the late pioneer and farmer. John W. Grew, who 
settled the farm at the mouth of Drum creek, and resided there at the 
time of the making of the famous treaty with the Osages. Mr. Grew 
came to Montgomery county in 18G9, and resided here till his death, in 
1902. He was of ^Massachusetts origin and in his early manhood was 
mate of a whaler out of Woods Hole, near Fair Haven. In 1849, he 
went to the California gold fields, and returned to New England by the 
Isthmian route, in 1852. He first came to Kansas in company with ex- 
Gov. Robinson and settled in Douglas county. There, Mrs. J. B. Adams 
was born, January 15. 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Adams were the parents of 
three (hildren and, September 11, 1901, the wife and mother passed away. 
The children are: M. Lncile, Grace and Gladys. 

Mr. Adams has been identified, in a modest way, with the politics 
of Montgomery county. He was reared a Repulican and voted that ticket 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 397 

until tlie election of Harrison. Having had, all along, free trade senti- 
ments, wlien tlie silver agitation first claimed attention, he broke with the 
Repulit ans and became a supporter of .J. H. Weaver for President. He has 
afiiliaied with the allied parties since and is now a Bryan Democrat. He 
was cliairmaii of Uie committee of the allied forces of Montgomery county 
in lS!)t;. when the county went from 450 Republican to 450 Democratic. 
Fraternally, lie is a Mason, a Macabee and a Workman. 



THOMAS McHARGUE— During the memorable and fatal "panie 
of 1873," a few settlers were found wending their way toward the setting 
sun. They were froiii the congested east and were in search of homes 
for their families, where land was cheap, and where their compeers were a 
social unit. \\'ith the contingent who settled in Montgomery county, this 
year, came Thomas McHargue, whose name introduces this record. He 
startod on his westward journey, from Moultrie county. Illinois, whither 
he went from Parke county, Indiana, the next year after the Civil war. 
He was born in Laurel county, Kentucky, February 8, 1837. His father 
was .James McHai-gue and was born in the same Kentucky county, in 
1805, and resided there till 1851, when he removed to Parke county, In- 
diana, where he died, in 1891. The latter passed his life as a farmer, had 
no military career, was a Whig in politics and was a inember of the 
T'nited Brethren church. 

A brief refei'ence to the McHargue geneology discloses the fact that 
the forefathers of our subject belonged to an old American family. The 
great-grandfallier of Thomas McHargue was the Irish emigrant who 
founded this worthy American family. He settled in South Carolina and, 
afterward, his family scattered westward and took up their homes in the 
State of Kentucky. The name of this pioneer was -James McHargue and 
his sons were: .Tames, William, Samuel, .John and Alexander. The last 
named was killed, in 1810, while raising a log house, in Laurel county, 
Kentucky. He reared children as follows: William, who died in Ken- 
tucky. Lissie. decea.sed; Riddle, Martha, who became the wife of John 
Bartcn, died in Indiana; and Abner, who died in Green county, Indiana. 

.Tames ^IcHague, father of our subject, married I*h<ebe Dugger, a 
Tennessee lady, born 1808, and died about 1843. A large family resulted 
from this union, as follows: Elizabeth, nuirried Benjamin Richards and 
died, in 1!M)0, in I'arke county. Indiana; Alexander, of Parke county, 
Indiana; William, who died in the same county, in 1866; Sarah, of I'arke 
countv is the wife of Daniel Martin; Andrew, of the h(mie county in 
Indiana; Thomas, of this notice; Martha, who died in 1884, unmarried; 
Ste]ilien, of Parke county. Indiana. 

The environment of Thomas .McHargue, in early life, was that of the 
country youth and his opportunities for education were limited to a few 



398 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

inontlis. vciirly, in the district srhool. Novenilier 8. ISIJO. lie \v:is married, 
takiiit; for his wife. Elizabeth Lankford, a daughter of George K. Lank- 
ford and Anna Swaini. liushand and wife. The Lankfords were settlers 
in I'arke county. Indiana, from the State of Maryland, and their family 
consisted of the f«)ll<i\viiii> children: ^largaret, deceased, in I'arke county, 
was the wife of Willmrn Pniitt; Deborah, wife of Martin 15. Winkler, of 
Caney. Kansas; Mrs. ;McHargue, born March 1. 1843; John, who died 
in Illinois, in 187;>; Indiana, wife of Elijah Taylor, of Illinois; Rachel, 
who died in Illinois, single; Virginia, of Caney, Kansas, is now Mrs. 

Taylor Shultz; Rosella. who married Beardon and resides in Oak- 

ney, Indian Territory. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
McHargue. namely: Manson. who married Lillie r)auglas and resides in 
the Indian Territory; l^dward. married Myrtle Newell and is a Mont- 
gomery county farmer; Emma, of Caney, Kansas, is the wife of J. D. 
Booth; Ella, of Muncie. Indiana, is now Mrs. John Enlow; and Virginia, 
who Tiiai'ried Frank Reese, of Montgomery county, Kansas. 

Thomas McHargue jierformed a patriot's duty, during the Civil war, 
by enlisting in the volunteer service. His c(uumand was Company "C," 
Sixth Indiana Cavalry. Col. Biddle commanding. Soon after his regi- 
ment went into the field, it was given battle at Richmond. Kentucky, 
wheri^ four hundred of it were taken prisoners, Mr. McHargue being 
among the number. The ca]itives were paroled and went back to Terre 
Haute, Indiana, where the whole regiment united for a season of drill. 
Being ready for the field, the regiment was ordered into Kentucky again, 
and placed on guard of an important trestle, on the Louisville & Nash- 
ville Railway. The command was separated and a part of it detailed 
on duty at another ]toiiit. when General John Morgan captured the tres- 
tle guard. The detachment with which our subject was -serving, was not 
the unfortunate one this time, and it was ordered to Indianapolis to 
guard prisoners. Later on. the regiment was reunited and sent, a third 
time, into the field, this time doing guard and scout duty in Tennessee, 
around Monticello. In the spring of 1863, the regiment received new 
mounts and was ordered to Dalton, Georgia, where it joined Sherman's 
armv. and remained about Atlanta till the surrender of that city. It 
returned north with (ien. Thomas' command and helped destroy Hood's 
army at Nashville and followed the remnant of his retreating army to 
J'ulaski, Tennessee, where the field service of the Sixth Indiana Cavalry 
ceased and where, on June 17, 1865, it was mustered out. 

Gn his release from the army. Mr. McHargue exchanged the uniform 
of a s«>ldier for the i-egalia of a farmer, and nuide his first move westward. 
He settled in Moultrie county. Illinois, from whence, as has been related, 
he pioneered to Montgomery county, Kansas. The journey hither was 
made by wagon and consumed twenty-one days. In his wagon, were his 
family and his material possessions, and he housed the whole iu a shanty. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 399 

14x18 feet, which, with slifjlit additions, served to aeooiiiinodate the 
household till 1S85, when the present family residence was built. Mr. 
McHargue settled in section 11, township 33, range 1.5, where he owns 
one hundred and sixty acres. He has occn])ied himself chiefly with grain 
and slock farming and has maintained himself a modest unassuming, yet 
successful, tiller of the soil. His interest in the public welfare has been 
a patriotic one and wherever he could render service in a good cause it 
has been done. His ])olitical work is done in the ranks of the Repub- 
lican party and, while he has helped to make public officers of many men, 
he has not sought to make one out of himself. Beyond his work as a 
member of his district school board, he has not rendered any official 
service. He and his wife hold niend)ership in the Christian church, which 
is, except the Grand Army, the only organization to which he belongs. 



eTOSEPH D. GR.\Y — .Josejth I>. (Jray. a farmer and stock raiser, re- 
siding in Louisburg township, is one of the younger citizens of the county 
who is making a success at tilling the soil. He accompanied his parents 
to the county in 1886, being at that time a youth of sixteen years. His 
parents were worthy residents and farmers of the county for a number 
of years, and were Joseph and Martha (Oliver) Gray, of southeastern 
Indiana, where Joseph D. Gray was born, in 1870. Joseph Gray's father 
was John Gray and his wife's father was Samuel Oliver. John Gray was 
one of the })ioneer settlers of southeastern Indiana, and he settled there 
from the State of Kentucky. Late in life, he came out to Kansas, where 
he died, in Woodson county, aged eighty-one years. 

Joseph Gray and wife settled in Elk county, Kansas, in the year 187G, 
and, in 1886, located on a claim, in Louisburg township, of Montgomery 
county, they having purchased the farm two years previous. The par- 
ents reared a family of three children : Olive, wife of Frederick A. Hojjen- 
er, resides in Labette county, Kansas, on a farm and has five children ; 
Coybell, Nellie, Clarence, Mattie and Joseph I).; Haydeu married Annie 
Canning, of Nebraska, and is a farmer residing in Oklahoma, and has one 
child, Sylvia; the youngest child was Josejih I)., the subject of this re- 
view. 

Mr. Gray was reared on a farm, where he received a good common 
school education and learned to know the value of labor. He remained 
under the jiaternal roof, until his marriage, December 19, 1901, to Ko- 
setta, daughter of Henry and Mary (Castillo) Daum. Mrs. Gray is a 
native of Missouri, where her grandjiarents were among the earliest set- 
tlers of their county. Her grandfather died, in 1902, in that state, at the 
age of seventy five years. Her father died, December 30, 1891, while 
her mother is still living, a resident of Oak Valley, Kansas, at which jilace 
the parents located, in 1880, and where the father died. 



400 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Ml', dray is one of llie sterling youiifi iiien of Louishui-f; township, 
and is making a success in life. He and his wife are consistent members 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a su])])orter of the princi- 
ples of the Democratic i)arty. 



THOMAS M. HAZEX— In the person of Thomas .M. Hazeu, of this 
article, we are presented with a native son of West ("herry township, 
Montgomery county, where his birth occurred, June tJ, 1871. The farm, 
which he owns, was the old family homestead, and is situated in section 9, 
townshi]) ;}1, range 10. and contains one hundred and eighty acres. On 
this farm, Keuben L. Hazen, his father, settled, in 1S7:!, and improved, 
cult i\ Sited and occupied it till his death, in the year 1!)()0. 

Keuben L. Hazen was born near Athens, Vermont, lived there many 
years, and. finally, came west to Hlinois where, in 18(il, he volunteered for 
service, in the Sixty-first Illinois Infantry, Company "F," Col. Dan Grass. 
He ex]»erienced much arduous service and, among other engagements, was 
in the battle of Shiloh. He came to Montgomery county and entered, in 
ISTIl. one hundred and sixty acres, in section 34, township 31, range Ifi, 
and in the little cabin on this farm his son, our subject, was born. This 
he ov.iied until 1873. when he purchased the tract first described herein, 
where the remaining years of his life were spent. He nuirried Mary A, 
Robinson, a native Illinois lady, who bore him two children, and died in 
1S!»S. A daughter and a son were the result of their marriage, namely: 
Mai-y, wife of William T. Brown, of Sycamore, with children: Jesse, 
Ruby, James, Lee and Thomas; and Thomas M., of this review. 

Thomas M. Hazen attended the country schools and has passed his 
life in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. For his wife, he married Effie 
Reed, au Indiana lady, and a daughter of John and Mary Reed, natives 
of Kentucky and Indiana, resjjectively. Mildred and Ethel are the two 
<hil<licn of Mr. and Mrs. Hazeu. 

In politics, our subject is a Republican, but the charm of politics has 
no attractions for him. He is devoted to the calling of his youth and is 
essentially, a tiller of the soil and a promoter of the arts of peace. 



CHARLES YOE — In this brief article, it is our purpose to present 
the sj'.lient [loints in the life of one of Independence's earnest citizens; to 
mention a few of the events which have been influenced by his cilorts, as a 
litizen of Montgomery county. 

The distinction of being one of the early residents of the county seat 
l)clongs to Mr. Yoe, and he established himself here, soon after lie at- 
tained his majority. He has been a part of the mechanism of the "Trib- 
une" office, since it was founded, and named the "South Kansas Tribune,'' 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 4OI 

Febinaiy. ISTl, and one of the partners in interest since 1S74. Associated 
witii liis brotliei'. he has successfully promoted the interests of the leading 
Republican newspaper of the county and thus.iiulirectly, has contribut- 
ed, in no uncertain way, to the material advancement in all lines of local 
industry. Town building, at the county seat, has been fostered and the 
unbroken and fertile prairies have been tilled with virtuous and Indus 
trious pe()]ile, many of whose settlements were [ii-onnited by the columns 
of the zealous and loyal Tribune. 

Mr. Yoe's departure for the west, took place at Kushville, Illinois. 
where he was born, Sei)tember 22, 1849. The common schools jjrovided 
hismentaltraining and his life was pas.sed, in youth, chietly, as a laboring 
boy. At eighteen years of age, he joined his brother, at Slielbina, Mis- 
souri, and entered the hitter's newspajier ottice, wliere he really began his 
business careei'. Since that day, Yoe brothers have been inse])arable. 
When the senior member of the firm decided to establish himself in the 
news])aper business, in Kansas, in the winter of 1870, our subject was re- 
garded one of the indis](ensable adjuncts of the office, and helped launch 
the original Tribune. The success of the paper has ever aroused his 
deejiest .sympathy and warmest enthusiasm and that success is due. in 
no small measure, to the wise management and good business judgment 
of ( 'harles Yoe. 

In August, 188(1, Mr. Yoe married Agnes Overfield, a daughter of 
Thomas Overfield. one of the pioneers of Lawrence, Kansas, as well as a 
])ionee!- to Montgomery county. 

^^"hile Kejpublicaiiism has been chief in the heart of Mr. Yoe, he has 
eliminated politics from his life, as a business, and has demeaned him- 
self as a party worker, and not as an aspirant for public office. He was 
honored by Governor Stanley, with the aiipointment of Secretary of the 
State Hoard of Charities, to fill an unexpired term, and this was the only 
office he ever tilled. As a man, his citizenship is unalloyed and his influ- 
ence cai'ries weight in his ])arty and in his county. He is a member of 
the >[etliodisr congregation in his city and his consistency is exemplified 
in his works. 



( HARLES A. CONNELLY— Connected witli the Tribune Printing 
Company, of Independence, and one of the proprietors of that imi)ortant 
indusnial enter]irise. is Charles .\. Connelly. exj)ert and artistic printei- 
and foi-eman of the mechanical department of this historic and ])ioneer 
institution. Since his advent to tlie county he has been a part of the 
working forrc of I lie Tribune comiiany and. since 189(5. one of its owners 
and, as above stated. clii(>f of one of its ini])()rtant de]>artments. 

.Mr. Connelly has sjient his yeai-s in Kansas, in Montgomery county. 
He arcomiianied his jiareuts hither from I'arke county, Indiana, where 



402 HISTORY OP MONTGOMEBY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

his birth occurred August 12, 1800. Charles T. Connelly, his father, was 
also a native of Parke county, where he entered the 9th Indiana Battery 
for service in the war of the Rebellion. After the war he married Mary 
McCord and adopted teaching as his profession, which he followed for 
thirty years. On bringing his family to Montgomery county he located 
in Independence, later removed to Cotfeyville, where he subse(iuently be- 
came city marshal, in which cai)acity he was serving when killed by the 
Daltons," in October, 1892. 

The common schools and Bloomingdale Academy, in his native 
county, suificed to give Charles A. Connelly a fair education and at the 
age of fifteen years he began the printers' trade in the office of the Satur- 
day Evening Mail, in Terre Haute, Indiana. When he left this office the 
next }eaY and took a position with the Tribune, of Independence, he oc- 
cupied an humble place at the case and it was by years of constant strug- 
gle and self-determination that he finally reached the top rung of the lad- 
der and was rewarded by an invitation to liecome a member of the firm. 

AH through life it has been his consuming desire to become master of 
his trade. Ingenuity has been everywhere apparent with him and the 
perfection of his art the acme of his ambition. All of the mechanical 
work of the office comes under his critical eye. 

In March, 1894, Mr. Connelly married Olive M. Stout, an Illinois 
lady. Glenn and Margaret are the issue of this union. 

Mr. Connelly is a rtepubliraii, has served on the city council of In- 
dependence and was a sjiecial census enumerator of his locality in 1900. 
He holds a membership in the Methodist church and enjoys, in a high 
degree, the confidence of his fellow townsmen. 



MICHAEL C McSWEENY— Michael O. McSweeny, oil and gas well 
contractor of ('herryvale, was born in Allegheny county, N. Y., January 
;J0, 1846. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Clark) McSweeny, both 
natives of Ireland. In the 30's the father came, while yet a young man, 
to the United States, where all his active life was spent in farming. He 
died in Pennsylvania while on a visit, in 1899, at the age of eighty-seven 
years. His wife, who was a devout member of the Catholic church, died 
February 7, 1898, in her (vJd year. To them were born seven sons and 
two daughters: John, of Toledo, O. ; Michael, subject of this review; 
Thomas, of Boston; James J., of Cherry vale; Hugh F., of Chicago; those 
deceased are: Martin L., Celia A., ISIelissa M. and Leonard E. 

After his school days were over, Jlr. McSweeny left the farm for the 
oil business, and has been connected with this, and with machinery per- 
taining to the business, ever since, with the exception of three years, 
which were spent in New Mexico as an engineer in the employ of a stamp 




MICHAEL C. McSWEENY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 403 

mill iiiid smelter. From the southwest Mr. McSweeny came to Kansas. 
He located at Fort Scott tirst, where he drilled four wells, then drilled 
the "first" holes at Garnett, Humboldt, f'offeyville and Cherrvvale. Ho 
has drilled more wells than perhaps any other man in the west. 

Mr. McSweeny came to this county with his family in 1889. and hast 
since resided in Cherryvale. He stands well as a citizen, is enterprising 
and industrious, and in his line is without an equal in the state. In the 
muni(i]ial life of the city Mr. McSweeny has taken an active part, serving 
efficiently in the council for three years. 

In 1882. our subject was married to Miss Elizabeth J. Lockhart. Mrs. 
McSweeny is a native of Lake county, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and 
Lizzie (Burns) Lockhart, natives of Ireland. The Lockharts came to the 
L'nited States in 1852 and settled in President Garfield's home town of 
Mentor. O. The father was a farmer and died in 18.j1, the wife dying 
soon after at tlie a<;e of forty-three years. The children living are: 
Henry, of Albu(iuer(iue, N. M., and Anna J., Mrs. I?. F. Palmer, whose 
husband, during life, was very closely identified with the oil fields of the 
east. Mr. and Mrs. McSweeny have a family of six children : Anna, who 
died at three years, in New Mexico; Mary J., who is attending Sisters of 
St. Josejih Academy at Fort Scott, and is a graduate of the Cherryvale 
High School; Joseph, a school boy; John L., (Charles M., and Francis. 
The family are devout communicants of the Catholic church, Mr. Mc- 
Sweeny being one of the trustees. He is a member of the Select Knights, 
and of the Sons and Daughters of Justice. 

Full of the restless energy of his race, and possessed of much busi- 
ness sagacity, Mv. McSweeny is one of the kind of men always found in 
the van of progress. Cherryvale owes him much, and he and his family 
have ilie good will of all her citizens. 



J.VMES W. HARLEY — One of the prominent citizens of the county 
and at the present time a resident of Elk City, where he is interested 
f|uite largely in real estate, is James AV. Harley. He is a man in middle 
life, and has shown a good degree of business sagacity during the past 
few years, in the handling of real estate, which has placed him in the 
ranks of the well-to-do citizens. 

Mr. Harley is a Canadian by birth, having been born in the Province 
of Quebec, in 1862. He is a son of William and Mary Ann (Wiggins) 
Hailey. who were of English descent. In 186.3, his parents left Canada 
and settled in the Neosho valley, four miles east of Neosho Falls, Kansas. 
They, later, returned to Canada, where the father died, the mother still 
l)eiug a resident of Brantford, and is hale and hearty at sixty-seven years 
of age. (irandfather Wiggins came to Kansas in 1857 and settled in An 
derson countv. where he died of cholera a few years later. 



404 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Jiiiiies W. Hill-ley passed his boyhood <in the farm in Anderson 
connty. and at tlie age of twelve years received the appointment of pa<;c 
in the I'nited States Senate, where he served a period of four years, and 
the experience which came to him at that time was such as to give hin, 
a splendid knowledge of men and affairs — a knowledge which has been of 
value to him in later life. In 1.SS8. he came out to the ''Suntlower State'' 
and settled in Elk ("ity, where, shortly after, he was joined in marriage 
with .Vrmilda, daughter of ^Villianl H. Coleman, a farmer of l^ouisburg 
township. 

Directly after coming to Elk City, Mr. Harley invested a jiortiou of 
his earnings in two blocks of property in the city, in whose future he 
had great faith, and this ]iroved a very wise investment. 

For a number of years Mr. Harley was connected with the Missouri' 
I'acitic railroad, working as a section hand. During this period he kep/ 
his eyes open for the use of his extra funds and, being of a thrifty and 
saving disposition, was enabled at the end of eleven years to purchase a 
farm of fifty-five acres in Louisburg township, adjacent to Elk <"ity. and 
which he still owns. 

]Mr. Harley had the misfortune, on the Tth of January. 18!»7, to lose 
his wife by death. His three children are: Horton. born February 2(i 
1889; Percy, born August 20, 1890, and Fannie, born December 8, 1893, 



FRANK J. FRANTZ — One of the pioneers of Montgomery county is 
he whose name heads this personal review. He came into the county in 
the fall of 1869. with his jiarents. who settled on Bluff creek, seven and 
one-half miles south of Independence. His father, liarney Frantz. en- 
tered and jiatented a tract of land there and it afterward came into the 
possession of his son. In 188(», the old home was finally disposed of and 
our subject has been occupied with rural improvement and development 
el.sewhere, since. 

Frank J. Frantz is a native of Monroe county, Pennsylvania, and 
was born November (>. 18r)]. His father was born in the same county, like 
wise his grandafther, Philip Frantz, who died when our subject was in 
his infancy — about 1852. The Frantz family is one of the old ones of 
Monroe county, having settled there during the Colonial period of our 
country's history. It is of Oernian origin, as the name indicates, and it 
has had to do jmrely with the agricultural and stock-raising |iursuits. 
Barney Frantz, father of onr subject, died in Montgomery county in 1871, 
at the age of fifty-six years. Philip Frantz, who died at the age of eighty 
five, was a soldier in the war of 1812, oj)erated a sawmill as well as to 
conduct a farm. His family of nine (hildren were: Joseph, Barney, 
Adam. Charles, Henry, Samuel, Peter, Hiram and a daughter, Kate, who 
married Hawk and moved out to Ohio. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 405 

Barney Fraiitz married Matilda Flyght, who survived liiiii t\vent.y- 
five years and died at Benedict. Kansas, in ISIMJ. Her cliildien are: 
Franlv J. our subject ; Mary, widow of Isaac Howard, of Independence, 
Kansas; Amanda, who married Brown Langstaff; Sylvester, of the In- 
dian Territory, and Sadie, wife of Francis Banlis, of Howard, Kansas. 

Mr. Frantz, of tliis record, was limitedly educated in tlie country- 
scliools of Pennsylvania, and was married in August, 1872, his wife be- 
ing Mary E. Laird, a daughter of L. W. Laird, who came to Montgomery 
county from Missouri, and is now <a resident of Independence. He mar- 
ried Maria Harmon and is the father of four children, of which number 
Mrs. Frantz is the oldest. Mr. and Mrs. Frantz's children were two in 
nundjer, namely: Tharles, born in 1878, and Ida May, who died in 1898, 
at the age of seventeen years. 

Vv'lien Mr. Frantz left the old home on Bluff creek he took possession 
of the J. D. Crouse place, where he resided 'till 1893, when he purchased 
parts of sections 10 and 1.5, in township 33, range 15, where he owns- one 
hundred and twenty acres, well tilled and substantially im])roved. He 
is oii(> of the thrifty small farmers of his township and his standing as 
a citizen is as sul)stantial as his standing as a business man. He is a 
liepublican in politics and is a (ierinan Baptist in religion. 



MAJOR EPHRAIM W. LYON— The comparatively brief period cov- 
ered by the life of the late Major Lyon in Slontgomery county marked 
him as a citizen of unusual merit and standing and it is meet that his 
brief memoir be jiresented in this work as a compliment to the character 
of his citizenship and to his genuineness as a man. 

From early life until death ended his useful career. Ephraim \X. 
Lyon was a printer. He learned his trade in Saginaw, Michigan, where 
he afterward founded the first daily newspajjcr, "The Daily Courier," 
and v.-as identified with its publication for a number of years. He left 
his case in 18t!l to aid in the preservation of the Union and was commis- 
sioned ("ajitain of Company , 8th Michigan Infantry. He enlisted at 

Flint and his regiment formed a part of the Army of the I'otomac. He 
was in the service foiir years and was promoted to be Major in the field, 
and was discharged as such officer after an active and honorable service 
with his command. 

He was a Democrat in his position on governmental (piestions and 
advocated the claims of his party in an able and clear manner. In his 
management of the "Cherryvale Bulletin," which he founded in 1882, he 
demonstrated his capacity as a newspaper man and develojied the full 
strength of his party by his ability as an editorial writer. He was not a 
college man, having educated himself in a print shop, and by absorjition 
in contact with the world of thought and through the lessons of experi- 



406 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEBY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

eiue. He was honored by his party with the appointment of postmaster 
at Cherryvale durino; President (Meveland's first term, in a small measure 
a reward for his long and faithful party service. In society matters he 
was a ("liaiiter and Commandery Mason and a member of the Presby- 
terian church. 

Major Lyon was born in Geneseo county, New York, June 10, 1831. 
He was one of three children and was orphaned at five years of age. He, 
married Ellen Pratt, who died in Saginaw, Mich., August 7, 1872. Theii 
children were: Leila, wife of .Vlexander McMichael, of Aspen, Colo.; 
Will ]'., of Independence, Kansas; Fred W., of Grand Junction, Colo. 
Two other children, now deceased, were the issue of a second marriage of 
Major Lyon. 

\\ill I*. Lyon, second child of our subject, was born in Haginaw, 
Michigan, July 2:5, 1S()(!. His education was acquired in the jiublic 
schools of his native town and he, also, started life as a printer. He was 
associated with his father during the hitter's lifetime and wound up his 
newspaper career with the sale of the "Cherryvale Bulletin" in 1891. In 
1890, he came to the First National Hank of Independence, Kansas, as 
bookkeeper and assistant cashier and has been identified with the insti- 
tution since. He is a director of the bank and devotes his entire time to 
its welfare. 

June 10, 1891, W. I'. Lyon married Jennie Remington, daughter of 
the late Capt. Remington, notice of whom appears in this volume. Roger, 
Allen C. and Leila M. are the issue of this marriage. ^Ir. Lyon is a Demo 
crat, and a Blue Lodge, ('hai)ter and Knight Templar Mason, and a work 
ing member of the Presbvterian church. 



I)A"\'ID S. COOK — One of the leading farmers of Montgomery 
county and an old settler who has made a success in life, is the gentleman 
here mentioned, David S. Cook. He resides on a splendid farm of ont 
hundred and sixty acres, three and one half miles from Elk City. In the 
years which have passed since his settlement in the county, he has ac- 
cumulated several nice properties, owning a fine farm of three hundred 
and forty acres on Elk river and another of two hundred and five acres 
near the town of Coffeyville. These properties are the result of industry 
and good management during the thirty years he has resided in this 
county. 

I'avid S. Cook was born in Erie county, Ohio, in 1841, and is a son 
of John and Martha (Stephens) Cook. The family is of German descent 
on the father's side, John Cook having emigrated from Hesse-Dasmstadt, 
Germany, in the year 18:J3, and located in Erie county, but later, removed 
to ^Ailliams countv, Ohio. Henrv Cook, a brother of John, who had serv- 



HISTOHT OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 407 

ed in the German army diirinfi the war with Napoleon, also came to 
America at that time and located on a farm in Erie county, and is now 
deceased. 

Mr. Cook, of this notice, was reared in Williams county, Ohio, where 
he received a good common school education and assisted in the cultiva* 
tion of his father's farm. Tn Oetoher of 18C4, he was joined in iiiarriago 
with Caroline, a daughter of Clark Backus, a farmer of the neighborhood, 
and who also operated a saw-mill. Our subject purchased a farm of one 
hundred and thirty acres, w'hich he cultivated until the year 1870, when 
he sold it to Mr. Backus and removed to Bates county, Missouri. He, 
however, remained here but one year and, in the spring of 1871, came to 
l\rontgomery county, Kansas, and located the farm on which he now re- 
sides. Here he has continued his residence and has devoted his attention 
particularly to the development of the resources of his farm, which is one 
of the best bodies of land in the county. It is devoted to general farm- 
ing and stock raising and is supjilied with everything in the shajte of 
buildings and machinery which go to nuike up the modern farm outfit. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cook have reared three children, as follows: Kay, born 
in 1866, died in January of 1903. He married Lizzie Deere, of Mont- 
gomery county; Mary, who married Elijah McCaul, a farmer living three 
miles northeast of the Cook farm. Her children are: Eva, Emma, Lloyd 
and Herman; Susan, the lust of the list, lives at home with her parents. 

The correct and upright life which Mr. Cook has lived in Montgomery 
county since his settlement, has resulted in endearing him to a large cir- 
cle of friends in every part of this and adjctining counties. He and his 
family have had very much to do with maintaining the high moral tone of 
the immediate section of the coiinty in which he resides, and are deserv 
ing of mention in a volume devoted (o the more worthy residents of the 
countv. 



JOB DEER — This leading and influential agriculturist and stock- 
man of :Montgoniery county lives with his family in a commodious and 
comfortable home at No. 401 North Second street. Independence. He has 
been a resident of the county since 1881, the earlier portion of the time 
having been passed on farms in ditlerent parts of the county, one of 
which, an eighty acre tract, he still owns. 

Mr. Deer was born in Fountain county, Indiana, April 26, 1848, the 
son of Urial and Frances (Long) Deer, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, 
respectively. They were thrifty farmers, j)ioneers of the blue grass 
region of Kentucky, and later of Fountain county. Indiana. Here they 
lived out the measure of their days, the mother dying at the early age of 
thirty-six, the father marrying a second (iiiie and dying in 1880, at thu 
advanced age of seventy-six. They were faithful adherents of the Baptist 



4o8 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERV COUNTY, KANSAS. 

chuich (old school) aud were pi'omiueut iu every work that meant the 
betterment of the social or relifjious condition of their uei«hborliood. In- 
tensely patriotic, they en<>a<i;ed eiitiuisiastically in the work of ameliorat 
ing the condition of the soldiers and their widows and children during 
the rtar, the father possessed, in a liigh degree, the confidence of Indiana's 
grand old war (jovernor, Oliver I'. Morton. There were seven children iu 
the first family and two in the second, seven living. 

Job Deer was reared to farm life in the old "Hoosier State," and se- 
cured a fair connnon school education, tlunigh, like many another lad of 
his. time, it was sadly interfered witii by the great Civil War. He was 
most restive under the age limit, and welcomed the day when, at sixteen 
years of age, he entered the service of his country. He became a niendier of 
Comjiany "G," 133rd Ind. ^'oj. Inf., and was immediately sent into the 
heart of the enemy's country, doing guard duty at Bridgeport, Ala. It 
cannot be said that our subject was very favorably impressed with thf 
character of the service he was called on to render, but he did his duty 
faithfully, until the measles put him into the hospital, where he remained 
until tlie expiration of his service. Returning home, he was rapidly re- 
cruited under the watchful care of his oldest sister and again sent forth 
to do his part in the great struggle. This time he became a private in 
Company "E," ]4nth Ind. Inf.. iind again went to the far south for gar- 
rison duty. Here he remained until the close of the war, leaving Decatur, 
Ala., in October of 1865, and being mustered out at Nashville shortly 
after. 

Mr. Deer remained in Indiana until 1881, engaged in general labor 
ing work until 1878, when he married and settled on a farm. He located 
on a quarter section in Fawn Creek township, Montgomery county, in the 
spring of 1881, which he sold in 188-1 and removed to Rutland townshiji 
and resided five years, then spent a short time iu Independence township, 
when he moved to town, since which time he has been engaged iu handling 
stock. 

He was married on the 2.jth of December, 1877, to Miss Sarah J. Sur- 
l)augh, a native of Indiana, daughter of Rev. A. Surbaugh, a minister of 
the M. E. cliur<'h. To this marriage there were four children born: 
Frances, a young lady at home; John U., a clerk, married Gertrude Wad- 
man; A. (Myde, a High school student; aud a deceased infant. On the 
Oth of October, 1902, the family was called on to mourn the unspeakable 
loss of the mother. In all i-espects Mrs, Deer was a most exemplary 
character. She was especially devole<l to husband and children. Nc 
service was too great for their comfort, and the loving care with whicll 
she blooded over her little Hock was a subject of gracious wonder among 
Iier host of friends. Truly may it be said, "Gone, but not forgotten.' 
She was a consistent and active member of the Friends' church, where hei 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 409' 

loss is greatly felt. Mr. Deer is an elder in that clnirfh. is especially 
active in the cause of temperance, and is fonnd leading in every work 
which looks to the ujdifting of humanity. The solid character of his citi- 
zenship is a matter satisfactory to his hosts of friends. 



IGNATIUS STRECKER— In the autumn of 1809. there came to 
Montgomery county a (iernian settler whose service in jieace and in war. 
in his native land, had amply equijtped him for tlie liardships incident to 
a frontier life. It was Ignatius Strecker, of this notice, who took a claint 
near Coft'eyville and i)assed a brief time tliere. For liis claim he was paid 
the sum of 12,0(10.00, and then began a brief residence in Cowley county. 
Kansas. Coming back to ^Montgomery county, in 1S74, he settled on a 
farm in section 8. towushiji 'M. range Ui. where he owns two hundred aud 
twenty acres. 

Ignatius Strecker was born in Ilelmsdorf, Prussia. October 18, 18414 
and was a subject of the German king 'till 1868. His father was Jacob 
Strecker. and his gi'andfathei- was .Tosejih Strecker, Ixith native of Helms- 
dorf village and wei'c son and grandson of John Strecker. of the same 
town. The last named married Maria (\ Schoenfeldt, of that village, and 
to them eight children were born, the oldest being Joseph, who married 
Maria E. Rogge. The issue of this latter union were : Adam, Jacob, 
Catherine and 51aria. Jacob, Jr., married Maria A. Menge, of Lengen- 
field. This couple had four sons: Joachim. Adam. John and Ignatius. 

For his wife Ignatius Strecker mariied .Agues Inglis. a daughter oi 
Williiim and Sarah ((ialiigher) Inglis. of Paisley, Scotland, and County 
Donegal, Ireland, res])ectively. Mrs. Strecker was born at Sault de Ste 
Marie. Michigan, Sei)tember IS. 18,52, and accompanied her parents to 
Montgomery ccmnty. Mr. Inglis enlisted in Monroe c<mnty, Michigan, 
in 1818, in Col. Winans' regiment, and served under Gen. Scott in the 
Mexican war. He was in battle at Vei'u Cruz, lieljicd take the City of 
Mexico, and was wounded at the National Bridge. In May, 1870, he came 
to Montgomery county, Kansas, and located on the claim, now the farm 
of Mr. and Mrs. Strecker. 

Mr. Strecker served three and (uie-half years in the .Vustria-I'mssian 
war. He served under .Gen. Hlack. commanding the 4th Pattery, and toolc 
part in the decisive battle of Koenig (Jratz. During his service he was 
three times severely wounded, a saber laying open a deep gash iu hif 
lower jaw and a musket planting a leaden missile permanently in one ot 
his legs, a wound which has always given him trouble and jihysical suf 
fering In March, 1S(>8, he sailed for the T'nited States and soon after 
made his ap])earance as a settler in .Montgomery county. His industrial 
efforts have all been directed in the line of agriculture and stock raising 
and the jjresent finds him one of the substantial men of his township. 



4IO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Strecker have been born nine children, viz: Sarah, 
wife of John Englert, with two children, Ignatins E. and Joseph A.; 
Mary and Agnes, with the parents at the old home ; Jennie, wife of Daniel 
Maher; William J.. P.eatrice J., Catherine E.. Christine and Ig- 
natius E. 



HARRIET A. HART— Among the hosts of gallant defenders of the 
nation's flag during the trying days of the Civil war, who turned their 
faces westward to seek a home on the broad prairies of Kansas, was 
Lieut. Silas Hart, of Highland county. Ohio. He settled with his family 
in Drum Creek township, where he purchased a ])ortion of Uncle Sam's 
domain and began life anew. Lieut. Hart died in 1879. A man of in- 
tensely patriotic impulses, kind-hearted and generous to a fault, he was 
mourned sincerely by his comrades of the G. A. R. and the hosts of 
friends he had made in his adopted state. He was born in 1838. in "High- 
land county, Ohio, and was a son of Wni. and Beulah (Xordike) Hart. 

In September of 18(51, he enrolled his name among those destined to 
live forever in the annals of a grateful country, and went forth to do 
and to die for "Old Clory." He became a private in Comi)any "B," 40th 
Ohio "\'ol. Inf.. and by reason of meritorious conduct on the Held of bat- 
tle was advanced to a First Lieutenancy. He was mustered out in 1864. 
His service was in the middle west and south and comprised participa- 
tion in the battles of Chickanmuga. Lookout Mountain, Missionary 
Ridge, the memorable Atlanta campaign and Jonesboro. His command 
then became a j)art of the army which followed Hood back into Tennessee, 
and he was present at the bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville. 
Lieut. Hart then returned to the home of his boyhood, where there waa 
waiting for him the sweetheart whose prayers and tears had sustained 
him through the hours of danger and on the dreary nuirch. The marriage 
was consummated at once, the date being December 8, 18G4. The name 
of the lady who had thus won the gallant soldier boy was Miss Harriet A. 
Graham, daughter of Robinson and Elizabeth (Strain) Graham, and who 
now survives her soldier husband. 

Mrs. Hart was born in Highland county, Ohio. Grandfather Strain 
and also Grandfather Graham were early pioneers of that county, where 
they carved their homes from the virgin forest and endured the trials and 
hardships of that early time with the fortitude for which their class was 
proverbial. After marriage Mr. Hart went to Southern Tennessee and 
engaged in the lumber business for a time; thence to Waterloo, Ala. This 
section, however, was not to his liking, and in 1871, as stated, the family 
turned their faces westward. 

Mr. Hart left a family of five children : Olin, born in March of 1866 ; 




SILAS HART (Deceased . 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 4II 

Wilbur Lee. born in 1868, married Ada, daughter of John Price, and lived 
with their Ave children in Hart, La., where he is engaged in the lumber 
business. His children are: Wilbur, Delos, Bessie, Dean and Ruth; Lu- 
cretia Belle, born in 1870, married A. L. Truax, and resides on a farm in 
this county with their three children: (Jlenn. Omar and Marilao; Clar- 
ence, born in 1873, married Hattie, daughter of F. M. and Adaline (Trail) 
Calhoun ; Walter B., born in 1875, is the youngest of the family. He mar- 
ried Tessie Coleman, who is deceased ; Olin B. was married April 12th, 
1903, to Oretia V. Calhoun. 

01in and Clarence Hart conduct ojterations on the home farm, which 
consists of two hundred and thirty-eight acres of splendid land. It is 
situated three miles from the enterprising city of Cherryvale and its gen- 
eral appearance of thrift and neatness marks it as one of the best farm 
properties in the county. ^Irs. Hart and her family are Methodists in 
belief and combine all the qualities which mark the best class of citizens 
in the county. Their friends are legion and the esteem in which they are 
held in the countv is universal. 



NATHAN S. WINT — The gentleman whose name heads this article 
has, for a score of years, been a resident of Montgomery county. He set- 
tled here in 1883. jiurchasing a farm in sections l!3 and 20, township 32, 
range 1.5, less than two miles from Independence. Here he has resided 
as a modest and progressive farmer since 1883, and here has he brought 
up his small family in the paths of industry and sobriety. 

5Ir. Wint comes of German stock. On his paternal side the Wints 
and the Romigs were of German origin, the Romigs being directly de- 
scended from the German Countess of Tuth. of Baden Baden, while his 
maternal ancestors were from the (lerman — the Slotters — and from this 
honorable family was the famous merchant prince of Philadelphia, John 
Wanuamaker, descended. The Wints came to the United States during 
the seventeenth century and settled near New York City — three of them, 
as the story goes — but later moved d()wn into Pennsylvania and estab- 
lished themselves near Philadelphia, by "the old stone church," known to 
Revolutionary times. Like all American families, they multii)lied and 
their posterity scattered throughout the length and breadth of the nation. 
Gen. Wint, of the United States troops, Spanish-American war, belongs 
to this numerous family and is a near relative of the subject of this sketch. 

January 3, 18.")1, Nathan S. Wint was born near Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania. The following year his parents, Nathan and Anna ( Slotter) 
Wint, removed to Scranton, Pa., where they resided during the youth 
and early manhood of their son. The father was born in the state of 
Pennsylvania and carried on milling through life. His father was Peter 



412 UISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Wint and his mother was Miss Koniig, whose family comprised the fol- 
lowing children : Morgan, William, Jonathan, Aaron, Nathan, Mrs. 
Weaver and Mrs. Morgan. Nathan took up his residence near Philadel 
phia late in life, and there he died at the age of sixty-seven. Their child- 
were: Samuel S., of Scranton, I'a. ; Mary A., wife of E. H. Henson, of 
Smyrna, Del.; Miss Anna, of Philadelphia. Pa., and Nathan S., of this 
record. The father served with the construction corps of Gen. Thomas 
during a portion of the Civil war and his first son, Samuel S., enlisted in, 
the 120th Pa. Heavy Artillery, in ISd-J. and served 'till the close of the 
war. 

The district schools provided our subject with a fair education and 
he learned the trade of carpenter and millwright. For twelve years he 
was a carpenter in Columbus, Ind., and then failing health forced his 
emigiation from the state. He sought Kansas and the pure, fresh air of 
Montgomery county restored him. (leneral farming and the operation of 
his stone quarry (which supplies the country all about with sidewalk 
and building stone) have claimed liis time and his removal to Kansas has 
not proved a failure. On coming to the "Sunflower State" he stopped in 
Jefferson county, coming thence into Montgomery to his present location, 
a year later. 

September 18. 1873, Mr. Wint married Mary J. Erhart. the ceremony 
being performed by Rev. Todd, of \\'illsboi'o. Indiana. Mrs. Wint is a 
daughter of Thomas Erhart, who resided, later on, in Montgomery county, 
Kansas, and died here in 1893. Mr. Erhart was born in Adams county, 
Pa., in 1809, and in 1839 immigrated to Bartholomew county. Ind. He 
married Eliza Hegge. who passed away in Indiana. Their children wei'e : 
Thomas, deceased; l^prliaim, Catlu'rine, Elzina E.. Mary J. and Jason, de- 
ceased. Mr. and Mrs. W'int's children are: Chester Leroy, Linton Fay, 
who died in Jefferson county. Kansas, at ten years; Daisy and Chester 
Arthur. 

The Wints of this house are Republicans. 



WILLIAM F McCONNELL— The subject of this brief record is one 
of the pioneers of Independence township. He located, with his parents, 
on the west line of the township in 1871, and has been identified with the 
community, now, nearly thirty-two years. He is Bolton's third and only 
blacksmith and. mechanically, he is an exanii)le of a purely and strictly 
self-made man. 

William F. McConnell was born in Green county, Indiana, June 22, 
1857, and is a son of the venerable John McConnell. of Bolton, Kansas, 
The latter was born in Ohio, in 1831, and at ten years of age left the 
■"Buckeye State" and accompanied his parents to Indiana. His father 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 4 13 

was .Tames McConnell. who i'aiii(> to tho United States fresh from Erin's 
Isle at twenty-one years of ao(>. am] died in fJreen connty, Indiana. Of 
his five sons and three daughters. .lolin, our subject's father, was th(» 
oldest. John McConnell was married to Minerva Dyer, a daughter of 
William Dyer, of German extraction. Mrs. Minerva McConnell died in 
1800. at sixty-six years of age, being the mother of: William F.. -Jane, wife 
of ^Marion Jlatthews. of Kansas City, Kansas, and Mary E., who married 
J. C. Patterson, of Bolton. Kansas. 

John McConnell, father of our subject, settled on a tract of land in 
section 1.3, now in Rutland township, improved it, farmed it 'till his re 
tirement to Bolton and still owns it. On this farm his son came to man- 
hood and in the district he attended the country school. Observing the 
necessity of a blacksmith in this remote valley of the county he decided to 
become one himself and accordingly equipped himself with the proper 
paraphernalia for the work. His experience was simi)ly that of the first 
blacksmith, and when his trade was learned he was no doubt a more ef» 
ficient workman than that original one. He maintained his shop at the 
old home 'till ISOO when he bought the shop of Bolton's second blacksmith 
and moved his family to the village. 

October 10. 1877, Mr. ^IcConnell was united in marriage with Rose 
Ann Cline. a daughter of ex-Probate Judge Daniel Cline, mentioned else- 
where in this work. Mrs. McConnell was born September 2.3. 18.58, and in 
the mother of two sons and two daughters, namely: -John, who is asso- 
ciated with his father as a lilacksmith .and has taken to wife Inez 
Spangle; l'>dna, Taylor and Lessa McConnell. 

Mr. McConnell is a Republican and is a member of Fortitude Lodge 
A. F. and A. M., of Independence. 



SAMUEL F. GRAY— Xoveiiiber 4, 1808. Samuel F. Gray, of this 
sketch, was born on a farm in Boone county. Missouri. The next year his 
I)arents came to Kansas and settled in Wilson county. tem]>orarily. and 
in 187(1. took up go\ernment land in Montgomery county, where they 
still reside. 

\\ liile our subject is not native of the soil of Jfontgomery county, 
his life has been jiractically sjient here and all he is he owes to the in- 
fluences and environment of this county. In childhood life, his daily as- 
sociates were the aborigines of \\'hite Hair's band and between them a 
mutual and lasting attachment sprang up. He communed with speech- 
less nature and drank deep draughts of ozone from the fresh and health- 
ful air. Body and mind exi)anded simultaneously and the rural exercise 
developed a strong physique and laid the foundation for an active and 
vigorous life. 



414 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

The limit of parental coutrol was reached at tweuty-one .years and 
Mr. Gray married and set up for himself. He spent the first three years 
in Neosho county and then returned to his home neighborhood in Mont- 
gomery county. In 1897, he ceased to be a tenant and became a land 
owner, buying an eighty in section 16, township 31, range 16, where he 
maintains his present home. The old family homestead he also culti- 
vates and is employed with tlie raising of grain and stock. 

^^amuel F. Gray is a son of .Jackson Gray, mentioned in a sketch 
elsewhere in this volume. He is the third child of his parents and married, 
first, Martha, a daughter of William and Sarah Hausley, of Wilson 
county. Kansas. His wife died in 1894, leaving two children, Kdward and 
Howard. For his second wife Mr. Gray married Rosella Beathe, born in 
Highland county. Virginia, and a daughter of Joseph and Louisa Beathe. 

Mr. Gray's disposition leads him to a strict attention to business. 
He is conscious that labor has its reward and that there is no excellence' 
without it, and his substantial position today has resulted from a close 
adherence to the spirit of these truths. 



C. A. CLOTFELTER— One of the best known business men of the 
City of Cherry vale is C. A. Clotfelter. for many years connectd with the 
livery business at that place, and, now, under the firm name of Clotfelter 
& Son. His accjuaintance is general over Montgomery county and 
cornering counties near the city, where his duties as an auctioneer have 
taken him. He has for years been one of the leading sale-cryers of this 
section, and, perhaps, better known in this line than in the other. He in 
one of the early settlers of the county and has filled a distinct niche in 
neighborhood affairs. 

The parents of Mr. Clotfelter were natives of North Carolina, where 
they, Uroyal and Martha Jane Clotfelter, were born. The father died in 
1846, at the early age of forty years, and the mother became the wife of 
Peter Bolinger, and died in 1861, at the same age. Thei-e was but one 
child, our subject, by the first marriage, and by the second, five daugh- 
ters were born, four of whom are now living. 

C. A. Clotfelter w-as born in ('ajte Girardeau county, Missouri, on the 
2.3rd of September. 1843. He received a fair, common school education 
and. in 1861, left home and began life for himself as a farmer. In 1862. 
he entered the employ of the government, as quarter-master, being in 
chai'gp of a government corral. In 1863, he worked as a freight and stock 
dealer for a private party, being assistant wagon-master. He continued 
with this party until 1866. the greater part of his service having ueen iii 
the wild northwest and being attended with much hardship and many ex 
citing experiences with bad Indians and worse white men. At this time 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 415 

he began business for himself as a freigiiter between Fort Bend, Montana, 
and Helena and Deer Lodge, Mont., and Corning, Utah. He, later, made 
trips to the Pacific coast and continned in this sort of life nntil 1870, 
when he came back to civilization, settling in Mound Citj, Kansas, where 
he spent the winter of 1871. He then came to Montgomery county and be- 
gan a grocery and feed business in Elk (Mty, and, after a short experience 
there, opened a general store in Cherryvale, in partnrshii) with his uncle. 
J. R. Baldrum. 

^Ir. Clotfelter's first experience in the livery business was begun in 
January of 1873, in partnership with C. W. Booth, which firm continued! 
•with success, until 1889. Mr. Clotfelter then again left the state, going 
to Colorado and engaging in the stock Vmsiiiess, which he conducted for 
several years. In 1807, he returned to Cherryvale, and, in company with 
his son, began the present business, which he has since continued. They 
have one of the most accommodating and complete livery barns in the 
city, running twelve carriage hoTses. and are doing a satisfactory busit 
ness. 

At various times, our subject has been connected with the official 
life ol the city and township, and has acted as constable for a period of 
six years at one time and four yeai's at another. He was also in the office 
of sheriff and was a deputy for nine years. 

His marriage occurred in 1872. his wife's maiden name having been 
Sarah J. Browning, daughter of J. W. and Sarah Ann Browning. Mrs. 
Clotfelter is a native of Indiana. She is the mother of Carl and ('arrie; 
the son being the partner of his father, in the livery business. Carl mar- 
ried Emma E. Nichols and has two children — Siras E. and John M. 

Living a long and active life, in this busy world, and keeping his 
character unsullied before mankind. Mr. Clotfelter stands today, one of 
the most respected citizens of the comuiunity in which he lives, and he 
and his family receive the kind wishes of a very large circle of friends 
and acquaintances. 

In fraternal life, he is a member of the Masonic order. Blue Lodge, 
Chapter and Comniandery. and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen and. 
the A. O. U. W. His wife and family are active and helpful members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. 



ANDREW M. TAYLOR. M. D.— In any western community, there 
is always a group of choice spirits, who are referred to a_s "old settlers." 
They are the people who initiated things — who saw the infant communi- 
ty, as it were, shake off its swaddling clothes and start forth on its jour- 
ney to maturity. Caney is not without these honoi-ed witnesses to her 
birth and her earlv infancv, and the gentlnian wliose name heads this 



4l6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

paragraph, is tme of them. Dr. Andrew Taylor was the first plivsiciaii 
to settle iu Caue.v, and has the further distinction of being the parent 
of one of the first white children born within her limits. 

Dr. Taylor was born in Franklin county, Maine. October 9. 1S34. 
His father. William Taylor, was a native of the same state, as was also 
his mother, whose maiden name was Amy Oaks. The parents were farm- 
ers, by occupation, and lived out their days in their native state, respect- 
ed and honored citizens. The husband died at seventy, the wife at fifty 
years of ajje. their family havin<; consisted of eight children, but two of 
whom are now living, our subject and William W., of Maine. 

Dr. Taylor was reared to farm life, his prescholastic education be- 
ing received in the little log school house of that early period. He was 
later, given a good literary education, in an advanced academy, and at 
twenty-one, began the study of medicine, under the prei-eptorship of his 
brother. Dr. J. (i. Taylor. For the comjiletion of his medical studies, ho 
came out to the great west, matriculating in Kusli Medical ("oUege. 
then in its infancy, but long since one of the famous schools of medicine. 
Here, he graduated in the class of 1858, and immediately entered on 
the jtractice, at I'ackwaukee. Wisconsin. Twelve years were jiassed at 
this jioint, when the Doctor changed bis location to Hancock, where the 
war fouTid him busy in his work, but not to so great an extent as ti> 
drown the distressed cry of the slave. He enlisted, as a jirivate soldier, 
in Company "D," Thirty-seventh Wisconsin Voluntec-r Infantry, in which 
organization he served to the close of the war, for the most p.-irt in lios- 
]»ital work. He was appointed hosjiital steward, then assistant surgeon, 
and was finally advanced to be surgeon of his regiment. Taking up the 
jiractice again, at his home, he remained in Wisconsin, until 1S(;!I. when 
he came to Kansas, settling in the ne^y town of Caney. .\t that time, 
there were but three houses in the village, and the country was full of 
Indians, theynothavingleftthe reservation as yet. The doctor was ajipoint- 
ed trustee of the township, and in that office, laid out all the roads about 
("aney. a task so well accomidislied as to necessitate but one oi' two 
changes. During all these years, he has been, continuously, in the prac- 
tice, though, in later years, he confines himself to oflSce practice, in con- 
nection with his drug business. 

Dr. Taylor has served the city, in \arious capacities, during all these 
years, and has never lost faith in its futiire greatness. In the early days, 
he acted, for a jieriod, as postmaster, and has always taken a lively inter- 
est in the educational affairs of the community. Of a social disposition, 
he has been a great factor in tlie develojiment of that sociability antj 
freehanded ness. which has come to be one of the distinguishing features 
of Caney. and \\hich makes it so desirable a place of residence. 

In his family life, the Doctor has been especially blessed, he and his- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 4I7 

good wife having traveled life's road together for the past forty-three 
years. Mrs. Taylor bore the name of Fannie S. liabcofk, prior to 1859, 
when she consented to join fortunes with the rising young physician of 
the community. She was the daughter of Anuisa and Betsy (Angel) 
Babcock, and was born in New York State. But one daughter of the 
three children she has borne, is now living. Amy G., wife of Mr. H. H. 
Graves, associated in the drug business with the Doctor. Charles O. 
lived to the age of forty years, while William died, a boy of nine. 

No more honored and highly respected citizen lives in Oaney than 
Dr. Taylor. He has been prominently and honorably associated with 
its entire history and, in the evening of life, he can look back with a con- 
sciousness of having been the means, at least in part, of building up a 
community which can not be surpassed, for enterprise and push, in the 
southern part of the state. 



MRS. SARAH F. MATHEWSON— Mrs. Sarah Mathewson, a well- 
known resident of Montgomery county, is a native of Bradford county, 
Pennsylvania, and was born January 23, 1844. Her parents were Joel 
M. ind Elizabeth (Gross) Tozer, both natives of the "Keystone State." 
Her father was a son of Col. Julius Tozer, a native of Connecticut, 
whose name is honorably associated with the war of 1812. 

Col. Tozer married Hannah Conklin, a daughter of Ananias Conk- 
lin, and to the marriage were born thirteen children : Hannah, Elsie, 
Betsie, Samuel, Julius, Lucy, Dorothy, Guy, Albert, Susan, Joel M., Mary 
A. and Cynthia. Joel ^I. married Elizabeth Gross, the fourth child of 
Phili(> and Hannah Gross, whose family luimbered six children: Elsie 
Knowles, of Scranton, Pennsylvania : Julius, of Bradford county, Penn- 
sylvania ; Job, of Ashland, Oregon ; Sarah F., of Montgomery county^ 
Kansas; Ida, of Bradford county, I'ennsylvania; and Guy, of Dallas, 
Texas. Sarah F. Tozer became the wife of William H. Mathewson, who 
was b(irn in Palmyra. New York, March 23, 1823. His father was a native 
of Connecticut and the mother, whose maiden name was Harriett Ste- 
phen.-i. was born in the "Keystime State," the daughter of Ira and Sybil 
Stephens. There were eight children in the Mathewson family: George, 
Elizabeth, Washburn, William. Constant, Harriet Delano, Elias, Emily 
Tozer and Lydia Buck. 

William H. Mathewson and wife. Sarah, with their three children, 
Dora, George and !Mary, came to Montgomery countv in February of 
1882, and located <m the farm of one hundred and sixty acres, where they 
now reside. Only two of the children survive: I>ora Young, of Kansas 
City, whose three children are Glenn, Clyde and Dale; and George, living 
at home with his mother, and superintendent of the farm. 



4l8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEET COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Previous to his residence in Kansas, Mr. Mathewson passed a period 
of eleven years in Oregon, where he was engaged in farming and gold 
digging, returning to Pennsylvania, where his marriage occurred. He 
was a man of superior education, having had excellent opportunities in 
his youth, taking a full course at the Athens (Pennsylvania) academy. 
He died in Rosedale, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, Febru- 
ary 20, 1900. ' . 

( ' 

1 I 



JAMES FRANK COOK— As the traveler passes through the rural 
districts of Montgomery county, he is impressed with the fact that the 
greater portion of those now tilling the soil are men of quite mature age. 
This is due, largely, to the movement, which has been going on for some 
years, toward the great cities, which have absorbed much of the fresh, 
young blood of the farm. However, this condition is evidently changing, 
for there are numbers of young men connected with the farming indus- 
try of the county, who have sounded the depths of wisdom and have 
learned that the glamour and glitter of city life is scarcely to be compared 
with the solid, substantial and invigorating life of the farm. The gen- 
tleman whose name appears above is an exception to the apparent rule, 
being one of the young farmers of the county, and his success, in the de- 
velopment of his farm, has been marked and gratifying. 

Mr. Cook comes from the old "Hoosier State," a state which has con- 
tributed many of its best citizens to the ujibuilding of the gi-eat State of 
Kansas. He was born in Green county, Indiana, in 18G0, and is a son 
of Augustine and Nancy (Ferguson) Cook. The Cooks became residents 
of Indiana many generations since, our subject's father having been born 
and reared to manhood in that state. When James was a youth of nine- 
teen years, the family immigrated to Kansas and purchased a farm in 
Louisburg township, Montgomery county, the same constituting the 
farm which James is now cultivating. The parents passed their active 
lives on this farm, and reside now in Fredonia, Kansas. Augustine Cook 
served in the war of the Rebellion, in the Thirty first Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry, being in the service three years and twenty days. 

eTanies Frank Cook has passed his entire life in the cultivation of the 
soil and is one of the progressive young farmers in his part of the county. 
He is well versed in the nature of ditt'erent soils and their adaptation to 
certain ci'ojis and he is an excellent judge of cattle on the hoof. His ener- 
getic, intelligent management of the old home farm has resulted in bring- 
ing it to a high state of cultivation and in adding handsomely to his pri- 
vate exchecpicr. 

The married life of Mr. Cook began February 24, 1880, when he was 
united with Catherine Callahan. Mrs. Cook is a daughter of Irish par- 




JOEL W. REED AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 419 

ents, her father beiug Patrick Callahan, nieutioned extendedly in this 
volume. 

To our subject's home have come four bright children, whose names 
are: Francis Milford, born Ajjril 22, 1887; Frank Lovell, born March 
10, 1890; Roy Homer, born April 22, 1894; and Nellie Catherine, born 
February 14, 1896. All of these children are membei-s of the family home. 

Mr. Cook and his family are respected members of the community in 
which they reside and take a lively interest in its religions and social life. 
He is a valued member of the Modern Woodmen and, in political mat- 
ters, takes much interest and has been a source of great strength to the 
Reform party in its effort to engraft some of its principles upon the 
legislation of the state. He has never sought office, but is content in the 
casting of his vote, on election day, for the Populist ticket. 



JOEL W. REED — Joel W. Reed, a prominent contractor and build- 
er, of Elk City, Kansas, was born in Shelby county, Indiana, June 6, 1849. 
His parents were John O. and Missouri ((Jregory) Reed; the former be- 
ing a native of Ohio, and the latter of Kentucky. The father was a car- 
penter and builder, and moved to Indiana, in 1840, and was a pioneer of 
the locality where he lived. Many and large buildings are standing to- 
day, uiouumeuts to his skill as a workman. He had the honor of serving 
his country, as a soldier in two wars; first, in the Mexican war, where he 
served as first lieutenant until his discharge at its close, and second, in 
the Civil war, in which he enlisted August 2, 1862, as a private, in the 
Ninety-eighth Illinois regiment, Comj)any "K," and, in a battle which 
occurred shortly after, at Eliza belhtown, Kentucky, was severely wound- 
ed. He was removed to a hospital, at New Albany, Indiana, where he died, 
on the 18th of October, Mr. Reed was a man of splendid qualities, a 
lifelong and devout member of the Methodist Episcojial church, in which 
he w;iy an officer for many years. His age, at death, was forty-six years, 
and his wife, the mother of Joel W., died at twenty-six, on the 18th of 
Sep1eml)er, 1856. 

Hy a former marriage — to Elizabeth Rouse — Mr. Reed had three 
children, viz: Mahala, deceased wife of Patrick Keenan; Ann Eliza, Mrs. 
John Smith, of Los Angeles, California ; and Melissa, who died in in- 
fancy. 

Our subject was one of four children born to the second marriage 
of his father, viz Joel W.; Jacob L., a minister of the Kentucky Confer- 
ence ot the M. E. church; Martha 10.. who married Abram Lewis, and is 
now (deceased; and John B., who resides near the old homestead in Indi- 
ana. .Vfter the death of the mother of these children, Mr. Reed married 
Anna McDutfey, whose two sons were James li. and Charles S. W. 

In the common schools of his native <onnfy, Joel \V. Reed secured 



420 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

sufficient education to equip him for a useful life, though it was difficult 
to hold him to his school work. To him it seemed cruel to have to stu'dy 
histor.T while it was being made so rapidly on the battlefield. He yearned 
to be at the front and ran away twice, in his efforts to get into the army. 
Finally, on the 6th of March, 1865, being then fifteen years and nine 
months old, and, according to authentic records, the third youngest sol- 
dier to enlist in the war, he became a private of Company "K," Thirty- 
third Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was too late, however, to see any 
active service. Joining Sherman's army at Newburn, North Carolina, 
he was a witness of tiie surrender of Gen. Johnson; and, after i)artici- 
pating in the Grand Review at Washington, received his discharge, at 
Louisville, Kentucky, July 21, 1865. 

After the war, Mr. Reed worked on the farm until 1868, when he 
came out to Illinois, on a visit to a sister, who lived at Louisville. Here, 
during the next two years, he learned the baker's trade and, in 1871, 
came to Kansas. He worked at Wichita for sevei-al months and then came 
to Elk City. In August of 1872, he became connected with the "Katy" 
railroad, as cook, and followed that business, at different points, until 
1874. Returning to Elk City, he farmed for some six years and then took 
up the business in which he is now engaged. He has long been the lead- 
ing c<«ntractor and builder of the town and specimens of his handiwork 
are seen on every side. He has jjut up nearly every building of importance 
in the city, erected within the past two decades. 

Mr. Reed has always been exceedingly active in the social life of the 
community. He is a member of the Klue Lodge and Chapter, and is a 
Scottish Rite Mason. The Woodmen number him among their most val- 
ued members, and he is a Good Templar, a member of the Eastern Star, 
of the (^ari)euter's Union, and is officer of the day in the G. A. R. 

The wife of Mr. Reed was, jirior to her marriage, in 1878, Miss Mat- 
tie Monfort. She is a native of Indiana, the daughter of John Monfort, 
and was born March 1, 1862. To her have been born : Lela, deceased in in- 
fancv; Stella I., decea.sed at three years; Orion O., a farmer in the Indian 
Territory; Sheldon M., a schoolboy; and New Floyd. Mrs. Reed is quite 
as helpful, in social and religious circles, as her husband, being a member 
and ti-easurer of the Seventh Day Advent ist church, while Mr. Reed is a 
member of the Friend's church. 

In all the varied activities of life, Air. Reed has been true to his best 
concei)tion of right and has a good citizen's pride in sui)porting every 
measure which makes for the good of liis fcllowmen. Elk City has no 
more loval citizen, and Die esleem in which he is held is uniform. 



SAMUEL H. BARR — f)ue of the younger attorneys, who is rapidly 
achieving distinction a1 the l)ar of Montcomerv countv in the face of a 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 42 I 

keen competition, is the above-nanied gentleman, whose forceful and in- 
telligent methods have marked him as a future leader in a wider field 
than the local courts. 

Samuel H. Barr is a jiracticing attorney, located at Caney, where he 
has established a reputation for careful and painstaking effort in his 
chosen field. The decade, immediately ])receding the Civil war, is remem- 
Ijered as- being one of the heaviest, in matters of immigration, ever known 
in this country. These immigrants came from every quarter of the globe, 
but owing to local conditions in Ireland, that hardy race furnished the 
largest quota. Among the number, were the parents of our wprthy sub- 
ject, Robert and Jane (Lord) l?arr. the year 1858 being the date of their 
arrival in America. They settled in or near Virginia, Cass county, 
Illinois, later removing to Beardstown , then to Rock Island, Illinois. 
Then they turned their faces westward and located near Independence, 
Kansas. Here the father died, at the age of fifty-eight, the wife still sur- 
viving and residing on the old homestead. To these parents were born 
eight chilren, Samuel H. being the second. 

Samuel H. Barr was born in Virginia, Cass county. Illinois, on the 
16th of April, 18fil, He received a fair education in his youth, his ap- 
plication being of such nature as to fit him for teaching, which vocation 
he took up, on coming to Kansas with his parents, in 1882. He made a 
reputation as one of the best of the county teachers and wielded the fer- 
ule for a period of six years. During part of this time, he busied him- 
self with the study of law, unihM' the guidance of Hon. H. C. Elliott, of 
Independence. In 1888. he was admitted to the bar, and came to Caney 
the same year. His success was assiired from the start and his connec- 
tion with the interests of the little city has been of the highest value in 
the intervening years. 

Mr. Barr's chief business is in his law iiraclicc. but he finds time to 
devote to other interests, in some degice. He is looked ii])oii as one of the 
staunch wheel-horses of the city, having ]>ut his shoulder to ttie wheel 
in tho dark days when the future looked somewhat dubious. If it had not 
been for a few kindred sjjirits. Caney would most likely have been a mere 
way glation, on the "road to nowhere.'' Mr. Barr is one of the stockhold- 
ers and secretary of the Caney (Jas C<tmiiany. which he was instru- 
mental in organizing, in UIOO. Another successful local institution with 
which he is connected, is the Caney brick ])lant. which is fast l)ecoming 
one of the leading industries of the city. In municiiial affairs, he has 
been most helpful, serving as city attorney for a number of terms, and for 
five years was an active and valued mcMuber of the school board. 

Mr. Barr lias a natural taste for politics and has been exceedingly 
helpful in jiromoting the interests of the jiarty of -lelferson and Jackson, 
in whose princijiles he is a thorough believer. As chairnuin of the 
Countv Central Committee, from 1SS8 to l!t(Ml. he led manv successful 



422 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

campaigns, aud succeeded in unifying the party in the county, in a great 
degree. From 1900 to 1002, he was a member of the State Central Com- 
mitte, where his counsel was of great value to the party. Socially. Mr. 
Barr affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the A. O. U. W. and fhe Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. The friends of this popular attorney are 
unanimous in predicting a more than ordinary career for him, and he 
holds, in a marked degree, their respect and admiration. 



.lOHN M. ALTAFFER— The sunny southland has contributed liber- 
ally of its native sons toward the sterling citizenship of our western 
commonwealths. They have been young men reared under the malign in- 
fluence of an unholy social institution, whose destruction tliey offered 
their lives and sacrificed all. save honor, to ])revent, and who have, in the 
military camp and on the field of battle, l)een made conversant with their 
power and worth and have sought out the plains of the west as offering 
the greater opportunity for working out their own destiny. In propor- 
tion to the great western flood, the current of this immigration has been 
inconsiderable, but its character, when viewed from its influence upon the 
social and political fal)ric of a new state, has rendered it an important 
factor in the formation of our new century civilization in the west. As 
pioneers in the settlement of the western prairies, they have manifested 
the same sincere determination in the development aft'airs of their munici- 
palities as their neighbor from other climes and with different youthlul 
envirfinment. Their object has been to |)romote a civilization of the com- 
mon people; to foster a spirit of ]>ersonal freedom, consistent with the 
rights of all and the laws of their state, and to encourage a feeling of 
brotherly love among a ])eo](le with a common cause. This presents the 
situation, as applicable to the normal settler from the South, and illus- 
trates the attitude of the subject of this review, during the period of his 
residence in Montgomery county. 

John M. Altaffer is one of the characters of Montgomery county. He 
settled here on the 2Sth of FebruaiT. 1S72. during the formative period in 
mvuiici])al and social affairs, aud immediately identified himself with it 
all. He purchased a farm in section 17. townshij) 3.".. range in.theproi)erty 
of Lee Fairleigh. and resumed the occu])ation of his youth — farming. 
During his thirty-one years, his interest in agriculture, as a farmer, and 
as the T-. S. CJovernment's rejiorter on croji conditions, together with hla 
inclination toward active ](niti(ii)ation in uuiuici])al. social and political 
affairs have mai-ked his ]irominence as a citizen of his county. (Condi- 
tions made it necessary for him to move into a ])ioneer's "cabin." Hla 
<areer has been spiced with some successes and some reverses. He has 
kept i)ace with the onward tendency of his county and his estate of 
three hundred and twenty acres, marks, in a degree, the extent to which 
his industrv has been rewarded. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 4^3 

By nativity, John M. Altaffer is a Virginian. He was born in 
Kockiugham county, "The Old Dominion." January 10, 1845. His fath- 
er, Reuten Altatfer, was born in the same county, in 1800, spent his life 
at farming, and died in 1800. The latter was a son of a Pennsylvatiian 
and a grandson of a Swiss settler of the "Keystone St.ate." Joseph Alt- 
afifer, our subject's grandfather, moved his family down into Virginia, 
near the close of the eighteenth century, and sjient his remaining years 
in Rockingham county. He married Hiss Seevly and was the father of 
three sons and nine daughters. Those who can now be identified were: 
Reuben, father of the subject of this sketch ; John and Joseph. Of the 
daughters, Margaret married a Saufley, Susan married Jacob Whitmer, 
Ann married Daniel Whitmer and Sallie married Benjamin Byerly. 
Reuben Altaffer married Salome Whitmer, a daughter of Martin Whit- 
mer, of German descent, who settled in the "Old Dominion" from Penn- 
sylvania. Mrs. Reul)en Altaffer died, in Decemlier, 1890, at eighty-seven 
years of age, leaving five children, namely: ^fartin J., of Rockingham 
county. Virginia ; Elizabeth A., wife of Peter W. Hartman, of the same 
Virginia county ; Margaret F., nnmarjied ; John Jf., of this notice, and 
Benj.' niin F., deceased. 

On a farm, near Port Republic. \'irginia. our subject came to man- 
hood's estate. He had scarcely jtassed beyond the schoolboy period, when 
he enlisted — Sei)tember. 1801 — in the state militia, preliminary to the 
service to come later. In the spring of 1802. he was mustered into the 
Twelfth Virginia Cavalry, under Ool., afterward. Gen. Ashby. The regi- 
ment was a part of the army of Northern Virginia, and under the com- 
mand of "Stonewall"' Jackson. H participated in the heavy campaign- 
ing of that famous chieftain. It was stationed at Harper's Ferry, after 
the Union forces surrendered there, and went, next, into the valley of the 
Shenandoah and met Sheridan's forces at Gross Keys and at Travellion 
Station. During the last months of the war. it was in Wade Hampton's 
cor])s. Gen. Rosser's division, and took pai-t in the great cavalry fight, 
when the final movement out of l{ichmond took jjlace. Mr. Altaffer left 
the regiment, after the fight at High Bridge, on the reti'eat from Rich- 
■mond. and was at his home, fifty miles away, when the final dissolution 
and surrender of the Confederate army took place. 

After the war, Mr. Altaffer sjient two years on his mother's farm, 
straightening matters uji and restoring the old home to something like 
its ante-beliniii condition. He sj)ent the next two years on bridge 
work on the Mississijppi river, the notable structure of Ibis kind on which 
he was employed being the Quincy. Illinois, bridge. Returning home, 
in 1809, he was married, January 19, of that year, and the following 
three years he passed as a farmer. 

Mrs. Altaffer was Lucy J. Williams, a daughter of James and Sal- 
3ie (Hooke) Williams, of Scotch-Irish and English-Irish extraction. Mrs. 



424 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Altaffer's great-grandfather was an American emigrant from the Brit- 
ish Isles. The children of .Tames and Sallie Williams were Martha, de- 
ceased ; and Mrs. Altaffer. The father died in 18.57, at thirty-nine years 
and the mother, in 1848, at twenty-seven years. Mrs. Altaffer was born 
August 12, 1847, and has no children. She and her husband are members 
of the United Brethren church. 

Mr. Altaffer came to his majority, a Democrat. He acted with that 
party, in Kansas, till the Fusion idea took prominence, when he joined 
forces with the opposition to the I{e])ublican party and became one of its 
active and influential factors. 

During President Grant's first term, Mr. Altaffer was appointed 
statistician of the Agricultural Department for Montgomery county and, 
for thirty years, he has made monthly reports to the department, as fq 
crop conditions, yields pei icre, and other information regularly re- 
quired. He also keeps a weather record for the government and, during 
the summer season, makes weekly reports of his observations to the 
state bureau at Topeka. 



.\LFRED .J. UlTTK— Alfred J. Uitts came, with his parents, to 
Montgomery county, in 1874. He was born April 1, 1858, in Johnson 
county. Indiana, and at the age of eight years, the parents moved to 
Boone county, Indiana, and from there, came to Kansas. They located 
on a farm of one hundred and sixly acres, three miles west of Independ- 
ence, for which the father paid :|f4.()()(>. .Vfter his death. Alfred purchased 
the shares of the other heirs lo Ihc property, and is now the sole owner 
of the old home. In addition to this, he is owner of eighty acres in Syca- 
more township, and rents, from an aunt, one hundred and thirty-five 
acres, where he lives ; besides, he owns eighty acres in Independence town- 
ship. 

Johnson R. Uitts, the father, was horn near Louisville, Kentucky, 
.January 25. lS2t;. His whole life was si)ent on the farm, and lie had no 
other interests, outside of the occui)ation of farming. He lived in Keui 
tucky until he was twenty-five years of age, then removed to Indiana, 
where he remained twenty years, afterward coming to Montgomery 
county. His death occurred in Howell county, Missouri. 

Johnson R. T'itts, by first marriage had two children: Frank, of 
Parsons, Kansas, and Naomi \\liite. of Montgomery county. His second 
wife was Margaret lircnnermer, a native of Ohio, and to her were born 
two children : Jasper and .\ifred .1., our subject. 

Alfred J. Uitts was educated in the public schools of Indiana and 
Kansas, which he attended until he was twenty years of age. Having been 
educated in the public schools, his interest in them has been constant and 
heli)ful in his home community. He has been, for many years, a member 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 425 

of the school board, and in a social wav, holds nienibevslii|i in llie A. H. 
T. A. 

Novenibei- ij, lS7t), Mv. I'itt.s was nnitcd in nianiage with Laura A. 
Utteiback. a native of Johnson county. Indiana. She came to Montgom- 
ery county, Kansas, in 1869, with her parents, Iverson and Elizabeth 
(Parkhurst ) I'ttei-back, native Indiana jieople. 

Mr. and Mrs. Uitts have only one child: Iversou, who married Corda 
Van Ansdal, a native Kansas eirl. 



JOSEPH H. REID — One of the younger members of the agricultural 
class, but whose parents were early settlers in the county, is Jos€;j)h H. 
Reid, who resides on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, one mile 
from Elk City. James W. Reid, his father, was a native of Tazewell 
county. Illinois, where he was born, in the year 184.5, the son of James 
H. Reid, a native of Virginia, who located in Tazewell countj', Illinois, 
in the early ]iart of the nineteenth century. 

In 1847, he, with his family of five children, removed to McCracken 
county, Kentucky, where he continued to reside until his removal to 
Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1868, where he died. He was the parent 
often children, as follows: Milton E., Mary, Newton, James, Sarah — these 
having been born in Illinois; and Napoleon, Scott, John, Daughtery F., 
and Almerinda. Of this family, James married Sarah Mikel, the date of 
their marriage being, December 21. 1870. The event took place in Inde- 
pendence township, of this county, and to their marriage were born three 
children, the lirst an unnamed infant, deceased; Joseph H., who consti- 
tutes the subject of this review ; and the third child, who also died un- 
named. 

The mother of these children was born in Adair county, Missouri, 
in the year 1849. and was a daughter of Edward and Lucy (Newton) 
Mikel. Her father was a leading farmer of that county and, in 1869, 
came to Montgomery county, Kansas, and settled on a claim in Inde- 
pendence township. He preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
six miles southwest of the county seat, where they have continued to re- 
side, and where they reared a family of twelve children, six of whom are 
now living, viz: Hugh, who resides in Schuyler, Missouri; Sarah, the 
mother of our subject; Martha J., married James Edwards, and resides 
in the Indian Territory ; Adaline, who married Enos Berger, of Okla- 
homa; Emma, wife of Edward Staley, of Independence township; and 
Alfred, of the Indian Territory, 

Joseph H. Reid is the only living child of his parents, and was born 
in Independence township, in 1873. He has ])assed his entire existence 
within the bounds of the county, receiving a good district school educa- 
tion. He has always been connected with the farming industry and, in 



426 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERT COUNTY, KANSAS. 

1896, he purchased his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres, 
lying in Louisburg township, ten miles from the county seat. He is a 
young man of integrity and perseverance and the success which has at- 
tended him in these, his early years, augurs well for an encouraging 
future. 



CHARLES H. KERR — A representative of a pioneer family and 
one of the successful young business men of Independence, is Charles H, 
Kerr. He was born in this city October 29, 1873, and is a son of the late 
well-known John Kerr, one of the pioneer mechanics of the county seat. 
The latter came here, in 1870, and erected a frame building in the hollow 
that originally crossed the townsite and used it, for a time, as a carriage 
and wagon shop. The building stood till the fire of 1884, when it was 
consumed and the brick storeroom, three doors north from the First Na- 
tional r.ank, rose on its site. 

•h'hn Kerr came to ^lontgomery county, Kansas, from Canada. He 
was born in the Province of Quebec, in ISSti, and was of Scotch parents. 
He married Lydia Slusser, a lady of German blood, but of Ohio birth. 
His wife was a native of Williams county, Ohio, and was married in that 
county, , .January 1, 1807. She resides in Independence, Kansas, at the 
age of sixty-three years, while her husband passed away in 1902. Their 
only child is the subject of this brief review. 

The public schools of Independence gave Charles H. Kerr his educa- 
tion. He completed the high school course, at the age of seventeen, and 
then took a commercial course in Spaiilding's Business College, in Kan- 
sas City. Engaging in business, he employed with the drug firm of O. J. 
Moon, of Independence, at ten dollars j)cr month, as a druggist's appren- 
tice. After ten months, he went to John St. Clair and still later, into 
the service of F. F. Yoe, of Independence. Leaving this last firm, he went 
to Ft. Scott, Kansas, and took a position with Hunter, the dryggist, for 
a time. On deciding to change employers again, he went to Cedarvale, 
Kansas, where he was with R. H. Rowland till, moved by a desire to en- 
gage in business for himself, he opened a drug store in Elk City, in 1898, 
which business he lost, by fire, January 12, 1902. While in Elk City, he 
promoted and placed on its feet, a gas and oil company, which did soma 
successful development and is now one of the substantial and permanent 
concerns of that locality. Returning to Independence, in the spring of 
1902, he purchased, on June 1, the entire stock of the late O. J. Moon, his 
old employer, and his is one of the leading drug houses of the city. He 
has put in the finest drug stock in Southern Kansas, in the building lo- 
cated on the site once occupied by his father's carriage shop. This store 
is one of the sights of the city. 

Mr. Kerr was married in Oak ^'alley, Kansas, October 29, 1900, his 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 427 

wife being Carrie Snvder, a daughter of J. K. Snyder, formerly of the 
State of Pennsylvania. A son, John Kerr, is the issue of this marriage. 

In Masonry, Mr. Kerr has taken all the degrees. He holds a meml)er- 
ship in the Independence Blue Lodge and Chapter, in Abdalah Temple, 
at Leavenworth, and in the Wirhifa Ccmsistory. thirty-two degrees. He 
is a Modern Woodman, a Workman, a K. of P. and an Elk. 



ARTHUR W. EVANS. M. D.— The profession of medicine in Mont- 
gomery county has been given a forward impetus and the medical staff 
strengthened and honored by the presence and active work of Dr. Arthur 
W. Evans, of Independence, whose worth inspires this personal review. 
For nine years, as a citizen and jihysician, has the doctor been identified 
with this county, and his skill in therapeutics, diagnostics and surgery, 
has won him a success which establishes him in the forefront of medical 
jurisprudence. 

Dr. Evans represents the school of homeopathy and is a product of 
the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago. His ability to thoroughly 
harmonize theory and practice and the personal traits, which contribute 
materially to his success, are peculiarly his own, and are in happy con- 
cord in his professional work. By education and training a Kansan, by 
inclination, purely western, but by nativity eastern, he was born in Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, October 26, 186.3. His father, Arthur Evans, is a native 
of Buckinghamshire, England. The latter was born in 1837, was a son of 
Noah Evans, who founded this branch of the family, in the United 
States, in 1849, and who, with his wife, lies buried in Spring Grove, 
near Cincinnati, Ohio. Noah Evans was a merchant in Hamilton county, 
Ohio, where our subject's father grew up and learned merchandising with 
a friend. The latter was identified with Cincinnati, until 1872. when he 
came out to Kansas and established himself, in Lawrence, till 1875, when 
he removed to Eureka, where he is engaged in the hardware business. He 
was married in 18 — , his wife being Mary Leishun, of Wales, born in 
1837. The three children of this union are : William A., of Eureka, Kan- 
sas ; Dr. Arthur W., of this notice ; and Lucy, wife of Dr. Higgins, of Em- 
poria, Kansas. 

The public schools of Eureka gave Dr. Evans his early training and 
he graduated at the academy there, at the age of nineteen. He took up 
the study of medicine, under Dr. W. H. Jenny, of Kansas City, and with 
Dr. Higgins, of Emporia. He spent four years in the celebrated Chicago 
medical college, previously referred to, and graduated from it, in 1892. He 
tooka post-graduate course, in the Chicago Polyclinic and located in Kan- 
sas City, Missouri, for the practice of his profession. In 1894, he estab- 
lished himself in Independence, Kansas, where his office has come to be 
thronged, daily, with the afflicted and the infirm, eager to be treated by 
his restoring hand. 



428 ■ HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

May 14, 1897, Dr. Evans married, in Independence, Mrs. Carrie 
Wallace, a daughter of Benjamin and Melitta Armstrong, and a grand- 
daugliter of Col. N. B. Bristol, whose sketch appears, elsewhere, in thi^ 
work. Mrs. Evans was born in Illinois, but has resided, since girlhood, 
in Montgomery county, Kansas. Dr. Evans is a Modern Woodman, a 
Knight of Pythias, an Elk, an Odd Fellow and a member of the Blue 
Lodge, Chapter, Commandery, Council and Shrine, Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons. His professional popularity scarce exceeds his social 
achievements and his symijathetic nature goes out in professional ser- 
vices to the poor, as well as the rich. His liberality is extended toward 
worthy objects, in proportion to their importance, and his public spirjt 
is of the substantial and ever-present kind. 



SAMUEL M. PORTER — Montgomery county has reason to be proud 
of the high character of her bar. The past is secure, in the high standing 
attained by many of its members, while the many brilliant young men 
now practicing before her courts, bid fair to maintain the standard. 
The gentleman, whose name is presented above, has earned the distinction 
of occupying a leading position among the legal fraternity, not only of 
'his own county, but in many of the surrounding counties, as well. He 
is especially strong in the field of title law, and has given deep study 
to questions pertaining to the legal status of the Indian, before ouk 
courts. He has met and vanquished many of the best legal minds of tho 
country, on these questions, and has established a reputation, for legal 
acumen, not surpassed by any of his cotemporaries. 

Samuel M. I'orter comes of a family, whose members have been hon- 
orably and prominently identified with the annals of our country, since 
the days of the great struggle for independence, and in which Moses J. 
Porter, grandfather of our subject, took a very prominent part, having 
been i n the staff of General Washington, during that sanguinary contlict. 
The latter was the son of English parents, who had emigrated to the hills 
of Vermont, many years before the war. They there developed that inde- 
pendence of spirit, which characterized all the people of that section, and 
many of whom fought valiantly in the ranks, when the issue was joined 
with the mother country. 

Moses J. Porter was born in Vermont and reared amid the hardships 
of pioneer life. He was one of the first to take up arms and soon so dis- 
tinguished himself as to attract the attention of his superiors. He partic- 
ipated in many of the hard-fought battles, and ,for six years was privi- 
leged to endure the hardships, which were so uncomplainingly partici- 
pated in by the great head of the army and his personal staff, and was 
])resent at the last great battle, where the world was "turned upside 
down" by the masterly tactics of him who was "first in war, first in 




S M. PORTER. 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 429 

peace, and first in the hearts of his coutrymen." After the war, he set- 
tled in Ontario county, New York state, and to him was born a son, 
Moses G., the date of whose birth was December 7, 1819, and who be- 
came, in turn, the father of our subject. 

At the age of twenty-three, Moses G. Porter settled in Oakland coun- 
ty, Jlichigan, where he, later, married Maria Morse, a native of Cort- 
land county. New York, born January 20, 1818. These parents reared 
a family of four children, and continued to reside in the locality of 
Walled Lake, Michigan, until their death. The father was a man of in- 
telligence and thrift, and, during his lifetime, participated actively in the 
social, religious and political life of the community. He served his 
township as trustee, and was, for many years. Justice of the Peace. He 
died at the age of sixty-five, in 1884, the wife surviving him thirteen 
years. 

Samuel M. Porter was born on a farm, near the village of Walled 
Lake, Michigan, on the 14th of December, 1849, and is the second of four 
children now living, John A., Edward W., and Sarah (now Mrs. Homer 
Chapman, of Walled Lake), being the other three. His prescholastic 
training was secured in the rather primitive country schools of that sec- 
tion of the state. He was reared to the independent life of the farm, 
and, in learning to run his furrows straight, was taught the value of right 
living. He early became imbued with the idea of the dignity of labor, 
and, through the intervening years, has always honored the "man behind 
the plow." 

Feeling the need of a better education, he matriculated at that fa- 
mous old school, Hillsdale College, from whose sacred precincts have 
come some of the brightest minds of the great west, and, for a number 
of terms, alternately attended its sessions, and taught winters iu the 
country schools of his section of the state. Through the influence of an 
old-time friend of the family, (Jeneral Daniel W. Perkins, of Saginaw, 
he was induced to begin the study of law, and, in his office, began the 
career which is progressing so favorably. After reading, in tliis office, for 
a period, he became a student at the Michigan University Law School, 
located at .\nn Arbor, and from which he graduated, in the class of 1874. 
East Saginaw, Michigan, was selected as a place to begin the practice, 
and, for the seven years succeeding, he practiced before the courts of that 
state, being admitted to the Supreme Court, in 1876. So assiduously did 
th(> ycuiig lawyer ajiply himself to the duties of his profession, that his 
health tailed, and, on the advice of his |ihysician for a change of ciimaU'. 
he came to Kansas, in Seidcniber, ISSl, and, settling on a farm near 
Caney for a time, abandoned his profession. This change of occupation 
and climate proved so beneficial that a few years only was necessary to 
jiut him in his old form, and he then i-esnmed the ])rac1ice. 

This, in brief, is the storx' of I he lilc of (uic of Canev's best citizens. 



430 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mr. Porter's coniiectioii with the |)eoj)le of Caney has been most helpful. 
He has always taken a keen interest in Ihe ])rooress of the city, and has 
iK^en instrnniental in lirinj-infj nincli cajiital to the section in which it is 
located. To him, probably, more than any other, may be attributed the 
building of the K., O. C. & S. W. Ry. In the interest of this enterprise 
he, in 1894, went to England and other foreign countries. Not meeting 
with immediate success there, he returned to New York, and, before com- 
ing home, had arranged foi- the necessai'v capital to begin the work. It 
was, also, owing to his indefatigable etlorts, that the Santa Fe Ky. Co. 
becan.ie interested in its jturchase, and it has thus become a feeder to one 
of the greatest systems of railway in the country. 

Air. Porter has shown his faith in the city by building one of the 
handsomest residence properties in this section of the state, a piece of 
home architecture that would attract attention in any city. Politics has 
no special charm for this Itnsy man, and he contents himself in casting 
his l);.llot for good government, party being of but slight consideration, 
although he generally votes with the Eepublicans. He is financially in- 
terested in several of the local enterprises. A stockholder in the Ho«ne 
National Bank, and for which he acts as legal adviser, pi-esident of the 
Gas Company, and stockholder in the Caney Prick Company, besides 
owning two farms near the city. 

Several of the best fraternities enroll the name of Mr. Porter, nota- 
bly the Jlodern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, Alasons 
and the Knights Tem])lar, in all of which he is a popular and helpful 
member. 

In Decendjer of 1874, Mr. Porter was joined in marriage with Miss 
Susan Hoyt, in Michigan ; an estimable lady, who died five years later, 
leaving two little daughters : May now a teacher in the schools of 
Walled Lake, and Grace, a teacher in the schools of Caney. In December 
of 1883, Mr. Porter contracted marriage the second time, the lady who 
now presides over his home, having been Miss Elthea Smith, a native of 
Minnesota. The marriage has been blessed with four children: George 
F., Margaret, Lutie and Paul. 

Life is what we make it ; the balances turn up or down, in the de- 
gree in which we are kind and lielpful and generous and brave. All of 
these attribute.s of character are found in the make-up of the gentleman 
whose brief sketch we here pre.sent, in the confidence that no man can say 
nav to what has here been written. 



FELIX J. FRITOH — The worthy citizen and prominent lawyer, 
mentioned in the introduction to this review, is numbered among the 
early Kansans where, from the age of thirteen years, his life has been 
spent and the modest achievements of his career been wrought. With 



HISTOBY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 431 

the genius of his mental faculties unawakened till the dawn of manhood 
and then embarrassed by the obstruclions and adversities of inopulent 
surroundings, still, by his own bootstraps, as it were, he raised himself 
out of the mire of illiteraoy to become an untrammeled and literate man. 
Broadening with the experience of years and ripening with the approach 
of maturer life, he presents an example of the self-made man, w'orthy 
the attention of the student of this local work. 

Referring to his nativity and genet)logy, Joseph Friteh, our subject, 
was born in Ross county, Ohio, September 20, 1855. His father, Joseph 
A. Friteh, was a contractor and builder in early life and was born in the 
Province of Alsace, then France, twelve miles from the city of Stras- 
burg, in the year 1808. Joseph Friteh, the grandfather of Felix J., of 
this notice, was a wine maker and cask manufacturer of wealth, whose 
fortune was largely dissipated by a Napoleonic decree, causing the issu- 
ing of scrip and pledging the property of the Catholic church for its 
final redemption. In 1825, the grandfather came to the United States, 
settled, for a time in Pennsylvania, and then moved to Ohio, where he 
died, at the age of ninety-six. By his two marriages, he reared a large 
family of children. His son, Jose]ih, had the advantages of a superior 
intellectual training and, having a bent for the study of the languages, 
mastered seven of them and became able to speak any of them fluently. 
He learned the cooper trade but took up carpenter work and finally ex- 
panded his effoi'ts into the contractor's field. In 1868, he came to Kan- 
sas and located, with his family, in Leavenworth. In 1870. he settled 
upon a new farm in Wilson county, near Fredonia, where his children 
grew up, and finally departed from the parental roof. He married Bar- 
bara Vinson, a daughter of (Jeorge Vinson, an Englishman. Barbara 
Friteh was born, in Tennessee, in 1818, and died in 1899. She outlived 
her husband seven years and was the mother of: Sarah, now a sister in 
the Convent in Columbus, Ohio ; George W., of Fredonia, Kansas ; Frank, 
deceased; Mary, a nun in the Dominican Convent at Columbus, Ohio, and 
manager of St. Mary's Academy at Shepard, Ohio; Flora, deceased; 
Mrs. Clara Tipton, of Guthrie, Oklahoma ; Felix J., our subject ; and 
Kate E., wife of C. B. McGinley, of Oklahoma City. 

At twelve years of age. F. J. Friteh quit school, for the time being, 
and entered his father's shop, in the manufacture of school furniture. He 
was fond of mechanics, and. for many years after the removal of the 
family to ^^'ilson county, Kansas, he aided his father in the erection of 
buildings here and there over the county. During this time, he spent 
three years as a laborer on railroad work, cutting the first stick of tim- 
ber out toward the head of Choctow Creek, east of Sherman. Texas, 
while the construction of the raili'iiad was going on. 

After his return home, and at the age of twenty-three years, he was 
persuaded, by a sister, to take writing lessons, \\iili the result that in a 



432 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

short tiiiip, lie wrote a fair liaiid and, in consequence of which, he was 
cliosen editor of tlie ])a])er of tlie neif;lihorhood literary society. The very 
night he was elected its editor, he had jjone to the society nieetinj; to help 
''break it up," a proceeding wliirli his disposition, at that time, cherished 
as a "bit of fuu.'' The distinction thus unwittingly thrust upon him. 
touched his pride and aroused his sen.se of justice and gave him his first 
effective shove toward a worthy and useful life. He made a marked suc- 
cess of the society jiajjer, with the aid of his refined sisters, and became 
one of the |iiii)ular young men of the locality. He soon afterward attend- 
ed, a** a j)n|iil, in the same school house, and was induced to attend the 
county institute the following summer. He applied himself so diligently 
toward the attainment of his, now, ultimate object, that he earned the 
third liighcst grade at the county examination. He began teaching 
countiy school as soon as he was legally qualified and was engaged in the 
work, with little loss of time, till 18(10. He was princi])al of the schools 
at lilainc. Kansas, for three Acars, and finished his school work, as princi- 
pal of schools, at Chautauqua Springs, in 1889. He sjient two years read- 
ing law with T. J. Hudson, in Fredonia — from twenty-seven to twentj- 
nine years of age — and when his last term of school closed, he went se- 
riously into the law business. He was admitted to the bar in Sedan. Kas., 
and did his first practice in the justice court in Chautauqua S]>rings. In 
1800, he came to Independence, fifteen hundred dollars overdrawn, and 
jiurchased an interest in the law business of Thos. W. Stanford, and the* 
partners ])racticed together one year. Then he opened an office, alone, 
and was so situated till the spring of 1903, when he formed a partner- 
ship with John y\'. Bertenshaw, a young and promising attorney of In- 
dependence, and the firm of Frilch & Rertenshaw is one of the popular 
new firms of the cit,y. 

For three years, Mr. Fritch was Dei)utj Clerk of the Kansas Su- 
preme Court, under John Martin, of Topeka. He had studied shorthand 
after beginning the j)ractice of law and. in seven months, became able 
to report cases and take testimony in the district court. In 1897. he was 
assistant secretary of the Kan.sas State Senate, by appointment of tliQ 
Leedyadministration. He has filled a vacancy, by appointment, as city at- 
torney of Independence and was an unsuccessful candidate for the office 
of county attorney. 

In May, 1885, Mr Fritch married, in Blaine, Kansas, his wife being 
Cora M., daughter of Judge H. W. Hazen, of that place. The issue of 
this union is two sous, Joseph Leo and Frank J. and two daughters, both 
now dead. 



JOSEPH H. GRAVES— The father of Joseph H. Graves. Hender 
son Graves, was a native of Virginia. He was born in 1808 and moved. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 433 

with his parents, to Ohio, when only four years old. After his marriage, 
to Robecpa Ann Perkins, he removed to Missoiiri, about the year IS.'iT, 
where he died, in lS(i8. His wife lived until -lune. ISO."), when she died, 
at the ajie of eighty-lwo years. There were seven children, six of wlioni 
are now living. 

Joseph H. Graves, the subject of this sketch, was born in Coshocton 
county. Ohio, on the 14th of July, 1844. He was twelve years old when 
his father moved to Missouri. His opportunities for an education were 
few, for, at llie age of sixteen, he enlisted as a private, in ("oin])any "I," 
Fourth Missouri Cavalry, and served twelve months and reenlisted in the 
Twelfth Missouri Cavalry, (Company "M," and served throughout the war. 
He was in many hard battles; the battle of Xashville, Tennessee, and was 
sixty-five days in the saddle, skirmishing and fighting, and was neither 
wounded nor captured. After the war, he returned home, where he was 
married, Decendjcr 20, 186(>, to Mary J. Conkel. a native of Pennsylvania. 
She was a daughter of Reuben and Elizabeth (Kline) Conkel, both na- 
tives of Pennsylvania. The father died in Indiana, at the age of fifty- 
seven years. His wife still survives him and lives in Independence, Kan- 
sas. 

For seven years, immediately following the marriage of Mr. Graves, 
be w<irked as a day laborer. This sort of "hand to mouth" existence was 
not jileasing, however, to either him or his wife, and they resolved to end 
it by taking advantage of some of the cheap land in the southwestern part 
of Kansas. They, therefore, settled, in 1873, in Sumner county, where 
they bought a claim. A year in this part of the country was sufficient to 
give them a case of homesickness, and they made their way back to Mis- 
souri. In 1884, they again resolved to try what Kansas could do to bet- 
ter their condition, and this time settled on a farm near Independence. 
They soon found that they had struck the right country and, in a short 
time, traded for the present farm, located two and one-half miles south- 
east of Caney. Here they have one of the prettiest situations in the coun- 
ty, their farm lying on high rolling prairie, which gives them a com- 
manding view of the valley below, where the enterprising little city ot 
Caney lies in full view. The south line of the farm is but sixty-five 
rods from the state line. The appointments are of the best, a large and 
handsome residence, an immense barn and other outbuildings necessary 
to the conduct of a first-class farm. The family of seven children are as 
follows: Charles W., a business man of Caney; Harry H., also in business 
in Caney; Elizabeth Ann, Flety May. Ida Alice. Daisy Melis.sa and Mag- 
gie .Maud. 

Mr. (haves' first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln and he still 
snii|>orls the |iaity which espouses that cause. 



434 HISTORY OP MONTGOMEET COUNTY, KANSAS. 

JOHN G. EEDMAN — One of the German-Aiiierican farmers of 
Montgomery county, whose residence herein has lent an influence for 
good in the general rural deveIoi)ment of recent years, is the gentleman 
whose name introduces this personal notice. His advent to the county 
dates from February, 188.5, when he established his family on a part of 
section 3, township 33, range 15, when he converted a good mechanic into 
an eciually good and successful farmer. He is a settler from Adams 
county. Illinois, where, at Quiucy, he grew up from childhood, learned 
his trade and embarked sticcessfully and honorably in the affairs of life. 

Mr. Erdman was born in the Kingdcun of Prussia, near the town of 
Muhliiausen, March 4, 1844. His father was John M. Erdman. of the 
town of Muhlhausen, and his mother was Anna E. Bang. In 1851, the 
parents sailed from Bremen, bound, on a sailing vessel, for New Orleans, 
Louisiana. They continued their journey from New Orleans up the 
Mississi])pi river and ended their trij) at Quincy, where the parents 
passed their remaining years and died, the father in 1800 and the mother, 
January 12, 1871, at the age of sixty five years. The father was a carpen- 
ter and his early efforts in the United States were given in the upbuilding 
of the city of Quincy, then a mere village on the bank of "The Father of 
Waters." Two of the thi'ee children of this venerable couple lived to 
reach maturity, viz : John G. and his brother, John Martin, who died in 
Los Angeles, California, in 1896. 

John G. Erdman learned his trade in his vigorous youth, becoming 
proficient in both wood work and blacksmithing. With the exception of 
three yeai's, when he was sojourning, temporarily, in Marysville, Cali- 
fornia, he was a resident of Quincy, 111., till his advent to Kansas. In 18C4, 
he crossed the plain, driving a team, and made the trip to California, be- 
ing located at Marysville, near Sacramento, where he remained three 
years, and where he followed his trade. He returned east, by water, and 
disembarked at Charleston, South Carolina, where he took rail for his 
home in Quincy. Resuming his trade, he engaged with W. T. and E. A. 
Kogeis, of Quincy, with whom he continued eleven years. Being a short 
while in the steam and gas fitting business, on his own account, he dis- 
continued it and employed with the well-known hayjjress manufacturer, 
George Ertal, where he remained four years. Following this, he was em- 
ployed, as a blacksmith, for three years, in a wheel factory and the sav- 
ings he accumulated in these eighteen years constituted the capital with 
which he came out to Montgomery county, in 1884, and purchased the 
farm which he has developed into an attractive homestead. He found 
here, a small field of twenty acres plowed, the place barren of buildings, 
and little else was there, in sight, to indicate that it liad been touched by 
the civilizing hand of man. A commodious farm residence now domi- 
ciles the family and ample barns and sheds give shelter to the stock of 
the farm. The mention of these, constitutes only a suggestion of what 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 435 

has boeii done by the industrious household, under the supervision of its 
])ateri.al head. Mr. Erdinan owns one hundred and sixty acres of the 
section iu which he lives and makes it all produce abundantly and 
prosper. 

Ajiril 8, 1869. Mr. Erdnian married, in Quincy, Mary Brueninj?, a 
lady of Mecklenburg' birth. Her father, John liruenin";, came over from 
Germany to Illinois, in an early day, and followed cabinet-making in 
Quincy, whei'e he died, in June, 1900, at eighty years of age. Mr. and 
Mrs. Erdman's children are: John F. , Henry W. , Ida, wife of Henry 
Meyer, of Elk City, Kansas; Sophia and Mary. Mr. Erdnian votes the 
He])ublican ticket and worships with the German Lutheran congrega- 
tion, in Independence. 



WILLIAM W. McKINNEY— In Louisburg township, of this county, 
on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, there has lived, since 1886, a 
gentleman who has the distinction of being a veteran of the Mexican war. 
He served in that struggle, under General Winfield Scott, from the Gulf 
coast to the Mexican capital. This veteran is W. W. McKinney, the 
subject of this review, now seventy-eight years of age, and he looks back 
upon a long life of stirring activity with the consciousness of having per- 
formed each requirement of manhood as it was presented to him. 

Mr. McKinney was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, in the year 
1825. His parents were Flemon and Ann Delilah (Gregg) McKinney. 
He is a grandson of William McKinney, who emigrated from his native 
State of Virginia to Kentucky, at a very early period, in the settlement of 
the ''Blue Grass State." The family are of Scotch descent, the great 
grandparents of our subject having come to America in the latter part of 
the eighteenth century. 

Mr. McKinney's parents passed their entire lives in the "Blue Grass 
t^tate." His mother died in Pulaski county, while he was yet a child, 
and his father located in Louisville, after the Civil war. They reared the 
following children, viz: Elizabeth, William W., Pauline B., John G., 
Hiram K. and Lucinda; all deceased but Hiram K and William W. By 
a second marriage, Flemon McKinney had the following children : 
James F., Charles H., Nancy, Pauline and Eliza Ann ; and by a third 
marriage, were two children : Margaret and Emma. 

William McKinney received his education in Pulaski county. Ken- 
tuck\, and c<mtinued to reside ui>on the old homestead until 1886. He 
eniisled in ilie Mexican war, in 1847, as a volunteer in Company ''C," 
Fourth Kentucky A'olunteer Infantry, for which service he now receives 
a pension of fS.OO per month. He married, in 1848, Lora Ann, a 
daughter of Alexander and Elizal)eth (Lawson) Reid, of Pulaski county, 
Kentucky, and to whom were born children, as follows: Mary Elizabeth 



436 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

and Cyrenus J., deceased; Nancy Ellen, wife of Joseph M. Hubble, a 
farmer of Pulaski county, whose four children are: Lena, Edgar, Annie 
and William; James, who first married Sophrona Vaught, who died, De- 
cember 3, 1893, leaving four children: Elmer J., Pearl, Rose and May; 
his second wife was Annie Goodwin, daughter of Alfred Goodwin, a farm- 
er of Montgomery county, whose two children are: Fannie and Mary; 
JohnTalbottMcKinney, married Mary Belle Bryant, a daughter of Henry 
Bryaiit, a farmer of Kentucky; her children are: Oscar, William B., Alba 
and Lela ; Sarah L., is the wife of B. J. Vaught, a farmer of Pulaski 
counly; her children are: Victor G., Fanny A., Allie, Neatie. Fauna, 
Beatie and Mocella; William F.'s first wife was Myrtle Skinner, daughter 
of Dr. M. W. Skinner of Kansas, and after her death — which occurred 
May 1, 1896 — he was joined in marriage with Lilly Vaught, daughter of 
Fountain F. and Margeret (Dungan) Vaught, farmers of Pulaski county, 
Kentucky. The Vaught family consists of eleven children, five of whom 
are now living, as follows: Boen, Pulaski county; Elisha, Parke county, 
Indiana; Ansel, Estell and Mrs. McKinney. 

William F. McKinney was born, in 18G2, in Pulaski county, and 
received his education in the common schools of that county and at the 
University of Lebanon, Ohio. He was, for a period of ten j'ears, station 
agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Gompany, at different points, but 
has for several years, been managing his father's farm, in Louisburg 
township. 

The social position of the McKinney family is a commanding one 
in the county. The correct and upright lives which have been lived by 
our subject and his children, has established for them a most enviable 
reputation. Their character and citizenship is of the best and they are 
held in high regard. Politically, they sujiport the party of Lincoln and 
Garfield, and are devoted members of the ('hristian church. 



THOMAS J. STRAUB— Probably the youngest Register of Deeds 
of Montgomery county is Thomas J. Straub, of this review. He is a na- 
tive of the county and is a sou of i)ioneer parents, Francis J. and Eliza- 
beth (Wilkinson) Straub, the former of whom took up a tract of the pub- 
lic domain, in Liberty township, in the year 18G9. He was a settler from 
Missouri but was born in the State of Wisconsin, January 24, 1847. His 
parents were of German birfli and his father, Henry J. Straub, brought 
liis family to Wisconsin in an early day, resided there till some time in 
the .')(l's and then moved down into Missouri, where his younger children 
grew uj). 

Frances J. Straub came to manhood's estate on the farm and ac- 
quired a limited education in the country schools. He espou.sed the side 
of the union, during the Rebellion, and enlisted, in 1862, in the Twelfth 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 437 

Missouri Cavalry. He served two and one-half years in the South and 
when discharged from the service, returned home and reengaged in civil 
pursuits there till 18()!), when he anticipated Horace Greely's advice and 
came west. The "claim"' he took in Montgomery county, he improved 
and resided on until 1902, when, having lost his companion and having 
brought his children to years of maturity, he accompanied his son to In- 
dependence, where he now resides. September 20, 1871, he was united in 
marriage with a daughter of Thomas Wilkinson, a gentleman of Irish 
birth, whose early American home was maintained in the Dominion of 
Canada. There his daughter, Elizabeth, was born, in 1840. She accom- 
panied her father to Kansas and settled in Montgomery county, in 1869, 
and died in Liberty township, on the 12th of September, 1902, after a 
married life of nearly thirty-one years. The children of this union were: 
Etta, who died at twenty-one years; Ivan E., of Baker City, Oregon; 
Thomas J. and Kate E., twins, the latter of whom died December 24, 
1898; and T'lysses O., who died June 2, 1901. 

Thomas J. Straub was born November 29, 1878. He followed the ways 
of the farm youth, till the spring of 1898, when he enlisted in Captain 
Elliott's company of Twentieth Kansans, for service in the Spanish- 
American war. The regiment rendezvoused at San Francisco, Califor- 
nia, till October, 1898, when it was embarked aboard the transport In- 
diana, for Manila, to assist in the reduction of the Spanish stronghold 
in the Pacific. December 1, the transport anchored in Manila Bay and 
the Twentieth Kansas, on being disembarked, was given a position on the 
outpost of Manila. It remained on this species of guard duty till the 
Filipino outbreak, on the 1th of February, 1899, when it took a promi- 
nent part in all the fighting, from Caloocan to San Fernando, the follow- 
ing June. On the 2.'!(1 of February, our subject was on picket duty within 
the city of Manila, when it was expected that the Filipinos of the place 
would undertake to massacre all the English-speaking and Spanish resi- 
dents, and when the cit^' was thrown into a turmoil of excitement by the 
recent discovery of such a plot. But, few lives were sacrificed, other than 
Filipinos, during the night, and morning relieved the tension and assured 
the safety of the city. Mr. Straub participated in the battles of Tuhuli- 
han river, Calumpit and Malolos, in addition to those previously men- 
tioned, returned to the Fnited States on board the transport Tartar, by 
way of Hong Kong and Yokahoma, and reached San Francisco October 
15, 1899, and on the 2d of Xovember following, ended a flying trip across 
the continent, with tlie regiment, to take part in the reception tendered 
the f:Mnous Twentieth by the citizens of Kansas at Topeka on that day. 

Mr. Straub finished his education, on his return home, in the com- 
mercial college at Sedalia, Missouri, and, following the completion of his 
course was, for five months. Deputy Clerk of the District Court^ in Mont- 
gomery coimty. In •lamiary, l!)(l2, he .severed his connection with the 



438 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ofiQce and returned to Liberty township, from which he soon afterward 
announced his candidacy for the office of Register of Deeds. file was 
nominated, against two competitors, and was elected, in November, by 
a nwijority of three hundred and seventy-five voles. He was installed into 
office January 12, ll»(i:3, to succeed T. F. Burke. He is a Republican and 
cast his maiden Presidential vote for the lamented William McKinley. 



HENRY BRADLEY, M. D.— A pleasant drive, i.ue-half mile east 
of the little city of Caney, in Montgomery county, brings one to the 
splendid stock farm of Dr. Henry Bradley, a gentleman whose strong 
personality has affected, in a marked degree, the develoiiment of the set' 
tion m which he lives and whose pleasing address and kindly mauue? 
has made him the center of a host of friends. 

Dr. Bradley comes of "Buckeye"' stock, having been born in Indiana 
on the 22d of March, 1845. His father, Michael Bradley, was a native of 
Ohio and, on arriving at manhood's estate, was joined in marriage 
to Leah Glick, also a "Buckeye."' They moved to Indiana, about 1810, and 
settled in Miami county, in the virgin forest, and, in true juoneer fashion, 
carved out a home, and where they continued to i-eside until the death 
'»f the father, at the age of sixty-five years. The wife survives him, a^i 
.the age of eighty-six years. She was the mother of twelve children, of 
whom Henry is the fourth. 

Dr. Henry Bradley drew inspiration from the fields of the"Hoosier 
State," attending to the duties of farm life and acquiring such education 
as was possible, in the district school of that time, with its slab benches 
and puncheon Hoors and teachers who spared not the rod, in the making 
of the future scholar and statesman. He was, later, favored with a three 
years' caurse at a Presbyterian academy, at Wabash, Indiana, and then 
commenced the study of his profession. He finished his studies at a med- 
ical college in Marion, graduating in February of 1882. With his "sheep- 
skin"underhis arm, he immediately came west, locating at Tyro, in Mont- 
gomeiy county. Here he built up a splendid practice, but, yielding to the 
excitement of the time, in the opening of the Oklahoma country, he went 
down, secured a claim, and stayed until he had proved up on it, in the 
meantime doing some practice at his profession. Kansas, however, had 
sunk her seeds of contentment so deep into his nature that he re- 
solved to sell out and return, and Montgomery again claimed him as a 
citizen. He, however, had become weaned from the profession to which 
he had devoted thirty years of his life, and, in conjunction with his son, 
jiurchased a farm and began the business in which they are now engaged. 
Here they make a point of handling nothing but the best stock, and do a 
large business in horses and mules. 

Dr. Bradlev's family consists of wife and one son, Nathaniel, who 




J. E. HARDIN. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 439 

was born in Miami county, Indiana, January G, 1865, and was joined 
in marriage with Eunice rornthwaiti', a native of Indiana, and a daugh- 
ter of Tliouias and Klioda Cornthwaite. They have two children, Harold 
and Ojial. The doctor's wife, whom he married, in Indiana, March 27, 
1864, was Miss Eliza Ward. >"^lie was born December 19, 1844, in Ohio, 
the daughter of Robert and Jane (Adams) Ward, he of Ohio, and she a 
native of Ireland. Mrs. Bradley is one of twelve children, five of whom 
are now living: Alexander, Thomas, John, Elwood and Eliza. It is 
worthy of note and of all praise, that of the family, during the dark days 
of the rebellion, six members n)arclied forth to do battle for their coun- 
try. The father, together with Alexander, John, Thomas, Elwood and 
Harry, early joined the army and served till the close, save Harry, who 
was mortally wounded, during the siege of Vicksburg, and died, seven 
davs later. 



JOSEPH E. HARDEN — ^^'ith a character unique in its personality, 
probably no other name presented in this volume will attract a greater 
degree of attention than that of Joseph E. Harden, farmer, postmaster 
at Larimer and station agent of the Missouri Pacific railroad. He has 
'•been here always;" at least, so it seems to many of his friends and 
neighbors, who have known him so long that the mind of man "runneth 
not to the contrary." 

Mr. Hardin filed on a claim of eighty acres, on section 2-32-15, on 
the 19th of March, 1870, which has constituted his home since that date. 
He was born near Baltimore, Maryland, May 19, 1828, and lived there 
and in the city until Septeiid)er of 1853, when he entered the employ of 
the P>. & O. railroad, as a freight conductor. He served with efficiency 
in this position until he had the misfortune to get his hand mashed, when 
he worked as a stationary engineer at one of the company's jiumpiug 
stations. In 1867, he came west, to DesMoines, Iowa, where he worked 
in the Rock Island's freight house, for a short period, thence to Atlantic, 
Iowa. He remained at this point until the date of his coming to Kan- 
sas, the trip being made overland in the typical "prairie schooner" of the 
day. 

After putting up his box house, Mr. Harden had but a bare fifty-cent 
piece in his pocket to begin life in the new country, but he went to work 
with the "whin and whil" of the true Marylander and, in two years' 
time, had paid for his jilace and had a sjilendid start in improvements. 
It is interesting to note, that in his iiriiuitive box house, there met the 
first (piai'terly meeting of the Methodist ciinrch in these parts, those pres- 
ent being Elder C. E. Lewis, \\illiani Laii'd, Solomon Duncan, \\'illinni 
("ouch. John W. Keller, A. Harris. .Mrs. Mendinghall and Mr. and .Mrs. 
Harden. Tliis first .shelter gave place to a strong stone hou.^e. at the be- 



440 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ginning of the third year, which served (intil the railroad was Iniilt, wlieii 
the present home was erected. 

The following points concerning llie family of Mr. Flarden are of in- 
terest; Ignatins Harden, grandfather of our subject, left Carlton, Eng- 
land, and worked his way over to America on the same vessel in which 
was Charles Carroll, the owner of "Carroll Manor," in Harford county, 
Maryland. He accom])anied Mr. Carroll to his Manor and lived out his 
life ii! that vicinity. He reaied four cliildieii: Ignatius. Xiclioias. .Foseph 
and Sarah. Nicholas, of this family, married Clarissa Gore, a native 
of (iernuiny, to whom were horn fourteen chihlren, as follows: Adazilla, 
Allen, Teresa Ward, Billa/.ii)i)a Allen, Cornelia Bartholow, Francis A., 
AYilliam H., Samuel ().. Elizabeth Nicholas, Sarah A. Steward, Nicholas 
Louis F., Clarissa A. Gardner. -lohn W. and Joseph E. The father of this 
family was born in Carroll ^lanor. in 1784. When he grew to manhood, 
he became a man of much prominence. He served, as tirst lieutenant, in 
the war of 1812. He was of well-developed jihysique, standing six feet 
two and weighing two hundred and tifty pounds. He took great interest 
in the manly art of boxing and became the champion of America, besting 
John J. Selby of England, then considered the nuxster of that country. 
Selby came over to America for the express jjurpose of meeting Mr. 
Harden and the mill took jdace in Freedom, Carroll county, Maryland, 
in 1809. Nicholas won the tight in the sixth round, his opponent failing 
to give him so much as a scratch. 

Joseph E. Harden was joined in marriage in 1854, to Emeline, 
daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Leech, of Virginia. After the death of 
his first wife, without issue, Josei)h, in 18(J8, married the lady who now 
so efficiently presides over his home. Mrs. Harden is a native of West 
Virginia, and is the daughter of John and Barbara Welch, her christian 
name being Mary A. To her have been born ; Joseph W. and Mary Alice, 
deceased; Dora Koss, of Sedan, Kansas, whose daughter's name is Mary 
L. ; Cl.'irissa A. Lobaugh. who, after the death of her husband, came to live 
with her parents, with her two children, Mabel and Joseph W. ; Walter 
H., who served his country gallantly in the Philippines for three years 
without the loss of a day by sickness. He received a bullet wound in the 
foot while on guard duty at Manila and now resudes under the home 
roof. 

Josei)h E. Harden has had a long and honorable career. In early life, 
he was a cai)tain of militia, in Virginia, under the administration of 
Gov, Wise, and his company was called out to quell the John Brown raid. 
In Montgomery county, he has served two terms as justice of the peace 
and has been ])ostmaster since 18!)1. For the past ten years, he has 
• served the Missouri Pacific company at Larimer, as station agent, and is 
|)roii(l of the fact that;his hand signed the bill of lading for the tirst car 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 44r 

of oil seut from this section, to the reliiierv at Neodesha, (lie date being 
Febmarv 12, 1893. 

Any word of coniniendation on iho rliaracter of Joseph K. Ilardeu 
will seem entirely sni)erfhions here, as nearly every reader of (his volume 
will have perscmal knowledn;e of him. Suffice it to say, that he and his 
family ai-e in every respect worthy the great esteem in which they are 
held and merit the universal good wishes with which they are showered. 



CHAHT.OTTK T. KlHKrATHlCK In the autumn of 1870, the sub- 
ject of this personal notice came into Monlgoniery county, Kansas, with 
her husband, the late Hardin W. KIrkpatrick, well remembered by the 
early settlers of West ("herry townshiji. The two settled on a claim-right, 
boughl of one Edward liurt. for wliitli they paid the sum of |;900.00, 
and remained there twelve years, going thence to their new farm, in sec- 
tion .3. townsliiii ;!1, range It!, which was entered, as a claim, by Mr. Mc- 
Govern. Hei-e tlw family had its peiinanent liome and here Mr. Kirkpat- 
rick died, February 10, 190:!. 

Mrs. Kirkpatrick was born in Scott county, Illinois, .January 13, 
1845, and was a rcsitlent of that <-ounty till her dei)arture for Kansas. 
Her parents were Kdwanl and l>elilah t Baxter i Elliott, born in Tenn- 
sylvania and Kentucky, respectively. Edward Elliott was a son of 

lOlliott. who removed fi'oni the "Keystone State" to Kentucky and 

subseipiently became a pioneer of Scott county. Illinois. Edward, Thom- 
as anil Ilaiiiet Hamilton were the three children of the original Elliott, 
herein nientioiied, and by his marriage with nelilah Baxter. Edward 
Elliott reared eight children, namely: \A'illiani II.. Mrs. .Julia A. ('line, 
Mrs. Mar.\ IlaniiltDn. .Mis. Candine Mawson, -Fohn S., Jirs. Sarah E. Kel- 
ly, Mrs. Amanda E. Fletcher and Mrs. Charlotte T. Kirkpatrick. 

Hardin ^^'. Kirk|)atrick was born in Winchester, Scott county, Illi- 
nois, and was a son of Thomas and .lane R. (Summers) Kirkpatrick, 
natives of Monroe county, ^'irginia, and of Todd county, Kentucky, res- 
pectively. The elder Kirkpatricks had four children, namely: Hardin 
W., Saniantha II.. .Mrs. .Vlice A. MclOvens and ^Irs. ICmmorilles ICdmond- 
son. Jh . and Mrs. Kirkpatrick became the parents of five children, viz: 
Harry E., of .Montgomery county, has three sons: Koy, Ivan (J. and Burt 
R. ; Chas. S., of Latah, Washington, has a daughter, Mildred. Those 
deceased are: Edward, Vera and an infant. 

In his young manhood, Hardin W. Kirkjiatrick learned cabinet- 
making, but when about twenty years of age, he abandoned the trade and 
became a teachei- in the country si'hools, for some time. At the opening 
of the t'ivil war, he enlisted, as a jirivate, in Company "F," One Hundred 
and Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. After the war, he returned 
to his nati\(' place, with a minnie ball in his arm, and followed f.-irming 



442 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

till he left the east to become identified, iu the same manner, with the 
west. 

As a citizen of INIontgompry county, he practiced industry and 
brought up his family to useful and upright lives. He was a prominent 
factor in local politics and was called to serve in public oflBce by the 
voter.s of his township. He held the office of treasurer one term and was 
a number of years trustee and justice of the peace. He affiliated with 
the allied forces, as against the dominant political party of the county, 
and contributed his mite toward the overthrow of Republicanism. 



JOSEPH S. HENDERSON— Brought into ]Montgomery county in 
infancy, when nature was supreme. .Tosejth S. Henderson is numbered 
with the pioneers. It was Octol)er 1, 1869, that his parents entered the 
county and became permanent settlers here. Their location was made on 
section 29, township 32, range 15, which tract was substantially im- 
proved, in time, and which has remained the continuous abiding place 
of the family. The head of the family early took rank as one of the pro- 
nouncedly successful farmers of the county and his landed accumulations 
and 'excellence, as a citizen, have made him widely known and highly 
esteemed. 

William D. Henderson, father of our subject, is well on the shady 
side of life. Arduous and continuous labor, for a third of a century, in 
a new country, has finally told on him, and in the zenith of his achieve- 
ments and when ready to enjoy life, he is broken in spirit and emaciated 
and wasted in body. He came to Kansas, a strong and ambitious man, 
and while achieving his ambition, his strength has wasted away. The 
accumulation of his four hundred and seventy-five acres of land and the 
rearijig and starting of a large family on successful careers, furnish the 
briefest syno])sis of the events of his career. He was born in Johnson 
county, Indiana, in 1835. He grew to manhood on the farm and married 
Susan, a daughter of James K. Debo, also of Indiana origin. The issue 
of this nmrriage is the following children: Carrie, wife of Andrew Mc- 
Ginnis, of Wilson county, Kansas; Miss Louella, Nannie, who married 
Solon Swartz, of Montgomery county ; Amy, Mrs. O. W. Riggle. of Mont- 
gomery county; Joseph S., the subject of this personal review; Eliza- 
beth, wife of W. S. Utterback, of Oklahoma; Minnie, who became Mrs. 
J. S. Inman, of Montgomery county; and Frank, yet on the old home- 
stead. Four others died young. 

Joseph S. Henderson is a product of the country schools and, while 
growing up. became familiar with all the "ins and outs" of farm work 
and development. He had a fine oi)portuntiy to get accpiainted with hard 
work and he accepted the condition without complaint. He resided with 
his parents till past the twenty-fifth mile-stone of life and then, Novem- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 443 

ber 21), 1894, uiariied Ettie J. Hrown, a daughter of Isaac Brown. Mr. 
Brown came to Kansas from Illinois, where Mrs. Henderson was born, 
but was originally from Tennessee. He is, now, a resident of Oklahoma. 
Mrs. Henderson was born on the 11th day of December, 1809, and is one 
of a family of four cbildren. Thrw children are the issue of this union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, namely: Homer, Jessie and Edith M. 

In politics, the Hendersons of this branch are, and have always been, 
Democrats. For many years, William D. served on the school board in 
his home district and thus contributed of his time toward advancement 
in public education. 



(JEORCJE W. .M()()NI:Y— .June 4, 1858, George W. Mooney, of this 
sketch, was born at Fort Madison, Iowa. He lived the life of a farmer 
boy in his youth and the lirst twenty-six years were passed in his native 
county, .\fter three years, spent as a teamster in Ft. Madison, he remov- 
ed to Taylor county. Iowa, where he resumed farming and continued it 
for twelve years. Coming tlien<e to Kansas and settling in Montgomery 
county he purchased eighty acres, in section 'My. township 31, range 16, 
whera he maintains himself at home. 

Mr. Mooney is a son of CJeorge Mooney, a native of Ohio, who left 
the farm there, came into Iowa and engaged in the operation of a saw- 
mill. He was a son of an Irishman, Charles ^looney, whose youthful 
home was in the State of .Maryland. Charles .Mooney had sons, Daniel 
and Ceorge. and the latter married Hosanna I'iatt, a Virginia lady. John 
and Hannah were their two children, the latter becoming Mrs. Joseph 
Shefller. of Missouri. Jane Smith became the second wife of George 
Mooney. She was a Pennsylvania woman and was a daughter of John 
and Mary Smith. The issue of this second marriage were: Smith, of Illi- 
nois; Mrs. lOlizabeth Knock, of Ft. Madison, Iowa; George W., our sub- 
ject; iuid Rachel, who resides with her brother (Jeorge. 

The life of Mr. Mooney has been an uneventful one, in the light of 
political or other excitement, and has been passed mainly within range 
of his own home and under the shadow of "his own vine and fig tree." 
His household is ])resided over by his younger sister and both acknowl- 
edge a close and sympathetic rclati(Uiship with the plain people. Mr. 
Mooney is a Democrat and has a membership in the A. H. T. A. 



HARRY E. BRKJHTON— The weekly newspaper is an institution 
to which may be attributed, in a large iiicasui'e, the remarkable develop- 
ment of the great west. Through no otliei' agency could the advantages 
of this section have been placed before the ixM)ple so fully, and it is grati- 
fying to find hei-e and there a publisher who has been ])artially repaid for 



444 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

the painstaking effort he has made to serve his town and county. The 
popularity of the gentleman, here introduced lo our readers, is attested 
by the splendid sup])ort given his very excellent jiaper, the Caney Weekly 
Chronicle, of which he has been editor and publisher since 1802. 

Mr. Brighton is an Illinoisan by birth, Tazewell county the place and 
December 22, 1867, the time. He is the son of Israel M. Brighton. The 
father was a native of the "Hoosier State," where Ihe Civil war found 
him a young man of loyal spirit and a will to hel]! "break the Afric's 
chain." He went to the front and, for three years, was engaged in the 
service, as a member of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Indiana Cav- 
alry, participating in many of the hard-fought battles of the war. Turn- 
ing his implements of war into the pruning hooks of peace, he left the 
"Hoosier State" and settled in Illinois, where he was shortly married to 
Mary E. Logue, of ''Buckeye" nativity. In 1868, they joined the stream 
of emigration setting in toward the west and bccaine one af the i)ioneer 
families of Montgomery county. For six years the family lived on a 
farm near Independence, then removed to that place, where the father 
soon died, being carried off at the early age of thirty-five years. The wife 
still resides in Independence, bearing her sixty-eight years with remark- 
able activity. She is the mother of three stalwart sons and one daughter, 
our subject being the eldest. Hold N.. the second son. imitated the spirit 
of the father and, during the war with Sjjain, served valiantly as a mem- 
ber of the Fortieth U. S. Infantry. He had completed his term of ser- 
vice and was returning on board one of the government transports when 
he was attacked with a malignant disease and carried away. The young- 
er son is Edgar M. and the daughter is Mrs. I). N. Ball, of Elk City. 

Harry E. Brighton narrowly escajted being numbered with the native, 
Kansans, being but nine months old when he landed in Montgomery 
county. In education, he is the product of the splendid school system 
of his ado])ted state, and, at the age of fifteen, entered a printing office, 
second only to the public school in the work of education. This was in 
1882, and Mr. Brighton has been in the business continuously since that 
time. He worked at the case until 18!tl, when he associated hiiii.«elf with 
W. S. Irving and bought the Cofteyville News. He retained his interest 
in the News but a year when he sold out to his partner, and, coming to 
Caney. worked for a year in the office of the Caney Times. Again he 
essayed the role of editoi' and jiublishei', this time puichasiiig the Caney 
Chronicle, in association with Mr. riwirles Taylor. The Chronicle was a 
good newspaper property, but nee(h'd the energetic attention of two such 
men as were now in charge. It soon took rank as one of the best papers 
in southern Kansas and has maintained its high standard since the re- 
tirement of Mr. Taylor, whose interest was bought by our subject, in 1896. 
The secret of Mr. Brighton's success, is his untiring devotion to the inter- 
ests of the community in which he resides. The Chronicle is always 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 445 

open to (ell the story of Claney's superior advantages, and much of the 
marvelous progress of that enterprising little city is due to the adver- 
tising it lias received in its columns. I'olitically. the Chronicle is a firm 
supporter of the policies of the Republican i)arty and its strong utter- 
ances, during the days of Refoi'm ascendancy, did much to turn the tide 
again in favor of what Mr. Rrighton fully believes to be the salvation 
of the country. 

The family of Mr. Brighton consists of wife and four children: 
Maud M., Thomas H., Hobart A. and a little girl one year old. Mrs. 
Brighton, whom he married on the 25th of December, 1889, was Miss 
Ida I-. Comi)ton, daughter of W. W. Compton, an early settler of Kan- 
sas. They live in a nice residence, where they dispense a gracious hospi- 
tality to a large circle of friends. 

Mr. Brighton is a member of I. O. O. F. and A. O. U. W. and both 
are nsembers of the M. E. church. 



JOHN N. DOLLISON— Well and most favorably known to the citi- 
zens of Montgomery county, as a teacher, public official and worthy citi- 
zen, is he whose name initiates this personal record. Eight years a 
teacher, four years in charge of public education in the county and nine- 
teen years a citizen here, constitutes a brief synopsis of the life of J. N. 
Dollison, as spent in Montgomery county. 

Born in (luernsey county, Ohio, April 4, lSr)4, Mr. Dollison was a 
son of a farmer, William E. Dollison, who brought his family into Owen 
county. Indiana, about 1857, and soon thereafter settled in Clay county, 
the same state. William E. Dollison was born in Guernsey county, 
Ohio, in 1815, and passed away in Independence, Kansas, in 1893. He 
was :\ son of -Idhn Dollison, born in Pennsylvania, and reared the follow- 
ing t;<mily: William E., Jolm K.. (Jeorge, James, Harvey. Mary, wife of 
James Rowland, and Sarah, who married Morgan ('. Netf and moved to 
Wisconsin. Wm. E. Dollison married Susannah M. Laird, a lady of Irish 
antecendents and a daughter of James Laird, who crossed the Atlantic 
ocean at twenty-five years old. To this couple were born six sons, two of 
whom, Jasper U'., of Rector, Arkansas, and John N., of this review, are 
living. 

The subject of this sketch learned farming in youth and he followed 
it till he was twenty-four years old. He had the privileges of the com- 
mon schools and, at eighteen years of age. began teaching a country 
school. He continued this line of school work for some nine years, also 
ac(]uiring sonic experience in graded school work. He increased his 
educational endowment by attendance upon a private normal and. with 
his exjierience in teaching, came to Kansas, in 1884, efpiipped to take his 
place among the successful teachers of the county. For three years he 



446 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

was engaged in country school work and for eight he was connected witR 
the graded schools of Independence, being principal of one of the wards 
of the city. In lS9fi, he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction 
of Montgomery county and. two years later, was reelected to the same 
oflSce. His administration of the office was most efficient and had to do 
with encouraging country school grading and the establishment of a 
system of examinations for promotion to the county high schools and 
city schools. The County High School was established , during his term, 
and he aided much in encouraging a sentiment in its favor and was ex- 
offic'o chairman of the board. Upon leaving the Superintendent's office,, 
he engaged in the real estate business in Independence, where he and his 
son are now well established. 

September 10. 1878, Mr. Dollison married, in Clay county, Indiana, 
Sarah 1). Nelson, a daughter of I'hilip and Martha (Birchfleld) Nelson. 
The children of this marriage are: O. Vere, a graduate of the city and 
county high schools, a partner with his father and was married July 10, 
1902, to Olive Parker; ]Merton E., with the Long Bell Lumber Co., of 
Independence. 

Mr. Dollison is a member of the Masonic Chapter, is an Odd Fellow 
and affiliates with the Democratic party. 



WILLIAM T. OLIVER— William T. Oliver, a respected and worthy 
representative of that occupation dignified by such men as Washington — 
farming— resides on a well cultivated farm, three miles from the stirring 
market town of Elk City. He is approaching the evening of life, and 
has reached a point in his career where he can lay aside, to some extent, 
the implements of industry and. thereby, lighten the burdens of life. 
He conies of patriotic stock, his grandfather having been one of the 
"immortals'' who bravely took up arms against English fyrauny, in the 
days of the war for American independence. 

Mr. Oliver was born in East Tennessee, in the year 1828, and is a son 
of Walter and Frances (Riddle) Oliver. It was grandfather Jamea 
Riddle who iiarticijiated in the Revolutionary struggle and who, after 
that event, immigrated with his family, to the Blue Ridge Slopes of 
Tennes.«ee. He settled in MacMinn county, where he continued to i-eside 
durinsi' the remainder of his life. As his father died before our subject, 
reached mature years, the latter is not familiar with the family histor\( 
on that side. However, the Olivers are known to be of Welch descent 
and this branch of the family settled in East Tennessee in a very earljJ 
day. Mother Oliver lived to a very great age, dying in 1893, in her 
ninety-third year. She was a woman of strong character and kept her 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 447 

faculties almost up to the last. She reared five childreu : Elizabeth, 
Sarah Jane, William T., James and Lucinda. 

Afr. Oliver, of this review, was reared in East Tennessee, and, in 
1852, moved to Marion county, Illinois. Here he continued to reside un- 
til 1855, when he joined the Free State men, who were coming into Kan- 
sas for the purpose of securing the state to the cause of liberty. He set- 
tled at Lawrence, having driven through from Marion county, in the 
primitive prairie schooner of that day. He rented land in the vicinity 
of Lawrence and, until 18G1, was a participant in the exciting incidents 
which have made Lawrence the center of interest since that day. In thQ 
latter year, he moved down into Woodson county, whei'e he remained 
during the period of the war, and from whence, in 1868, he came down 
into Montgomery county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres, 
a part of the farm on which his present home is situated. 

At a later day, as prosperity came to him, he added one hundred and 
thirty acres to his domain, and now possesses a tract of as fine farming 
land as could be found in the county. Mr. Oliver is one of the old pio- 
neers who went through all the hardships and trials incident to the 
"early times" in the "Sunflower State," and his success in life is all the 
more gratifying because it is so well earned. 

The domestic life of Mr. Oliver was begun, in 18C6, by his union with 
Mrs. Sarah C. (Swayford) Murray, as a partner for life. To them 
have been born twelve children, as follows: Rebecca, who married Charles 
Wieninger and resides at Independence, with four children: Eva, Nellie 
Pearl, Henry and Thomas; James, who died June, 1901; Mary, Mrs. 
Jaspck'Wolf, of Chautauqua county, Kansas; her children being: William, 
John, Albert OUie and Edna; Eldora, Thomas, who died in infancy; Wil- 
liam Albert, who died at thirteen years; Martha, who resides in Inde- 
pendence, istlie wife of George I'age; Sherman is still at the old home and 
is married to Amanda Wheeler ; Joseph, who married Carrie Newton, 
is a farmer of Sycamore township and has a daughter. Florin L. ; Emery 
married Myrtle Farris and resides on the home farm ; John and Henry 
Arthur are young men residing at the old home; and Robert Leonard, 
who died at the age of thirteen years. 

No more respected family has residence in Louisburg township than 
that of Mr. Oliver. Their connection with the social life of the neigh- 
borhood, in which they have so long resided, has been such as to elevate 
the moral tone of the community, they being active workers in the 
Friends' church, during this period. In matters of public import, Mr. Ol- 
iver has taken a good citizen's part, and has always exerted his influence 
in securing the best in matters of education and local government. His 
political belief is in the principles, as laid down in the Republican pla1> 
form, he having been a supporter of that party from the very beginning 
of its existence. He has voted for every Republican president since Fre- 



448 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

moiit and is proud of the fact that the entire Oliver connection casts its- 
ballot in sympathy with his views. Mr. Oliver is a citizen of whom 
Montgomery county may well be proud. 



ADAM r. HADSELL— Of the many worthy and enterprising 
farmers in Parker township, none is more deserving of mention than the 
gentleman whose name appears above. He came to this county in 1878, 
when he located on a farm two miles west of Coffeyville. His father, 
Horace V. Hadsell, was a native of Vermont, and was a farmer, having 
followed that occupation all his life. His death occurred, in l^ew Yorkj 
at the age of sixty-three years, his wife dying at the age of fifty years. 
The family consisted of seven children, five of whom are living, viz: 
Anna B. Wilson, Nathan I)., Lilian Dinehart, all of Middlesex, Tfew 
York; Roy D., of Winfield, Kansas; and Adam U., the subject of this 
sketch. 

Adam V. Hadsell was born in Yates county. New York, October 13, 
1845. His young life was spent, chiefly, on the farm in his native 
county, and his education was received in the common schools of that 
state. His first wife, nee Sarah Tyler, was also a native of New York, 
was born December 29, ISi.'i. and was a daughter of Koswell K. Tyler, a 
native and pioneer of Middlesex county. The mother's maiden name 
was SiM-ah W. Wood. Both of these parents died in New York, 

^Ir. Hadsell came to Kan.sas, in 1878. and purchased eighty acres 
of uncultivated land, two miles west of Coffeyville. Mr. W. \V. Tyler 
accompanied him to Kansas, and, together, the two families occupied a 
small tenant house, until our subject could build a small house on his 
own land. He possessed, at that time, money enough to buy eighty acres 
of land, at six dollars an acre, and to build thereon his little house. But 
with restless energy, and resolute puriiose that few men possess, he has 
increased his possessions to four lunnlred and thirty acres of the choic» 
est land. On this land he has built a large substantial home, and two 
large barns, one for cattle and one for horses. Besides his farming inter' 
ests, he has raised and sold cattle, seldom feeding them through the win- 
ter, but selling them direct from the jjasture to shippers. 

Mr. Hadsell has. during his residence in Kansas, acquired sntBcient 
pro]ierty toinsurea good degree of independence and to provide his family 
with many of the luxuries of life. He takes no jjarticular interest in pol- 
itics, yet he has been elected treasurer of the townshijt for two tei-nis, and 
has been a member of the school board fifteen years. He is a Republican, 
his first presidential vote being cast for Abraham Lincoln, in 1804. Hd 
is also a member of the A, O. T'. W., K. & L. of S. and Triple Tie. 

.Mr. Iladsell's first wife died January 18, 1895. leaving children: 
Cordelia, who died in infancy; Tyler, deceased; Anna, Charles, .Jesse and 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^BT ^^^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 


CTV 




^^- 1 






w 


^^^^HU^i^^^^^^^^^l 



A. U. HADSELL AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 449 

Howard are at home. His second marriage occurred May 23, 1897, his 
wife being ?!. Adella T.yler, sister of the first wife. Mrs. Tyler is a native 
of Yates county. New York, where she was born September 9, 1857. To 
this marriage two children have been born : Hazel and Willie. 

Mr. Hadsell has always been prominently identified with the best in- 
terests of his township and county, and. also, in educational affairs, has 
most ably represented the school, and worked for its best interest. 



li^AAC O. SLATER — In January. 1S72. there came to Montgomery 
county and settled in Indejicndence township Isaac O. Skitter, of this 
personal sketch. He purchased the claim-right of a settler on section 
30, township 33, range IG, and, into a log cabin built by his prede- 
cessor, James V. Brown, he moved his family and proceeded with the 
work of farm improvement, and thus, county development. 

Isaac O. Slater had been identified with the west something over 
five years when he settled in Montgomery county. Upon leaving his na- 
tive state, he became a settler of Cedar county, Iowa, which, in about 
three years, he left and took up his residence on a farm in Portage coun- 
ty, Wisconsin. Becoming dissatisfied there he decided to seek the prai- 
ries of Kansas and. in the fall of 1871, hje brought his family and his few 
effects and limited means to this state and entered tlie state in January, 
1872. 

The story of his life, as a general fanner, is interesting rather for the 
nion(/!ony of it than for the positive, successes and disastrous reverses 
that i*^ contains. Privations were ex])erienced and some hardships endur- 
ed, but on the whole, a general upward tendency was maintained and a 
well-improved and piofltable farm of two hundred and forty acres has 
taken the place of the original bleak and untamed homestead. Be- 
yond grain raising, and a dip at the wool industry, in a small way, he 
has not ventured, being content with such interests as he could personally 
super\ise. 

Mr. Slater was born in Shenango county, New Y'ork, November 12, 
1833. His forefathers were from New England, his father. Job Slater, 
being born in ilassachusetts. in 1787. The latter was, for a short term, 
a soldier in the war of 1S12, enlisting from New York, whither his father, 
Isaac Slater, took his family, near the close of the eighteenth century. 
Isaac Slater, the grandfather, died in Shenango county. New York, at 
ninety-two years of age. He was in direct descent from an Englishman 
who settled in the "Old Bay State" in Colonial times and reared a large 
family of children. 

.Fob Slater married Phila Beckwith, a daughter of Josejih Beckwith, 
of Shenango county. New York. Mrs. Job Slater was born in 1802. Her 
children were: Horatio, who died December 12, 1902, at eighty-two years 



450 HISTOEY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

old, in Sheuango county. New York; Amanda, wife of Morris Brown, 
of Cattaraugus county, New York; Louisa, deceased, who married Jame§ 
Colwell. of Bhenango county, New Y'ork; Barton, Mary, deceased 
wife of Henry Holley, of the same county; Isaac O., our subject; Lu- 
cetta, now Mrs. Henry Bartlett, of Shenango county; and Clarinda, who 
died unmarried. 

Isaac O. Slater passed his childhood and early manhood in the coun- 
ty of his birth. The country schools provided his education and his home 
was under the parental roof till past his majority. However, he "bought 
his time" some mouths j>rior to coming of age and worked at the carpen- 
ter's bench, as an occupation, for a time. Following this, he was em- 
ployed in a shingle mill and, in 1860, became an avowed farmer. He was 
married in March, of that year, his wife being Mary Ann Howe, a daugh- 
ter of William Howe, of Sheuango county. New Y'ork. In 1866, he left 
the scenes of his youth and began the wanderings which, finally, brought 
him to Montgomery county, Kansas. 

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Slater are: Orlando H., who married 
Anna Foster and died at thirty-one years, leaving one child, Lena, who 
died at eight years; Nellie, wife of James Tucker, of Kansas City; Barton 
W., a teacher in Elk county, Kansas; Albert, of Montgomery county, is 
married to Claude O'Brien ; Kirklin, of Montgomery county, is married 
to Josie Rains. 

In the matter of politics, Mr. Slater's record is that of a party man, 
on national and state i.ssues. without question or equivocation. His fore- 
fathers were Whigs and when the Rejjublican party announced its first 
candidate for the presidency, our subject was for him. He has filled a 
few of the important township ofiices, l)ecause they were selected for him 
and awarded to him at the polls, and has, in a modest way, performed 
other service, which has shown his public spirit and his encouragement 
of progress aud enterprise in the county. 



JOSEPH BLACKMOKE, JR.— One of the worthy members of the ag- 
ricultural class of the county is Joseph Blackmore, Jr., who resides on 
a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, five and one-half miles from 
Elk City. He is here extensively engaged in general farming and stock 
raising, and is one of the well-to-do men of his township. 

Born in Somersetshire, England, in 1846. Mr. I'.lackmore is a son of 
George and Catherine (Trick) Blackmore. He comes from an ancestry 
which has for centuries been engaged in tilling the soil. His grandfath- 
er was Thomas Trick. His parents reared a family of seven children, of 
whom James Blacknu)re, the eldest, died in Akron. New Y'^ork. His wid- 
ow, Mary Mills, now resides at Batavia, New York, with her four child- 
ren : Susie, (^liarles, George and Rhoda ; George Blackmore is now deceas- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 45! 

ed; Jacob still resides in England; Keziah is deceased; the tit'tli child 
is Joseph, oui" subject. Rhoda and William are both deceased. 

Jcseph Blackniore, Jr., was reared to man's estate in the countr.y of 
his birth, and. on the 21st of September, ISdS, he married Elizabeth, a 
danghter of John Mitchell. Mrs. Rlackniore was orphaned at a very 
tender age, her father suffering death by Ijeing thrown from a horse before 
she was born, and her mother dying when she was but three years old. 
A brother of Jo.seph, James Blackmore, came to America, in 1850, and lo- 
cated near Akron, New York. It was through him that Joseph was in- 
fluenced, in 18C8 — shortly after his marriage — to cast his lot with Amer- 
ica. The latter located in Niagara county. New York, where he rented 
his bv(<ther's farm, for a time. His desire to secure, cheap, a home 
caused him. in 1870 to <i>mc west to Kansas, where, near Indeiiendenre, 
he preempted one hundred and sixty acres. He resided there for five 
years and then purchased a farm in I'ark township but, after two years, 
again sold and went to Lil)erty. For nineteen years, he was one of the 
enterprising farmers of that townshi]! but. in 1901, concluded to again 
make a change. He jiurchased his jtresent tract, lying in Louisburg and 
Syciimorc townshijis. where he has since resided. 

Mr. Blackniore has ever been a success in his line of business and the 
property which he now owns represents the accumulations of his own 
labors. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Blackniore seven children have been born : Bessie 
C, born in August of 187.'?, married (leorge Parks, a fariner of Liberty 
townshi]); their three children being: Claudie. James and Mattie; George 
B., born February 7. 1870, resides at Crane, this county; William T., 
born December 2-1, 1878, lives at the old home; James M., born October 
2.5. 1880; Harry F., born July .31, 188.3; Audry Pearl, born September 10, 
1884. and Charles M., born August 29, ISS.'i, are also children at home. 

The character for probity and upright Tiess sustained by ilr. Black- 
more in the county is of the very highest ordcu" and both lie and his fam- 
ily arc much resjiected in the coimmiiiity where they reside. His resi- 
dence in several parts of the county, makes him a man of wide accpiaint- 
ance, and both he and his family arc held in high esteem in all these 
different communities. 



TYRI'S F. DANIEL — Sycamore township has many good citizens, 
but none more respected than the gentleman whose name is herewith 
given, lie having been a resident here since 1883. He is a thoroughgoing 
industrious farmer who makes things win. 

The birth of Air. Daniel occuried .\ugust 20, 1854, in Pettes county, 
Missouri. At seventeen, his parents removed to Bates county, Missouri, 
wl'(>re Cvi'uscontinued to reside until the date of his coming to Mont- 
gomery county, Kansas. Here he has been uniformly successful, his farm 



452 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of one hundred and seventj-two acres, on section 25-31-15, being one of 
the best in the county. His efforts have been largely in the line of grain 
and slock. He is active in the social and political life of the community, 
and has served, acceptably, four terms as township trustee. 

Cyrus Daniel comes of southern stock, his father having been a na- 
tive of North Carolina. His christian name is Charles and he is now a 
resident of Sycamore township, carrying his seventy-five years without 
much sign of declining vigor. His wife, nee Mary Wicker, was also a 
native of North Carolina, the daughter of Eli Wicker. Eight children 
wereborn to them, as follows: David H., deceased; DeWitt F., of Ottawa, 
Kansas; Cyrus F., Hannah E. Young, of Sycamore; Charles B., Inde- 
I)endence; William B., of Denver, Colorado; Robert, of Junction City, 
Oregon ; Emma Young, of Pine Ridge, South Dakota ; and James, of 
Sycamore. 

0^ this family, Cyrus married ilattie E., daughter of John W. and 
S. Elixabeth (Smith) Sage. Mrs. Daniel is a native of Missouri. To her 
have been born: Arthur, who married !Mattie Holmes and lives on the 
old homestead in Sycamore; he has one daughter, Florence; Bessie mar- 
ried I'un Snyder, and resides in Sycamore. The following are still at 
home; Susie B., Lela, Jerry F., Alice and Edith. 



DIOGENES S. JAMES— Ex County Clerk D. S. James is one of the 
pioneers of Montgomery county. July 4, 1870, he settled in Rutland 
towns'liip, where his father, Joseph Ij. James, took up a claim on the 
Osage Diminished Reserve, made a farm of it and still resides there. 
Ohio county, Kentucky, is the native place of our subject and he was 
born February 4, 1857. His family was one of the old ones, being set- 
tlers there in the early years of the nineteenth century and emigrants 
from the State of Virginia, where Samuel James, the grandfather of 
Diogenes S. James, was born. The last named was a soldier in the early 
Indian war, under General AA'illiam Henry Harrison, and participated 
in the famous battle of Tippecanoe, in 1811. 

Joseph L. James was born in Ohio county, Kentucky, in 1827, grew 
up on the farm and served in the Kentucky Home Guard. When he emi- 
grated from there, he made the trij) to Kansas with three yoke of oxen 
and began life in Montgomery county in a jirimitive way. He has con- 
ducted himself as a ])lain honorable farmer liere, has taken some interest 
in loi-al politics and was a Re])ublican till Ihe formation of the Green- 
back i>arty, when he joined issues with it. For his wife, he chose Mar- 
tha Shelton, a daughter of Shelton, a Kentucky farmer. In 

1893, Mrs. James died, lieing the mother of Sylvanus, of Rutland town- 
ship; Mary, wife of John Sewell, of Bolton; Diogenes S., Harvey K., 
a teacher of Montgomery county, Kansas; Aurora, who married W. C. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 453 

Sewell, of Bolton; Sarah, now Mis. A. .1. Puckett, of Woodward county, 
Oklahoma; Laura, wife of John Findley, of Bartlesville, Indian Terri- 
tory; Dora, wife of Walthani Hudson, of Montgomery county; Alice, who 
married C. E. Roberts, of Oklahoma: and Joseph B., of Montgomery 
county, Kansas. 

D, 8. James acquired a common school education and, at nineteen 
years of age, married Martha Hall, a daughtei- of the venerable Mexican 
war veteran, Joseph Hall, of Caney township, Montgomery county. Mr. 
Hall was also a soldier in the Civil war, being a lieutenant of a Kansas 
regiment. Mr. James engaged in farming in his native county and re- 
sumed it in Montgomery county, Kansas, in the sparsely settled region of 
Rutland township, upon his advent here. He was in uninterrupted and 
quiet possession of his calling till November, 1897. when he was elected 
Clerk of Montgomery county, by the Fusion forces of the county. He 
succeeded John Glass in the < 'lerk's office and was reelected, in November, 
1899, for another two years' term, and wlien this expired, he inherited 
the extra year of 1902 — on acccmnt of a cluinge in the law of succession — 
and iield, therefore, five full years. He retired from office, in January, 
1903, with a record of duty faithfully performed, and, in the spring of 
the same year, took his family to the P.ristow, Creek Nation, his future 
home. 

Mr. and Mrs. James have a family of seven children, as follows: Floyd, 
who married Carrie Terry; Jlittie M.. Etta, Charles, Roy, John and For- 
est. Mr. James is an Odd Fellow and n Workman. 



JAKE MOORE— The subject of this record is one of the well-known 
business men of Indeiiendence. He has resided in Montgomery county 
since the year 1878, when he located on a farm, in Sycamore township, 
and was engaged in its cultivation till his removal to the county seat, in 
1889, He engaged in the livery business, at the old Trent stand, and was 
there ten years when, in August. 1899, he took charge of the popular 
stone barn and is conducting a livery and transfer business. 

Jake Moore came to Montgomery county, from Barton county, Mis- 
souri. He was a resident of the Missouri county, for a time, to which 
point he was an emigrant from Fountain county. Indiana. In this latter 
county and state he was born, August 1.5, 18.~)4. He is a son of the late 
Newble Moore, a farmer and early settler of Fountain county, Indiana, 
and born, perhaps, in Ohio. Tlie father died in Montgomery county, 
Kansas, March 25, 1889. at .seventy-two years of age. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Mary Richardson, was born in Ohio and died in the 
State of Missouri. Their children were: I'riscilla. who married Charles 
Mullcnour and died in Marion county, Illinois: I'hoebe. who died in the 
same county, was the wife of St<'phen l.ewellyn : Isaac, who died in In- 



454 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

dianapolis, Indiana, was a Civil war soldier, a member of the Twentieth 
Indiana regiment; William, who died in Barton founty. Missouri; James, 
who jiassed away in Jlontgoiiiery county, Kansas; Maggfe, now Mrs. 
Richtrd Hines, of Barton county, Missouri; Jake, our subject; and 
Albert. 

Our subject was not fortunate, as a youth, in his educational equip- 
ment, having the most meager advantages along this line. He learned 
little, aside from hard work, and came to maturity an industrious but un- 
learned young man. The vocation he leained in boyhood, he followed, till 
his advent to Independence and embarkation in the livery business. His 
financial interests in the latter ai*e extensive, having a stock of seventy- 
five head of horses, innumerable vehicles of many descriptions and being 
proj)r!etor of two barns. The livery trade in the city is his and he has 
merited the favor of the traveling public. 

By his first marriage. Mr. Moore has no children. His second wife, 
who was. nee Frances Topping, he married in ^lontgomery county, Kan- 
sas. She was a daughter of Robert Tojiping, known near Buffalo, Kan- 
sas, but originally from Pennsylvania. Mrs. Moore died, in August, 
1888, leaving the following children, viz: Berton. who married Liie Hu- 
go, and Edward, are both employed with their father; and Miss Flor- 
ence, of Independence. In November, 180:^, Jlr. iloore married Mrs. 
Addie Grubb, widow of Charles Grubb and a daughter of William Her- 
rington. Ray Grubb is Mrs. Moore's only child. 

The political history of the Moores of this house, shows them to 
have been strongly identified with the Democratic party. They have been 
inconspicuous, however, in party affairs, and content themselves merely 
with casting a straight party ticket in important political contests. 



GASPER ROTTl.ER— In 1,S(U. the subject of lliis brief review 
sailed away from Eurojie. on the steamshi]) "America" to make his home 
in the new world. He was leaving his native (Jermany. where he was 
born, at Kington, in ■\A'ittenberg. Prussia, February 20, ISIO. His father, 
Xafer Rottler. was a miller, was born in Prussia, was a son of Obmor 
Rottler, a native German of Russian antecedents. The grandfather rear- 
ed five children, as follows: John. Joseph. Dora. Xafer and Genevieve. 
Xafer Rottler married Josephine Staus. who bore him eight children, as 
follows: Mr.-*. Jo.sephine Macht. Mrs. There.^^a Staus. Mrs. Amelia 
Wea\cr. of Nebraska; Mrs. Mary Krebbs, of Nebraska; Gasper, our sub- 
ject; and Agnes, who married a Witter, of Germany. 

Casper Rottler attended the schools popular in his country till he 
was fourteen years of age, when he went to Avork in his father's flouring 
mill. Subsequently he learned cabinet-making and followed it three 
years. On leaving Germany, he sailed from Bremen and was two weeks 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 455 

crossing the Atlantic. He disembarked at New York City, in ^fay, aju't 
went direct to Iowa City, Iowa, wliere lie was employed, in a mill, for a 
short time. ISIarch 1, ISfi.'), he enlisted at Moline, Illinois, for service in 
the liiion army, for a period of one yeor. His command was Company 
"I," Twenty-eighth Vohinteer Infantry, under Capt. 1 »aiigheity. The reg- 
iment was stationed at Mobile, Alabama, for fonr months, and was then 
ordered to Brownsville, Texas, where Mr. Eottler was mustered out, 
March. 18fi6. 

Returning from the army, lie made his way back to Iowa City, where 
he was married and remained about one year, going thence to Kansas 
City, Missouri, where he was employed, at various kinds of labor, for 
three years. He then came into southern Kansas and stopped in Neo- 
desha, where he resumed mill work, and was so engaged for eleven years. 
He came into Montgomery county next and was emplojed, in a similar- 
manner, in various places, for three years and then, 1886, purchased his 
present farm, in section 17. township 81, range 16, and has been occupied 
with its cultivation and improvement. 

Mr. Rottler married Magdalena Schaup, a daughter of Henry and 
Louise Schaup, German people. Seven children have resulted from this 
marriage, namely: William, of Montana, with one one child, Howard; 
Augustus, of Montgomery county; Mrs. Mary Hausley, of the same 
€0unty, with two children, Leslie and May; Amelia, wife of Henry Henk- 
ey, of Labette county. Kansas; Sarah, Clara and Fred, still with the 
parental home. 

In politics, Mr. Rottler is a Republican, and has been a member of 
his district school board for four years. 



WILLIAM J. CHARLTON— Among the worthy and respected small 
farmers of Sycamore township, whose honored name is held in such es- 
teem as to require s{)ecial mention in this volume, is William J. Charlton. 
Mr. Charlton is not one of the early settlers of the county, but has been 
here sufficient time to become thoroughly identified with the county's 
interests. 

David Charlton, grandfather of William, left the Fatherland in the 
early part of the nineteenth century, as a young man, and became a citi- 
zen of the "Old Dominion State." Here he married and reared three 
children: John, Orena and Isaac R., the latter becoming the next in line 
of William's branch of the family. He married a Virginia maiden of the 
name of lOlizabeth Mlack and the resulting family numbered twelve, as 
follows: James M., deceased; Mary Ann Young, lives in Oregon; George 
W., deceased; Eliza J., Mrs. Ferryman, of Missouri; John W., deceased; 
Sydney J., deceased; W. J., subject of this sketch; Martha, deceased; 
Elizabeth Young, of Salem. Illinois; Isaac N.. deceased; Amanda L. and 



456 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Melviiiii. deceased. These early members of the family were respected 
farmers of the middle class and contributed their share, in that day of 
crudei' civilization, to the upbuilding of society. 

William -J. Charlton was boru in Marion county, Illinois, December 
31, 1880, to which county his parents had removed from Virginia. He 
was given a good primary education in the school of his home district 
and remained an inmate of the home until his marriage, this event not 
occui'ring until 18.57. Tie then became connected with a livery business, 
in jiaj'tnership with his br<itlier-in-law, .7. W. Farthing, in the nearby 
town of Odin, at the sanu' time sujierintending the work on his farm. Af- 
ter a period of some three years, he renu)ved to Kinmunda and engaged 
in a general merchandise business with John Alexander. A desire, how- 
ever, 1o test the "Sunflower State" led to his severing relations with this 
tirm, in 1877, and, coming to Chautauqua county, where he purchased a 
farm and, for fourteen years, was one of the active agriculturists of that 
counts. In February of 18!ll, he secured twenty acres of section 8-32-10, 
lying on the banks of the ^'erdigris river, which has since constituted 
his home. 

Prior to 18.57, Mrs. Charlton was Elizabeth Huff. Her parents were 
respected farmers of Marion county, Illinois, where she was born and 
reared. Her father was Samuel A. Huff, her mother Lucretia Dedman. 
Four children became inmates of the home of ilr. and Mrs. Charlton, 
Avere given careful training and good c(lucati(ms, and are now in homes 
of their own, filling resixinsibie iiosilioiis in life. Their names are James 
II., mentioned elsewhere herein; Adelia, married Henry Hayward and is 
a resident of Montgomery county; Cora is Mrs. Oliver Beemer. of Ok- 
lahoiiia Territory; her one child is .Jessie; the youngest daughtei-, Mamie- 
married George Underwood and lives in the countv with her two chil- 
dren. May and William. 

^'^ illiam J. Charlton has always evinced an intelligent and lively in- 
teresl i?) affairs about him and has been a factor in the social life of the 
different communities of which he has been a member. While in Chau- 
ta>u)ua county, he served a period of four years as justice of the peace, 
and as a member of the school board in his district. In matters of re- 
ligious moment, he is active and heljiful, as is Mrs. Charlton, also. They 
are members of the Christian denomination, and ,in Chatauqua county, 
Mr. Charlton was one of the trusted officials of the church, serving six 
years as an elder. 



(iEORCE W. snoorJIAN— A Montgomery county farmer who has 
made much of opportunity, and by careful management, has accumulated 
a- nice property, is Mr. George W. Shoopman, living one and one-half 
miles due south of Cherry vale, in Drum Creek township. A habit that 




GEO. W. SHOOPMAN AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEHT COUNTY, KAN8AS. 457 

Mr. Shoopman formed quite early in life, of attending strictly to hia 
own affairs, is responsible for his siucess; though this does not nieaft 
that our subject may not be api)r()ached readily, for his geniality is 
proverbial in the neighborhood where he is best known. 

Mr. Shoopman came to the county from Cass county, Illinois, where 
he was born, in 1841. He is a son of William and Sarah (Smedley) 
Shoopman, who lived and died on the old homestead, preempted from 
the <>,-overnment by Grandfather Shoopman. in the early part of the nine- 
teenth century. There were eight children in the family which they 
there reared. Of these, David and Thomas are now deceased. The living 
are: William, a farmer living in Cass county. Illinois; .John resides in 
California; Nicholas, of Cass county, Illinois; Nancy, who married Noah 
Showalter and lives in Idaho; her children are: Liddie, Lulu, Dora, 
Noah, William, Alfred. Bell. Bertie. Lewis and Harley; George W., Mrs. 
Patience Baker (see elsewhere in this volume for her sketch). By a form- 
er marriage William Shoojiman had three children, Jacob and Mary, 
deceased, and P^lizabeth, widow of Elijah Davis, resides in Jackson 
county, Missouri; among her eleven children, are: Edward, William, 
Hannah, James, John, Sarah, Wright, Mason, Frank, David and Mary. 

George W. Shoopman is the fifth child of the above family. He 
was reared to the humdrum life of the farm, the first event of importance 
in his life being his enlistment for the great Civil war. He had watched 
the gathering of the tempest with intense interest and, when opportu- 
nity offered, gladly went forth to battle for the flag he loved so well. 
February of 1862. found him a member of Company "E," Sixty-first Vol- 
iinteer Infantry, Col. Daniel Grass commanding 

His service was not of the guard duty or dress parade character. 
His regiment joined Grant's troops soon after the fall of Ft. Donelson 
and first smelled powder at Shiloli. The siege of Corinth and Vicksburg 
followed. He was at the engagement at Salem Cemetery and wound up 
his military career, so far as important battles were concerned, at Jack- 
son, Tennessee. He was fortunate in escaping injury, nor did he get a 
chance to insjiect the bull-pens, used as prisons by the Confederates. 

On the 1.5th of March, 1860, Mr. Shoopman was happily joined in 
marriage to Ellen, daughter of William and Mahala (Brown) Goodpas- 
ture. They were natives of Tennessee, high-class farmers of Overton 
county, and were the parents of the following: Ellen. Sarah E., now Mrs. 
W. J. Horrom, of Logan county. Illinois, with children : Leona, William, 
Pearl, Elmer, Eugene, Bessie, Gertrude and Hildred; Thomas J., of 
Men-ird county. Illinois, has four sons and one daughter; Ova E., mar- 
ried Oliver Maltby, a merchant at Oakford. Illinois; her children are: 
Clemma. Maud and Jesse. The other children are deceased, their names 
having been : Leann. Levina J., Arthur H., Finis E. and Jlalinda J. 

To the marriage of ]\Ir. and Mrs. Shoopman but two children have 



458 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

been born : Josephine, who died, in 1869, at two years of age, 
and ivneUa. who now resides at home. Mr. Shoojnnan came to this 
founiy. in 1882, and located on his present farm, in 1883. It consists of 
eighty acres of splendid land, which is made doubly valuable for its being 
in the gas belt, four wells being already in operation. This, however, is 
but a side issue with our subject, as he makes it his principal business 
in life to conduct one of the neatest farms in the county. In everything 
pertaining to agriculture, he takes a genuine and intelligent interest and 
is an authority on all matters relating to the cult. He takes an active 
interest in the public doings of his community and is always found 
ready to shoulder his share of the burdens imposed by civilization. In 
social circles, he is a member of the A. O. U. W. and of Grand Army 
Post No. ni. He is a staunch Republican, and his family are members 
of the Presbyterian church. 



-JAMES A. FLENER— A veteran of twenty battles and having the 
distinction of being the youngest soldier to enlist in 1861, James A. 
Flener, of Caney township, has a secure place in the affections of tTie old 
soldier element of Montgomery county, and the high character for integ- 
rity and honesty of purpose he has maintained, since his becoming a cit- 
izen here, has also added many friends among other classes. 

Mr. Flener's birth occurred in Ohio county, Kentucky, on the 1.3th of 
February, 1846. Harrison Flener, his father, was a native of the sama 
county, as was also his mother, Mary A. Smith. They were respected 
and well-to-do farmers, during a long lifetime there, and reared a large 
family of children, of whom ten are yet living. The father was a man of 
intense devotion to country, and, though past the legal age, served his 
country as best he could, in the militia. He died, in 1881, at the age 
of ninety years; the wife at eighty-three. The names of the children fol- 
low: George W., Eliza Martha Hodges, Angeline Cardwell Franklin. 
James A., Parydine Turner, Antha Edwards, William, Louisa Leach, 
Mary Stewart and John W. All of these children live in the "Blue 
Grass State" but the subject of this review. 

A common school education was interrupted, in the case of Mr. Flen- 
er, by the great tragedy of the Civil war. He did not wait for the call of 
troops, but became a member of the militia at the first sign of the com- 
ing struggle, together with his father and brothers. When the call was 
made, he enrolled, as a member of Company "H," Seventeenlh Kentucky 
Infantry. He was but fifteen years old, but of good size, and was, there- 
fore, able to pass muster. He served from August, 1861, to February, 
1865, and, though i)ar1icipating in twenty of the hard-fought battles of 
the war, together with numberless skirmishes, he came out with a whole 
skin. His twenty battles were: Bare's Ferry, Morgautown Hill, Ft. Hen- 



HISTOllvr OK MONTGOMEItY COUNTY, KANSAS. 459 

ry, Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, Siege of Corinth, Perryville, Cliiclvainiuiga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Dalton, Resac-a, Altoona, Kennesaw Mt., Peachtree Creek, 
Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station. Columbus, Franklin and Nashville. 

Receiving his discharge at Louisville. Kentucky, Mr. Flener return- 
ed to the home roof, not a man in years, but of great stature in the eyes 
of a grateful country. He remained on the farm until his marriage, in Oc- 
tober of 1S(!8. to Margaret, daughter of ^losby and Retsy James. After 
a short period in the home neighborhood, he and his wife came to Rut- 
land township, Montgomery county — the year being 1870 — and took up 
a claim, which they improved, investing the sum of .f800, which they had 
saved. January 0. 187.5, ^Ir. Flener had the misfortune to lose his wife. 
Her two childien were: Albena. now the wife of Mont. Honeycut. of Ly- 
on county, and Anna, who married James Flannery and lives in Kansas 
City, Jlissouri. In Ajuil of 1877. Mr. Flener secured a mother for his 
two snmll children, iu the pei'son of the lady who now so fitly presides 
over his home. Her name was ]\f aggie Scott, born in Hancock county, Il- 
linois, on the 15th of August, 18.52. ^Irs. Flener is the daughter of David 
and Nancy Scott, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania, respectively. 
The father died young and the mother married John Croft. They came 
to Montgomery county, in 1871, where he died, in 1876, at the age of 
sevenly-three. the wife still being an honored resident of the county. She 
bore her first husband three children : Joseph, ^^'illiam and Maggie. To 
her second husband : Mary. Emma. Charles M., John B., Clara C, Lady A. 
and Harry E. To Mr. and Mrs. Flener have been born : Aubry Enza and 
Katy. parents and children comjirising a congenial family. 

Mr. Flener continued to cultivate his original claim until the year 
1883, when he sold it and purchased the farm of one hundred and twenty 
acres where he now resides, one mile north of the town of Caney. on 
Cheyenne creek. This farm is all fine bottom land and. under the skill- 
ful hand of our subject, has been brought up to a high state of cultiva- 
tion Mr. Flener's home is a commodious two-story residence, which 
stands amid the timber, eighty rods back from the road, at the end of 
a beautiful driveway, bordered by rows of walnut trees, these being 
trimmed down to the consistency of a hedge, save every two rods, when 
one is allowed to tower above his fellows in fancied preeminence, the 
effect being unique and striking. The success of Mr. Flener, in Kansas, 
is a tribute to honest toil and frugal living. To know whaf fo do and just 
the right time to do it, seems to be the faculty most prominent in his 
make-up. He has ever held himself ready to assume the duties of cfti- 
zenshiji. keejis j)osted on the events of the day, and believes inprosj)erity 
and progress. He is a member of the A. H. T. A. and of th,e Grand Army 
of th Republic, and in politics, believes in the principles of the immortal 
Jefferson. 



460 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

THOMAS S. SALATHIEL— The gentleman, whose name heads 
this personal reference, is a representative of one of the pioneer families 
of Montgomery eonnty. He is, by nativity, as well as by training, a 
Kansan, being boi-n in Donglas county. October 28, 186(5. His father, 
John .Salathiel, of Independence, pioneered to the Territoi\v of Kansas, 
in 18ri4, having brought his mother out to the new town of Lawrence, in 
that year of the separation of Kansas and Nebraska, and the formation 
of the latter into a territory, with its ])resent boundaries, ilr. Salathiel, 
Sr., wa.s a resident of Lawrence till his mother's death, directly after 
which he settled on a farm, some ten miles from the town, where he was 
living, during the Quanlrell Raid. He joined Plumb's company for the 
"hoped-they-wouldn'tfind'em" ])ursuit of the guerrilla band, and this 
and the volunteer service he rendered, when Price threatened Kansas, was 
all thi^ military service he rendered during the Civil war. 

John Salathiel was born Ai)ril MO. 1S?>Ci, in Lawrence covinty, Ohio, 
on the townsite of Ironton. IHs father, Morgan Salathiel, was out in 
that country, as a geologist in the interest of a coal company, search- 
ing for coal lands. He afterward moved to Cincinnati and died, in 1851, 
while a resident of that place. He was born in Wales, British Isles, 
about 1796, married and has two surviving children: John Salathiel and, 
Mrs. Mary Howell, of Lawrence, Kansas. In 1849, John Salathiel crossed 
the "plains" with the great throng bound for the California gold fields, 
but soon returned home and remained in Cincinnati, Ohio, until his ad- 
vent ^o Kansas, in company with his mother. He was one of the early 
merchants of Lawrence, but, in 1860, became a farmer in Douglas coun- 
ty and remained such till 1871, when he ca"me south into Montgomery 
county, and purchased a claim, on Sycamore creek, two miles north of 
the historic, but eccentric, town of Radical. He remained a farmer until 
1880, when he came into Independence and engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness with which he has since been connected. He married, in Lawrence, 
Kansas, in 1858, Jemimah Corel, a daughter of Henry Corel, who settled 
just east of Lawrence, in an early day ; a part of the old farm being now 
the city's beautiful cemetery. INIr. Corel was a settler from West Vir- 
ginia, but both he and his wife died early, thus orphaning a family of 
eight young children. The following childi-en have been born to John 
and Mrs. Salathiel; John, deceased; Charles, of Case Postoffice, Okla- 
homa; Margaret, wife of Frederick Newcond), of Coffey county, Kansas; 
Thomas S., our subject; Heni-y M., who served in the Philippines with 
the Twentieth Kansas; Walter S., a student in the State University of 
Kansas, who served with the Fortieth T'. S. Volunteers in the Filipino 
insuriection ; Agnes and Mary. 

Thomas S. Salathiel began life as a clerk in his father's store in In- 
de[>enden(e. In 1889, he went to Denver, (Colorado, and engaged in the 
whoh'sale commission business, but sold out the next year and came 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 46 1 

back to Kansas. He engaged, with Henry Baden, to travel for his whole- 
sale house, and was on the road one year. In 1892, he entered the law 
department of the State University and graduated there in 1894. He 
openc'ii an oflice for practice in Independence, and in 1898, he was the 
Kepublican nominee for county attorne.y of Montgomery county. He 
was iidmitted to practice before the District and Supreme Courts at Law- 
rence, in 1891, and the law and the investigating and clearing up oii 
titles occupy his attention. 

July 22, 1896, Mr. Salathiel married Emma Wharton, a daughter of 
the late Dr. R. T. Wharton, who settled in Independence in 18S(i, from 
Martinsville, Indiana. The only child of this union is Frederick Funs- 
ton Salathiel. 

In company w'ith J. B. Adams, Mr. Salathiel organized the Security 
Abstract Company. The company is erecting the Security Abstract 
block, a business and office building, on one of the valuable plots on 
Main street. 



AXDY PRUITT— The subject of this article introduces to out read- 
ers a [lublic officer, chosen from the ranks of labor, and clothed with tha 
executive authority of Montgomery county. While all our public ser- 
vants represent some form of labor in our social fabric, yet few of them 
are the embodiment of the labor Idea and called to serve by the positive 
voice of toil. His selection for this responsible office is not only a com- 
jiliment to Mr. Pruitt's qualities as a citizen and a man, but it is an en- 
dorsement of the idea he represents, and places the stamp of public con- 
tidence upon its intentions and purposes. 

Andy Pruitt is a young man, not yet in the midday of life. He waa 
born in Marys county, Missouri, of Kentucky parents, on the 18th of 
March, 18G8. His father and grandfather, James W. and William Pruitt, 
resjiectively. were South Carolinians by birth, and were farmers by oc- 
cupation. The grandfather settled in Kentucky in the early years of the 
last century, and there James W. Pruitt grew up and was married. The 
latter was born in 1828, and married Elizabeth Lightfoot, a lady born 
and reared in Simpson county, Kentucky. In 1867. they took uji their 
residence in Marys county, Missouri, where they resided until lS8tt, 
when they made their final move westward and settled in Montgomery 
county, Kansas. Here the father died in 1886, but his widow still sur- 
vives, and is the mother of the following childrren : Effie, wife of Jeff 
Asniussen ; John W., of Kansas City, >iiss()uri; Andy, and Susie, who 
married Charles E. Royce, and lesides in ISutler county, Kans.is. 

l^oiii the age of sixteen years, Andy Pruitt was a railroad man. He 
acqiiiicd a smattering of an education in the country scliools prior to 



462 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

this youthful beginning of life and took his first lessons in railroad work 
at the bottom of the ladder — on the section. He took eniplovment with 
the ^Missouri Pacifie Railway Company, and remained with it some live 
years, and then employed with the Santa Fe Company, in the car inspec- 
tion department at Cherryvale, where he was at work eleven years after- 
ward, when nominated by the Reiiublicans for sheriff of Montgomery 
(•onm\ . 

His iioiii illation, in litOl, followed close upon the jiassage of the bien- 
nial election law, which law appeared somewhat uncertain on the point 
of the termination of the terms of office of the then incumbents of the 
sherifl's oflices. It was decided to make a test of the law by one appoint- 
ment, and our subject was selected as the victim (as it I'esulted) to make 
the contest. Clothed willi an appointment from the (iovernor. he made 
a demand on Sheriff Squires for the oftice and was, of course, refused. 
Quo warranto proceedings were brought in the Supreme Court of the 
state and, after four months, a decision was handed down, declaring the 
appointee ineligible, and the hold-over the rightful incumbent of the of- 
fice. The following year — 1!H)2 — the Keimblicans nominated ilr. I'ruitt 
for sherifi' by acclamation, and his cleclion ensued in November, his ma- 
jority being 371 votes. January V2, 1!)()3, he took the oath of office and 
is proving himself a capable and popular official. 

January 31, 1890, occurred the marriage of Andy Pruitt with Lillian 
Bennett, a daughter of Samuel J. Pennett, of Tola, Kansas. The wed- 
ding occurred in Toronto, Kansas, where Mrs. Pruitt had resided for 
twelve years. Her jiarents were married in the State of Illinois, and her 
mother's maiden name was Christina Plymeir. Mrs. Pruitt is the third 
of five children, and is herself the mother of: Elmer, Harry and Ray- 
mond, three iiromising boys. 

Mr. Prnitt is an Odd Fellow and a Woodman, and is a member of the 
State Sheriffs" Association. 



THOMAS O'CONNOR— For twenty-six years Thomas O'Connor has 
lived within five miles of Elk City, in Louisburg township. He is a de 
scendant of sturdy Irish stock and his residence in the county has secured 
for him a re]nitation for good citizenship unsurpassed. County Derry, 
Ireland, was the place of his birth, the year being 1824. He was a son of 
Pernard and Catherine (Washburn) O'Connor, who passed their lives 
in their native land. A brother, Samuel O'Connor, came with our subject 
to America, in 1847. They located in Philadelphia, where Thomas re 
niained until 1874, when he came out to Shelby county, Indiana, where 
he engaged in gardening until 1877. He then came out to Kansas and 
purchased the farm upon which he now resides, consisting of one hun 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 463 

dred and thirty acres, and has been engaged in general faiiiiing and 
stofk raising since that time. 

In 1855, Martha, daugliter of Alexander and Margaret (Jlarkhani), 
MuUholland, became the wife of Thomas O'Connor. Her parents were 
from County Derry, Ireland, but she was born in Patterson, New Jer- 
sey. Her demise occurred in August of 1800, her three children being: 
Margaret, who ijiarried William Koss, of Indiana ; Thomas, who married 
Louisa Owen and lives in Kansas City, with four children: Fannie, 
Myrtle, Frederick and John ; and Joseph, who is now deceased. 

lu 1880, Mr. O'Connor again entered matrimony, being joined in 
marriage with Mrs. Mahuldah Stevenson. Mrs. O'Connor is a daugh- 
ter of Joel and Nancy (Sproel) Gregory, natives of Kentucky, the Greg- 
ory family, prior to that, having lived in Virginia. Mrs. O'Connor's first 
husbiiud was Horace Stevenson, whom she married in Shelby county, In- 
diana, in 1859. By this marriage there were six children : Joel, a 
farmer of Louisburg township, Montgomery county, Kansas, with child- 
ren: Mary, William, Catherine, Thomas, Margaret, John and Nellie; 
Rose, the twin sister of Joel, married Adam Lewis, and resides in Win- 
field, Kansas, with children : Oma, CaiTol, McKinley and Edward; Nancy, 
born in March, 1862, first married E. B. Evans, whose two children were : 
Horace and William. At his death she married B. J. Dickover and now 
resides in Denver, Colorado; Augustus, born in December of 1863, mai"- 
ried Eva Southerland, whose seven children are: Horace, Nancy, Ma- 
huldah, Augustus, Eva, Mary and Charlotte; William, born in JIarch of 
1866, married Mary Selacke, and their six children are: Nettie, George, 
Leonard, William, Albert and Thomas; Edward, born in April, 1868, mar- 
ried Eva Guy, has a daughter, Rose, and resides in Wyoming. 

Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor have been worthy residents of Montgomery 
county for nearly three decades, and have always evinced a disposition to 
favor, by their influence, such measures as look to the betterment of con- 
ditions in society about them. In matters of religion, he is a devout com- 
municant of the Roman Catholic church, while she is a Methodist. The 
Hemocratic platform meets more nearly the principles of government 
held by our subject than any other, and he believes it to be the best for 
our country. 



iiEORCiE A. PARK — The desirability of Independence as a resi- 
dent ])()int is resjtousible for the presence of quite a number of that 
splendid class of citizens generally referred to as "retired farmers." In 
some instances these have disposed of all their holdings and are passing 
the declining years of Iheir lives in the enjoyment of the fruits of the toil 
of eailier manhood. Others retain small pieces of farming land in Hk; 
count j-v and are thus enabled, to some extent, to keep ui> the habits of 



464 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

industry formed in their youth. Of this hitter class is the gentleman 
•whose name we here present, his determination to irrar out, rather than 
rust out, heing an entirely creditahle one. 

The statement of a few brief facts relating to the family history of 
Mr. Park carries us hack to the New England states, the father of our 
subject, Kowlaiui I'ark, being a native of New Hampshire, and the mo- 
ther, Hannah Mills, (»f Vermont. The father was a worker in iron, and 
had the name of being especially skillful iu those days when the hand 
])layed so much more part iu the world's labor than now. After finish- 
ing his apprenticeshi]), he came west to Ohio, first stopping in Cleve- 
land, in the year 1832. For tifty-two years he jdied his trade in the 
counties of Lorain, Huron, ^^'yandotte and Hardin, removing to Labette 
county, Kansas, in 1884, where he died June 4. 1887. at the age of eighty- 
one years. The wife died at the age of seventy-six. in 1883. She was the 
mother of thirteen children, six of whom are now living. 

George A. Park was born in Lorain county, Ohio, January 8. 1835. 
The first event of importance in his life was the great but glorious trag- 
edy in the nation's life — the Civil war — in which he played an honorable, 
and to him a most memorable part, for he lost his good right leg in the 
service. 

Mr. Park enlisted on February 17, 18G4, in Company "A," 81st Ohio 
Vol. Inf., as a private. This regiment was sent immediately to the front 
and arrived in time to take part in the glorious campaign in which Sher 
man proved the truth of his own trite saying, "war is hell." Our sub 
ject's first battle was at Resaca ; then came Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, 
Pig Shanty, Kennesaw Mountain and tinally, Atlanta. Here the 81st saw 
hot service from the day that the gallant ]\IcPherson fell until the 
capitulation of the city. While on the skirmish line on the 2.oth of August, 
1864, a ball struck Mr. Park on the right knee, removing the knee pan 
and necessitating amputation. This, of cour.se, put a stop to further 
soldering on his part. He si)ent a month iu the Marietta hospital, thence 
to Nashville, and arrived home November 11th. the day of President Lin- 
coln's second election. He now learned the shoemaker's trade, an occu- 
pation which he has followed, together with farming, since that time. He 
purchased his first land in Ohio, iu 1870, a piece of timber, which, though 
crippled, as he was, he, himself, cleared. This he sold in 1883, and the 
following year moved to Labette county, Kansas. He bought a cjuarter 
section here, but in 1800, disposed of it and settled in Montgomery 
county, where he bought the farm which he now owns, a quarter section 
in Caney township. He cultivated this farm until 1899, when he rented 
it and moved into the county seat. 

The married life of Mr. Park dates from July 13, ISfil, when, in 
Kenton, Ohio, he was joined to Miss Angeline, daughter of Robert and 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 465 

Martha (Shultz) Stevenson. The parents of Mrs. Park were of the thrifty 
fariuins- class, prominent nionihers of the M. E. chnrc-h. in which denonii- 
uatioii the father was a local preacher. The mother was born November 
14, 1S13. and died Novend)er ;!, ISlil, the father's birth occurring March 
28, ISU, and his death April 27, 18!J(>. They still live in the blessed in- 
fluences which were set adrift by their holy living. Their children, be- 
sides Mrs. Park, were: William, a soldier of sixteen years' service, two 
of them in the Civil war. now resides in Ft. Wayne, Ind. ; Josejth, a 
fai-mer near Valjjaraiso, Ind., and Martha. Mrs. John Pruitt, of Trinidad, 
Colorado. To the marriaoe of our subject and his wife have been born 
children as follows: Byron C, deceased in infancy; G. B., married Gene- 
vieve IMcKinley, whose children are: Emmett, Iris and Lester; Adah* 
Mrs. William O. Dunlap, whose children are: Percie, Blanche, Curtjs, 
Georgia and Alexander; Ralph E., of Weston, Ohio, married Wanetta 
Vandenburg, whose one child is Ralph Victor; Rolla, a merchant of Tyro, 
Kansas, married Maggie Knotts, children: Arthur and Lowell; Sidney 
F., single, Bartelsville, I. T. ; Leafy, of Sturgis, South Dakota; Mattie, 
Mrs. Fred Dobson, whose children are: Esther and Angle; Frankie L., 
a teacher at Tyro, and Robert R., deceased. 

Mr. Park is a member of the G. A. R., and in politics votes the So- 
cialist ticket. He is a gentleman whose sterling fjualities have brought 
to him the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends and neighbors, 
and whose career has been entirelv creditable. 



JAMES R. CHARLTON— November 17, 1877, James R. Charlton, 
ex-County Attorney of Montgomery county, began life as a citizen of 
Kansas. He was prompted to seek the west to engage in educational 
woi'k here and to thus, in early life, shape his course along lines of pro- 
fessional activity. Subsecjuent events have shown the execution of such 
plans to have led him from the school-room to journalism and finally 
into the practice of law. 

A youth of nineteen, he first located at Sedan, and soon thereafter 
became a teacher in the country schools of Chautauqua county. He had 
received his education in the High School of Odin, Illinois, and was 
authorized to teach, under the law, before he left his native state. While 
carrying his three terms of school work he was prosecuting the study of 
law under the direction of J. T). McBrian, of Sedan. In Auust, 1880, he 
was admitted to the bar in Winfield, Kansas, and taught two terms of 
school before entering the practice. In 1884, he located in Elk City, 
where he began law ])ractice in 1885. He founded the Elk City Enter- 
j)rise, a weekly jiaper, with Democratic princijiles, and published it about 
four years. He was justice of the peace, police judge and city attorney 



466 HISTOEY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of Elk City and was a resident of the place until December, 1890, when 
he removed to the county seat. 

His early political training led Mr. Charlton into the Democratic 
party. His political course was along the.se lines until the political up- 
heaval of 1890, when he joined issues with the new party of that year, 
and has acted with it since. He was elected county attorney in 1890, 
served one term and was unanimously nominated for a second term, but 
declined, and, in 1891, opened an office in Caney, where he has since re- 
sided. He is city attorney of Caney and has a large law business in the 
neai'by counties of the state and in the Indian Territory on the south. 

James R. Charlton was born in Marion county, Illinois, July 21, 
1858. His family was one of the pioneer families of that county, for 
William J. Charlton, his father, was born there in 183t). Isaac Charlton, 
his grandfather, left Virginia in 1821, and settled some of the wild lands 
near 8alem, Illinois. Isaac Charlton was born in 1800, and died in 187(i, 
leaving six children, viz : James, Wesley, Sidney, Newton and William 
J., father of our subject. 

Mention of William J. Charlton is made on another page of thia 
volume. It is sufficient in this connection to state that he was well 
known in Odin, Illinois, as a farmer and a merchant, and that he lived 
in Chautaiuiua county, Kansas, from 1877 'till 1901, when he located on 
the Verdigris river, near Independence, Kansas. 

Mr. Charlton, of this review, married in Chautauqua county, Kan- 
sas, April 3, 1881, Hattie M. Hutchison, a daughter of John Hutchison, 
from (Minton county, Indiana. The latter married Eliza Moore, and 
reared three children. Earl, only child of J. R. and Mrs. Charlton, was 
born January 3, 1887. 

For many years Mr. Charlton has been an active church worker. 
While he is a member of and holds a pastorate in the Christian church 
he has done effective work in the evangelistic field, in Oklahoma, Wash- 
ington and other places. He was pastor of the Christian church in Caney 
in 1895-G, was then state evangelist for Kansas for one year, and is now 
serving the Caney charge again. 



IJENJAMIX F. MASTERMAN, M. D.— During the period of pioneer 
settlement of Montgomery county there came to Independence one of its 
permanent citizens, a gentleman whose influence and power made itself 
felt in after years in the public and professional interests of the county, 
seat, and whose individuality has stamped itself indelibly upon the so- 
cial fabric of the county. This pioneer character was Dr. I>. F. Master- 
man, of this review, the date of whose advent to his new home was Feb- 
ruarv 7, 1870. 




B. F. MASTERMAN, M. D. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 467 

He came here, not in search of wealth, but of health. His close con- 
finement in the old state as a drug clerk and as a student of medicine 
racked his body and the bleak and unsettled west was turned to as the 
fountain which would restore youth. Although a junior in the prejiara- 
tion for his profession, the foundation principles of the subject had been 
well laid and the work of the senior year was little more than a formality 
necessary to the securing of a diploma. Following his inclination, he 
opened an office for the practice of medicine and was encouraged in its 
continuance by Ihe success of his work and by his love for the ])rofession. 
For nine years he ministered to his patients as an undergraduate and 
then, with a breadth of exi)erience and a strong physique, he returned to 
finish his college work in his professional year. Accomplishing this in 
1880, he resumed his jtractice in Montgomery county. 

Dr. Masterman is of English blood. He was born in Steuben county, 
New York, February 5, 1844. His father, ifatthew Masterman, was born 
in England, came to the United States yoxing, grew to maturity in Steu- 
ben county. New York, and there married 5Iary E. Runyon. He was for 
a time a merchant at Penyan, New Y'ork, and left there in 1858 and set- 
tled in Washington county, Indiana, where he died in 1870, at sixty-eight 
years of age. He was in politics a Whig, but without ambition for pub- 
lic office. His wife died in Mazonmnia, Wisconsin, in 1858, leaving him 
seven children, six of whom survive, viz: Mary E., wife of John Eun- 
yard, of Mazomauia, Wisconsin; Dr. Benj. F., Mrs. Nellie Calkins, of 
Alamoosa, Colorado; Emmet, of Wichita, Kansas; ^Irs. .Jennie Edmunds, 
of Elk City, Kan.sas; Albert F., of Reno, Oklahoma. William, the first 
child of the family, died in the army while a private in the 11th Wis. 
Vols., war of the Rebellion. 

At thirteen years of age. Dr. Masterman left the farm in New York 
and accompanied his father's family to Washington county, Indiana, 
where, at Salem, he entered a drug store as a clerk. He remained in this 
position "till some time in 18C2, when he enlisted in company "E," 5th 
Indiana cavalry, for service in the Civil war. The regiment saw service 
in Tennessee, Alabama, (ieorgia and Kentucky, and was an integral part 
of the Army of the Ohio. The doctor took j>art in Morgan's raid, or 
rather in the pursuit of Miu-gan's band, was on the outside at the siege 
of Knoxville, accomjianied Sherman's forces to the initial work of the 
Atlanta campaign and fought guerrillas in Tennessee and Alabama. He 
served as hosjiital steward the last eighteen months of his enlistment and 
was discharged June 14, ISfio. 

On his return to Salem, our subject took his old jjlace in the drug 
store, where he remained one year. He then took up the study of medi- 
cine regularly and was occupied with it 'till the first of the year 1870, 
when he left the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, a junior, and sought 



468 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

his health and his fortunes in Kansas. It is in Montgomery county that 
his achievenieuts liave been attained. Here his adaptability to an hon- 
ored profession has been demonstrated ; here his efficiency as a public 
servant has been displayed; here his sincerity and honesty as a citizen 
and his integrity as a man have won the confidence of the public and as- 
sured him an unfaltering friendship during his declining years. 

In December, 1871, Dr. Masterman married Nannie D. Conner, a 
daughter of Lewis Conner, who came to Independence from Iowa, and 
was one of the early hotel men of this city, and of Coffevville. The issue 
of this union are: Franc, wife of M. F. Dougherty, of Independence; 
Henry L. and Emmet. 

In 1874. the Doctor was made a ]\Iason, and holds a membership in 
the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Comniandery. of lndej)endence, and, in ISO!), 
was made a Shriner at Leavenworth, Kansas. In politics he is a Republi- 
can, and his hand has been in many a battle of the ballot in town and 
countj. He has served one year on the school board, eight years on the 
city council, one term as mayor of Independence and four years as county 
coroner. 



GEORGE L. BAXKS— To one not in love with nature unadorned, 
citizenshi]) on the frontier is uninteresting and monotonous indeed. The 
absence of stir and the whir of business, the unbroken solitude of days 
and the primitive and rude accommodations of the settler, all had a ten- 
dency to depress and weaken one's intentions, and but for the determina- 
tion and the hope that spi'ings eternal in the human breast, discourage- 
ments and then desertion would have depopulated Southern Kansas in 
a decade after the Civil war. But privations were endured — now looked 
upon as blessings — and other difficulties were surmounted and the versa- 
tile and tenacious pioneer laid the foundation and erected the superstruc- 
ture for one of the great and prosperous states of the American union. 
No man's work alone did this, but the etforts of the aggregate, the great 
whole, brought about a result of which their posterity may well be proud. 
During the last years of the pioneer period in Montgomery county many, 
men, yet its citizens, cast their lot herewith and participated in the 
final acts in the shaping of its internal and civilian affairs. Modestly, 
yet energetically, connected with this particular era, was (leorge L. 
Banks, of this review, the pioneer and widely known settler of Fawn 
('reek township. He established himself in the county in May, 
1871, and was for fifteen years an active and patriotic devotee to the agri- 
cultural and political interests of the same. With the exception of six 
years, when he was absent from the state, that interest has scarcely les- 
sened in intensity in thirty-two years. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 469 

Mr. Banks is one of Lake county, Ohio's native sons, and was born 
Octobei' 13, 1839. His parents, Orin and Olive (Brown) Banks, were 
natives of Scoharrie county, New York, anil boi-n, the father -January 25, 
18n3, and the mother March 12, 18(1."). They were married in 1823, and 
settled in Lake county, Indiana, in 184.") and stopjied, first, in LaPorte 
county. They passed their lives as country people, were upright Chris- 
tian folk and were thrifty as farmers of their time. They died in Lake 
county, Indiana, the father October 29, 1857, and the mother January 
27, 1887. The Banks's were of Scotch-Irish origin and the Browns of 
English lineage. The parents both belonged to old families of the cast 
and reared a large family of children, as follows: Charles, of Salina, 
Kansas; Elisha, of McPherson county, Kansas; Parley, of Lake county, 
Indiana; Mary C, wife of Simon White, of LaPorte county, Indiana; 
George L., of this notice; Nathaniel P.. of Lake county, Indiana; Sarah 
L., wife of W. B. Adams, of Montgomery county, Kansas. 

George L. Banks spent his youth and early manhood in LaPorte 
county. Indiana, and had the advantage of a good country school educa- 
tion. The Civil war came on just after he had reached his majority, and 
was concerned with the serious affairs of peace, but he enlisted, .June C, 
18G1, in Company '"C," loth. Inf., under Col. Geo. D. Wagner. The 
regiment was oi'dered at once into the field and it took part in the bat- 
tles of Greenbriar and Elk ^^'ater that same year. As the war progressed 
it participated in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River and Mis- 
sionary Ridge, where Mr. Banks was wounded, and rendered unfit for ser- 
vice for some weeks. During his later active service he was in battle at 
Charleston and Dandridge. Tennessee. He was discharged from the 
armv June 25, 1864. In 1897, he received from the Secretary of ^Var a 
medal of bronze, appropriately engraved and inscribed in commemora- 
tion of distinguished service while in line of duty. Engraved on the face 
of the medal is : 

"The Congress to Color Sergeant George L. Banks, 15th Indiana 
Infantry, 

"For gallantry at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863." 

The letter from the Secretary of War notifiying Mr. Banks of the 
honor accorded him and announcing the issuing of the medal states the 
specific acts of gallantry and is herewith made a part of this record: 

MEDAL OF HONOR. 

War Department, Washington, D. C, Sept. 21, 1897. 
George L. Banks, Es(|., Independence. Kansas. 

Sir: — You arc hereby notified that by direction of the President a!id 
under the jjrovisions of the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1863, 
providing for the presentation of medals of Iionor to such ofiicers, non- 
commissioned officers and privates as have most distinguished them- 



.47° HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

■selves in action, a Congressional 5Iedal of Honor has this day been pre- 
sented to you for most distinfjiiislied fjallantry in aition, the following 
being a statement of the particular service: At Missionary Ridge, No- 
vember 25, 1863, this soldier, then a Color Sergeant, loth, Indiana Vols., 
in the assault, led his regiment, calling upon his comrades to follow, and 
when near the summit he was wounded and left behind insensible, but 
having recovered consciousness rejoined the advance, again took the flag 
and carried it forward to the enemy's works, where he was again wound- 
ed. In the brigade of eight regiments tlie flag of the 15th Indiana was 
the first ])lanted on the jiarapet. 

The medal will l)e forwarded to you liy registered mail as soon as it 
shall have been engraved. Respectfully. 

R. A. ALCER, Secretary of War. 

After the war, Mr. Ranks resumeci farming in Indiana and continued 
it with a fair measure of success 'till his departure for the broad prairies 
and the pure air of Kansas, in the spring of 1871. Matters were in a 
fornuitive state in MontgonuMy county and he aided in organizing, and 
was the first clerk of school district No. 1)1. and the school house was 
named "The Banks School House" in his honor. He entered and patent- 
ed a piece of land and was occupied with its improvement 'till Decembei', 
188C, when he disposed of it and transferred his residence to Angola, In- 
diana, where he became the proprietor of a hotel. Remaining there only 
a short time he removed to Camden. Hillsdale county, Michigan, where 
he resided six years, returning thence to Montgomery county, Kansas. 
From 1892 to 1895, he was a resident of Independence, and the latter 
year moved out to his farm in section 8. township 33. range 15, where he 
owns one hundred and sixty acres. He owns an eighty in section 17, and 
is regarded one of the successful and reliable farmers of his county, 

October 9, 1864, Mr. Ranks was united in marriage with Olive W. 
Chandler, a daughter of Thomas V. and Betsy (Woodmanse) Chandler, 
of A'ermont. Mrs. Banks was born at Caledonia. Vermont, August 25. 
1842, and died December 12, 1902. She was her husband's companion 
for thirty-eight years and bore him three sons: William N., Charles B. 
and Arthur A., all honorable young men of Montgomery county. 

Oeorge L. Bank's political action has been exercised in the ranks 
of the Rejiublican party. He has ever manifested a good citizen's inter- 
est in local, state and national alTairs and his face has been a familiar 
one in local gatherings of his party. He filled all the offices of Fawn 
Creek township. He is jirominent in the State Grand Army and is com- 
mander of the Southeast Kansas Association of old soldiers. He belongs 
to the subordinate lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a 
member of the A. H. T. A. 



HISTOKi' OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 47I 

.TOEL ARMOUR STEVENSON— Joel Armour Stevenson is one of 
the well-to-do and progressive representatives of the agrioultural class 
living near the rural couiniunity of Costello. He comes from Indiana, 
having been born in Shelby county, that state, in the year 18G0. Horace 
Stevenson, his father, was a son of Armour, who, in his day, was one of 
the earliest pioneers of Deaiborn county, Indiana, having removed to 
that state from New York in the early years of the nineteenth century. 

Our subject's mother was Mahuldah Ann Gi-egory, also of an old 
pioneer fannly of the ''Hoosier State.'' Horace Stevenson was the fourth 
of a family of eleven children, and was reared on the family homestead 
in Dearborn county and, at maturity, settled in Shelby county, where 
he was engaged, for a time, in teacliing school, and where he met and 
married his wife. The children born to Horace and Mahuldah Steven- 
son were: Joel and Rose, twins; Rose being now Mrs. Adam Lewis; 
Nancy, Augustus, William and Edward are the remaining numbers of 
the family. 

Joel A. Stevenson passed the period of his boyhood and youth on the 
"Hoo.sier State" farm and was given a district school education. At the 
age of eighteen, he, in the fall of 1878, accompanied his mother to Kan- 
sas, his father having died in 1870. (The mother subsequently married 
Thomas O'Connor and is now a resident of the county.) Mr. Stevenson 
remained with his mother until he set up an establishment of his own, 
when he purchased what is known as the Ashbaugh farm, of one hundred 
and sixty acres, where general farming and stock raising occui)y his 
time. He was married, in 188.5, to Ellen, daughter of P. H. and Cath- 
erine (Baker) Callahan, referred to elsewhere in this work. The wife of 
Mr. Stevenson died October 30, lUOl, leaving a family of seven children, 
as follows: Mary, born October 8, 188G; William, born November 26, 
1888 ;Catherine, whose birth occurred December 9, 1890; Thomas, born 
March 9, 1893; Margaret, born March (5, 1895; John, born March 9. 
1898; and Nellie, born March 4, 1900. 

Since Mr. Stevenson became a citizen of the county, he has evi- 
denced great interest in building up her institutions and has always 
given his influence to the betterment of conditions in his immediate com- 
munity. He and his fannly are active members and supporters of the 
Methodist Episcopal church south. In fraternal life, Jlr. Stevenson 
has, for some time, been a member of the Modern Woodmen, and is a 
Populist in political belief. 



DAVID VANCE — Thirty-three years in Kansas is sufficient to have 
seen wonderful <lianges, and especially in Montgomery county, for llie 
whole county was then one vast range, given over to the countless cattle 



^■J2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

that roamed over the fertile prairies. The Osages still lingered in the 
bottoms and the nearest trading points were Ilnnilioldt and Ft. Scott. 
The {'arm youth of today, who hitciies to his rul)ber-1ired vehicle and 
drives into town but a few miles away, over roads wliich lead past highly- 
cultivated farms, with their modern residences, presents a strange con- 
trast to the lad of thirty years ago, who hooked his slow-going ox-team 
to the lumber wagon and drove whole days over the lonely trail to the 
nearest trading point. 

Kavid Vance is entitled to membership in an "oid settlers' " organi- 
zation, for, in 1870, he first looked ujKin Montgomeiy county soil. He has 
taken the full number of degrees in the hai(lshi[is <it pioneer life, and is 
now enjoying the fruits of faithfulness in the early days, his highly- 
cultivated farm, four miles northeast of Caney, being evidence of careful 
and persistent etfort along agricultural lines. Mr. Vance W'as born in 
LaFayette county, Tennessee, October 20, 1838, the son of Joseph and 
Polly (Leath) Vance, the former a native of Virginia, the latter of 
Tennessee. They married in Tennessee and, later, the father removed 
to LaFayette county. ^Missouri, where he died, at sixty-two, the 
wife having passed away, in Tennessee, at the age of forty-tive. Their 
family consisted of twelve children, six of whom are now living. 

Mr. Vance was reared to farm life, learning well the homely lessons 
of patient toil, which still marks his movements. On the 11th of Decem- 
ber, T8()0, he took unto himself a wife, in tiie ]prson of Mary E. Hall, a 
native of the same county, and settled down to farm life, in the home 
neighborhood. But he was not destined to pursue the even tenor of his 
way, lor the following year, the storm of war broke and swept all loyal 
citizens into the army. Mr. Vance became a member of the First Tenn- 
essee Mounted Infantry, and did valiant service for the flag he loved so 
well, participating in some of the smaller skirmishes and battles in the 
middle west. He came off witlumt harm, though, during one skirmish, 
had an uncomfortably close call, the toe of his boot having been shot off. 
That scourge of the soldier, the measles, however, was not so considerate 
of his comfort, and he still carries, in his body, the effects of its ravages. 

After the war, Mr. Vance settled in Lawrence county, Indiana, and 
in ]8(;8, came out to LaFayette county, Missouri, and, as stated, in 1870, 
located in Montgomery county, Kansa«3. Here he first took up a claim 
on Cheyenne creek, but soon sold and boiight the eighty acres of school 
land where he now resides. He had the misfortune, in 1860. to lose his 
wife, by death, leaving him two little daughters, Laura Belle and 8arah 
Jane. These daughters grew to womanhood and married, Laura beconnng 
the wife of C. C. Turk and removing to Oklahoma, and Sarah finding a 
husband in George O. Arnold. She became the mother of five bright chil- 
dren and, on the 7th of June, 18'J8, was carried oft' by an attack of can- 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 473 

rer of the stoiuacli. The hushand and ohihlren are now inmates of Mr, 
Vanco's home, where they receive tlio loviiij; care of a proud fi;i'<iii<lfather. 
The chihlren ai-e lumsually well-conditioned, both jihysically and men- 
tally, their musical ability, especially, haviuo- attracted most favorable 
notice. Their names are: lOdgar F.. .Mary E.. Iva I., Sylvia E. and 
Nellie Belle. 

Mr. Yance has always had the confidence and respect of his neigh- 
bors, who ha\(' elected him. at different times, to f)ftices of trust. He 
votes with the l'o]iulist ]iarty. and in social life, holds nuMubershij) in the 
A. H. & T. A. and the <irand Army of the Republic. 



JOHN HENKY KEITH— The Keith family is one of the oldest in 
American history and was prominently identified with our colonial pe- 
riod. It furnished a Colonial (Sovcrnor for Pennsylvania and. when the 
Revolution came on. demonstrated its ]iatriotism in the ranks of the Co- 
lonial forces. They were of Scotch ancestry and the archives of the 
Commonwealths of Pennsylvaiii.-i. ^'iro■inia and Kentucky, show them to 
have played an imjtortant and honorable jiart in the historj- of their 
states. Ciovernor Keitii is one of the grand -ancestors of the subject of 
this review. 

Daniel Keith was born in ^'irginia, in 1770. and died in Warren 
couniy, Kentucky, in 1875. He was the great-grandfather of the subject 
of this notice and the founder of his branch of the Keith family in the 
state of Kaniel I>oone. He served in the Henry Clay regiment of Ken- 
tucky troops in the Mexican war, took jiart in the Taylor campaign and, 
among other achievements, aided in the cajtture of Monterey. He mar- 
ried Miss (Jardncr and had three sons, namely: .lohn, William and 
Isaiali. 

John Keith and Mary Edwards were the i)aternal grandparents of 
our subject. The former was a native Kentuckian, born in 181.5, and 
died, in Warren county, in 1801. H(> engaged in the ministry in early life, 
after I-aving comiiletcil an academic education, and became a jiower for 
good all over the state, lie A\as a forcible sjieaker, was an expounder 
of the doctrines of immersion and close communion and, on the issues 
of the Civil war, took strongly to the side of the Union. He and Mary 
(Edwards) Keith were the jiarents of: Daniel, Ivey, George and Henry. 

Ivey Keith, father of .lohn Keith, of this record, was born in Ed- 
monson county, Kentucky, .lanuaiy 11, 184<i, and passed his active life 
a farmer and grower of stock, ^\'arren county has been his home from 
youth and in 18<i;!, he enlisted from that county for service in the war 
of the Rebellion. His was "I" company and his regiment the .5llnd in- 
fantiy. He served as a private, was in several l)attles and was wounded. 
He h:is taken a good citizen's interest in the affairs of his county and has 



474 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

affiliated with the Republican partv. He married Jennie Finney, born 
in Warren countr. Kentucky. February 17, 1846, and a daughter of Jack 
and L)icinda (Thomas) Finney, people of Irish blood. The issue of this 
marriage is John 11., of this notice; Addie. wife of Ruford Larrance, ^f 
Kentucky; Clay, of the Indian Territory; lOudid, a farmer and lumber 
dealer of Kentucky; Emmet, ^>amuel E. and William L.. of Kentucky. 

John H. Keith came to manhood on the farm and was educated in 
the conwHon schools, academy, normal school and business college. Ready 
for life's responsibilities, he chose tea<-hing school as a profession, while 
casting about for the real work of his life. A few terms sufficed and he en- 
gaged in a systenuitic preparation for the law. He w'as admitted to the 
bar in Warren county, Kentucky, Novend)er 14, 1889, and spent the first 
two years after admission to practice in his native county. In February, 
1892, he left his native place and located in Muscogee. Indian Territory, 
where he resided 'till October, 1893, when he niade Cotfeyville. Kansas, 
his home. For ten years he has been engaged in the active and effective 
practice of his profession in Montgomery county, and is among the well 
known members of the bar, 

Mr. Keith has taken an active part in the politics of his town and 
«ounty. He was City Attorney of Coffeyville five years, was chairman of 
the Democratic County Central Committee for three years and now rep- 
resents the 29th legislative district in the Kansas legislature. He was 
chosen in a Republican district, where he ran three hundred votes ahead 
of his ticket, and was one of two Deomcrats on the county ticket elected. 
In the legislature of 1903, he was a member of the committes on Judici- 
ary, Railroads, Mines and Mining and Private Corporations. In a 
business way he is connected with several Coffeyville enterprises, of some 
of which he is confidential adviser. 

Mr. Keith's family consists of two sons, Walter and Paul. In frater- 
nal matters he is a member of the Modern Woodmen, a Select Knight and 
an Elk, 



HARVEY DUNCAN— Harvey Duncan, a well known farmer of 
Montgomery county, is a native of Fulton county, Illinois, and was born 
January 30, 1854. His parents, Solomon and Rebecca Duncan, were born 
in the State of Kentucky, a state famed beyond the seas for its beautiful 
■women and fine horses. The mother's family came from the state most 
noted for its old families, the good old State of Virginia. 

Harvey Duncan was one of nine children. They are: David, Molly 
Beal, Anna Herrell, John, Harvey, Lida Taylor, .Tames, deceased, and 
two died in infancy. 

In the autumn of 1870, the family came to Montgomery county, driv- 
ing three teams overland, and carrying their furniture and provisions 



•Q "w 'yaayns 'O "o 




HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 475 

witli them. Their journey occui)ie(l five weeks, of hard and, many times, 
very tiresome travel, but at hist it was finished at Independence. Here 
they jiurchased a claim, located one and a half miles north of the village, 
and for it they paid |l,40(t. A contest arose over this claim, and, after 
four years, a decision was given in favor of Solomon Duncan. Soon after 
this Harvey located ou a claim next to his father's, and work was be- 
gun on a blockhouse, in which the family lived for six years, when they 
erected the brick house now owned by T. M. Bailey. 

Tlie Duncans had close ac(juaintance with many of the Indians, see- 
ing a great deal of them in the earlier years of their residence in Kansas. 
They numbered amimg their ar(|iiaintances : Chiefs. Rig Hill .loe, Toby, 
Wild Cat. White Hair and (Mietoi)a. 

Harvey Duncan married Edith Drenner, a native of Illinois, a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Mary Drenner, of Virginia. To them have been born four 
children: Lina, a teacher; Grace, Jay S., and -John W. 

With the e.xception of live years spent in Independence, where he 
was engaged in the meat business, and afterward as jiroprietor of the In- 
dependence Hotel, which he managed successfully for several years, Mr, 
Duncan has spent his life on the farm. In 1891, he bought the eighty 
acres of land, where he now lives, in section 1.3-31-15. This farm, which is 
the home selected as a ]iermaneiit abiding place, is neat and well kept, 
sjjeaking well for the energy and good management of the owner. 

Mr. Duncan is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer.ica and 
the I. O. O. F. I'olitically he is a lifelong Re])ublican, and has served his 
party faithfully, as a member of the school board. In matters concerning 
public education in the district, no one shows a greater interest or works 
harder to kecji abreast of the times than he. 



CASSirS r. SURBER, M. D.— There is presented, in the subject of 
this brief personal record, a native Kansan, who has rendered valuable 
service to the i)rofession of medicine in Montgomery county. He occu- 
pies a j)osition among the list of successful jihysicians of Southern Kan- 
sas, and it is with pardonable pride that we thus briefly refer to his pro- 
fessional and social achievements. 

Dr. Surber has been a resident of Montgomery county less than ten 
years. He located here in October, 1894, direct from Delphos, Kansas, 
but formerly from I'erry, his old home in -lefferson county. lie began 
the practice of medicine in Ottawa county. Kansas, going out toward the 
front iei' at once upon the completion of his medical course. He remained 
there ten years, and then chose the more settled and substantial portion 
of the state — Montgomery county — for the field of his future labors and 
the scene of his greater success. 



476 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

He is of pioneer Kansas parentage. He was born in Douglas county, 
January 2G, 1862, four years after his father settled there. In 1868, his 
parents located at Perry, in Jefferson county, Kansas, where they reared 
and educated their children. Dr. David Surber, our subject's father, was 
a pioneer settler from the State of Indiana. He was born in Indiana in 
1829. His father was the Rev. Henry Surber. a Canipbellite preacher, 
and an early settler of the "Hoosier State." The latter took his family 
to Iowa in the early settlement of that state and he aided materially in 
shaping the moral sentiment of his community. He was a positive, de- 
termined, vigorous-spoken man of the old school, to illustrate which 
qualities it is only necessary to present one conspicuous incident. Dur- 
ing the early years of the progress of the Civil war Southern Iowa con- 
tained a small, but troublesome and outspoken, secession .sentiment. It 
became noised about that this element had planned to disturb the Rev. 
Surber in his effort at preaching on a certain evening, and finally break 
up his meeting. Mr. Surber learned of this design and took with him 
two good Colts pistols and, when he arose to begin service, laid them up 
in front of him, at the same time remarking what he had heard and stat- 
ing that the first fellow that made a crooked move could expect to be 
taken care of by the blue-barreled six-shooters doing picket duty for the 
evening. The house was filled and the disturbing element was out enforce 
and occupying front seats, and nobody seemed to enjoy the meeting more 
than they. 

Dr. David Surber was the oldest of four brothers. As his father re- 
sided chiefly near the frontier, as the family grew up. educational privi- 
leges wei-e somewhat limited. He chose medicine as his life work. He 
completed his professional preparation in the Cincinnati Medical Col- 
lege and soon afterward came to Kansas. He married Eliza J. Stewart, 
which family also furnished one or more excellent physicians. By this 
union there are two surviving children, viz: Dr. C. C, our subject, and 
Mrs. Gertrude Eakin, of Bonner Springs, Kansas. 

After the public schools of Perry, the State University of Kansas 
provided Dr. C. C. Surber with the means of a higher education. He 
finished the course of the Medical Department of the institution in 1881, 
and to him was issued the first certificate of graduation from that depart- 
ment. He entered the Kansas City ]Medical College immediately on leav- 
ing the University, and completed its course in March, 1884, and opened 
his first ofiflce at Delphos, Kansas. 

Dr. Surber was married at Perry, Kansas, in 1886, and has a son, 
Paul, twelve years of age. He is a meml)er of the Kansas State Medical So- 
ciety and of the Montgomery County Medical Society. He is secretary of 
the pension examining board of Montgomery county. In politics the Sur- 
bers of this family ai-e, without exception. Republican, and it pleases the 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 477 

doctor to add his mite to the party's cause in his modest and unas[)irin<; 
way. 



JAMES W. RYAN, M. D. — Whose name initiates this review, is a 
gentleman widely known for Ills i)rofessi()nai attainments and eminence 
in tlie domain of medical and surgical ])ractice. His connection with 
the west dates from the year ISSO, when he became a resident of Kansas, 
and his fourteen years' associations with the leaders of his profession 
over the great plain, bounded on the west by the Rockies and on the east 
by the Mississippi, have given him a wealth of experience and contribut- 
ed a breadth of knowledge which render his position a distinguished one 
among the representatives of his school. 

The "Modern Mother of Presidents," is the state which produced Dr. 
Ryan. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 11, 1867, of Irish parents, 
and grew up and was educated in the city of his birth. His father, Pat- 
rick Ryan, was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1828, and his mo- 
ther, .\nne Erwin, a daughter of Mary and John Erwin, was born in the 
same county at the village of Graiguenemana, in 1836. The mother re- 
sides in Clermont county, Ohio, where Patrick Ryan settled on coming 
to the United States in 1847. He was an emigrant whose destiny in his 
new field of industry depended solely on his native capital, labor. He en- 
gaged in farming, which he followed "till 1884, when, having served faith- 
fully the years of his more vigorous life and merited a release from its 
burdens of toil, he retired to private life to the passing of a peace- 
ful old age. Nine children constitute the issue of this venerable 
couple, six sons and three daughters, as follows: George W., a retired 
banker, of Penryn, California; John, a farmer in Clermont county, Ohio; 
William, a retired farmer, of Salt Air, Ohio; Dr. James W., Martin, a 
farmer, of Clermont county, Ohio, and Lawrence, of Carlsbad, New ilex- 
ico. The sisters of these gentlemen are all with the mother and are : Kate, 
Mary and Julia. The father died in 1895. 

James W. Ryan, our subject, i)assed his boyhood and youth in school. 
The laiblic schools of Cincinnati and the I'niversity of that city iiro- 
vided his literary training, and the Medical College of Ohio, from which 
he graduated March 7, 1888, prepared him for his professional career. He 
identified himself with Cotfeyville the next year, as previously stated, 
and practiced here 'till 1806, when he was elected to the chair of anatomy 
in the I'niversity of Denver, Colorado, where he lectured for two years, 
resigning his position Ijecause of the telling wear upon his constitution, 
and returning to Cotfeyville, where, when somewhat recuperated, he re- 
sumed active practice, and at once took his place as one of the leadiug 
physicians of Montgomery county. His great i)roflciency and his intense 
interest in his work has commended him to the confidence of the pro- 



478 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

fession in Kansas, and in 1901, Lis election to the Vice Presidency of the- 
State Medical Society took place. He is a prominent contributor to medi- 
cal journals, is a seeker after medical truth constantly, and reaches out 
after all the intellectual and professional treats from the fountain heads 
of medical research. On account of his interest in professional meetings 
and his pi'esence and membership in them, he has become widely known 
throufihout the west and familiar with the national characters of the 
fraternity. 

December 1, 1892, I>r. Ryan married Nannie Ranimel, a daughter of 
Rev. Eli Rammel, deceased, and of Casandra Cash. Mrs. Ryan was born 
in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is the mother of one child. Max. 



ALBERT ARTHUR KRUGG, M. I).— The ancient and honorable 
profession of medicine is worthily represented in ("oft'eyville by the gen- 
tleman whose name introduces this personal sketch. He came to this 
city March 28, 1898, and identified him.self at once with the profession, in 
its active jiractice, and his worth as a physician and a citizen has com- 
mended him most favorably to the public confidence. 

I>i. Krugg's native place is Dodge county, Wisconsin. He was born 
OctobeT' 2(1, 18<>4, and is a son of the venerable .lolin Krugg, of Lincoln, 
Kansas, whose life has been passed as a farmer and whose residence in 
the ••Sunflower State" dates from 1886. The father was born in Unke- 
mark, Prussia, in 1830, where the family had resided for many genera- 
tions, and was jirominent in its civil station. .John Krugg left (jermany 
soon after his marriage to Willielmina ^leinhartz, and crossed the At- 
lantic ocean to the T'nited States, locating in Dodge county, Wisconsin, 
where he took up his residence on a farm. He trained his children to 
habits of industry, always maintained himself a highly moral and useful 
citizen and only retired from active work when he had attained a com- 
petency aiii]>le as a reward for the ellorts of an industrious rural life. His 
family consists of five children, as follows: ^Slary, wife of .Joseph Smith, 
of Lincoln, Kansas; Dr. Albert A., Mattie, who married J. C. Cooper, of 
Lincoln, Kansas; Lydia, now Mrs. Ed. Guptail, of Mitchell county, Kan- 
sas; and Miss Louisa Krugg, of Lincoln, Kansas. 

Albert A. Krugg's sphere of action in youth was confined to the 
limits of his native country neighborhood. The country school laid the 
foundation for his education and the High school in his native county 
rounded off the angles and ])repared the way for the culture and jiolish of 
mature years. He began life as a farm hand at fifteen dollars a month, 
and his employers found his services worth an increase to seventeen and 
finally twenty dollars jter month. His High school training was obtained 
from money saved from this farm work, and when he left May vi lie, Wis- 
consin, he entered the Ohio State University, at Columbus, and spent 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 479 

two voars, rbicflv in (lip study of comparativp nuatoniy. Tn lSOl-2-3, he 
was ii student in tlie T'nivorsity Medioal College, of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, and in 1897-8, he attended the Medico Chivurgical Institute, from 
which he gi-aduated the latter year. He began i)ractice in Clay county, 
Kausas, in 1893, and continued it through the years 1893-4-5-6, and then 
took up the work of completing his medical education in Kansas City, as 
befor,^ stated. 

Dr. Krugg's residence in Cofl'eyville has witnessed his accession to a 
most creditable and gratifying position in the medical fraternity. He 
has clung steadily to his determination to devote his time to his profes- 
sion exclusively, and in doing so he has won his way to social and finan- 
cial success. 

October 16, 1893 ,at Lincoln, Kansas, Dr. Krugg married Eliza 
Montgt)mery, a daughter of Mrs. Eliza Montgomery, originally from Mas- 
sachusetts. The two children of this union are: Mary, born in Decem- 
ber 14, 19(12, and Consuela V., born in 1897. Dr. Krngg is a Democrat. 
and is a member of the A. O. U. W. and of (he Knights and Ladies of 
Security. 



CHARLES M. STARK— Charles M. Stark may clearly be classed 
among the old settlers of the county, as he came here away back in 1868. 
Those were the days when the "noble Red Men" still trod the prairie and 
when tlie few whites of good character needed to stand firm for the 
"majesty of the law" against half-breed cow thieves and renegade white 
men, whose absence from civilization became necessary on account of 
their malodorous reputation. lint with the settling of such men in the 
county as our subject, conditions gradually changed, and long ere the last 
decade of the century opened, Montgomery county came to he regarded 
as one of the most orderly communities in the state. Mr. Stark resides 
in Louisburg township, on his original pre-emption of one hundred and 
sixty acres, which evidences in its neat and well-kept appointments the 
great amount of care lavished upon it. 

The birth of Mr. Stark occurred in Scott county. Indiana, in 1838. 
His father, Nathaniel B. Stark, was a son of Charles Stark, one of the 
very earliest settlers in Scott county, where he located, after the removal 
of the Indians, in 1814. He had resided, j)rior to that time, in Henry 
county. Kentucky. Nathaniel B. Stark was born in the latter state and 
was but seven years of age when his parents moved into Indiana. Here 
he grew to manhood amid the scenes of jtioneer life and, at maturity, 
married Margaret (\)ons. In 1849, the family moved out to Edgar county, 
Illinois, where the father i)lied his trade of carpenter until his death in 
1861. There were seven children born to our subject's parents, as fol- 
lows: Malintla. who married W. W. Crossfield. and is a widow, residing 



48o HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

in Chautauqua county, Kansas; Martha. Mrs. E. M. Horton, Chautauqua 
county; Sarah, wife of W. H. Beam, of LaHarpe. Kansas; Jane, who mar- 
ried James M. Stark, and resides in Elk county, Kansas; Nathaniel J., of 
San Piego, California ; Josiah M., residing in Lonisburg township, and 
Charles M., who constitutes the subject of this sketch. 

Charles M. Stark was twelve years of age when his father's family 
settled in Illinois, and from that time until his thirtieth year he con- 
tinued to be a resident of Edgar county. In 1860, he was happily joined 
in marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Peter and Sarah (Shawler) 
Bartmess. people of Kentucky origin. Mrs. Stark was born in Edgar 
county, Illinois. In the S])ring of 18()8. Mr. Stark aiid his family, to- 
gether with his mother and brothers and four sisters, settled in Mont- 
gomery county, Kansas. It is simple justice to say that Mr. Stark has 
had a most wholesome influence on the development which has come to 
the county since that early day, and fully merits the esteem in which he 
is held. He and his family have been sui)porters and members of the 
Christian church for years, and have entered into the social life of their 
community in its varied activities with a spirit of much helpfulness. 

To our subject and wife have been born children as follows: John 
F., born November 18, 1864, resides in the Indian Territory, married 
Josie Stewart, and has four children : Clara, Marian T., Bertha May and 
Buelah; Harmon F., born Decendier 6, 1867, married Maggie Paris. They 
reside in Chautauqua county, Kansas, with their children: Hattie, 
Charles, Alvin, Clarence and Oscar; Early A., born ^larch 3, 1876, mar- 
ried Mamie Hope, and has a daughter. Eline, and resides in Montgomery 
count^. 



SULLIVAN LOMAX — The efficient school man who presides over 
the destinies of i)ublic education in Jlontgoniery county, is Sullivan Lo- 
max, Ihe subjct of this biographical review. He is widely known to the 
professional educators of the county and is favorably regarded by patrons 
and teachers, alike, for the practical manner in which he handles the 
cause of public education. His plucky rise from obscurity, against both 
jihysical and financial obstacles, lo the head of the educational interests 
of a great county, is a feat to be admired and an acliievenient worthy of 
mucli I 'raise. 

Sullivan Lomax was born in Orange county. Indiana. August 31, 
1872. His father, who was a carpenter, was Abel Lomax, who died, in 
1880, at the age of forty-five years. He was a native of the same county 
and state, where his father, Quinton Lomax, settled in an early day. 
Quinton Lomax was a farmer and politician and was elected State Sena- 
tor , from his district, by the Democratic party. He was born in the 
State of Maryland and had sons: Abel, Laniska, Junius and William. 



HISTORY OF MONTUOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 48I 

Abel Loiiiax iiiiinied Tamar White, who died in Orange <<nin1y, Indiana, 
in 187S. Tlic issue of tlieir niai'na<;e was tlie following <'liildien: Wil- 
liam, of Channte, Kansas; Quinton, of Orange coiint.v. Indiana; Sullivan, 
our .subjocf; Asahel and Ezra, twins, and Mattie. wife of (Jeorge E. 
Skidu'ore. 

Oridunied al llie age of eight years and made motherless when a child 
of sLf, Sullivan Louiax was brought face to face with life's stern realities 
at a tender age. Ilandicaiiiied. as he was, he nuide the most of his few 
oi»]MMt unities and resolved to dedicate his faculties to a virtuous and use- 
ful life. He worked at choring and odd jobs, for his keep, while attend- 
ing CDuntrv school; did farm work, such as he was able to do; blacked 
boots when ]ir<)iiiiited to do so. as a means in a legitimate and cherished 
end. and the monev which he saved from these sources, he expended in 
acquiring a higher education. He <'anie to Kansas, in 1885, with his 
brother (Quinton, st()])iied near Cherrvvale and herded cattle for Gilbert 
Baker, for a time. The next winter, he lived with the family of Alexan- 
der fampbell and worked for his ])oard and went to scliool. He contin- 
ued, in this way, till he reached the goal of a teadier's license, when he 
became the master of a country school. His first teini was finished in 
18!tl i:nd his last one in the fall of U)(M), when he was nominated by the 
Republicans of Montgomery county, for ('ounty Superintendent, and was 
elected by a majority of one hundred and thirty votes. In U(02, he was 
named, by his party, to succeed himself and was elected, in November, 
by a majority of se\en hundred and eleven votes. The w(U'k of his office 
has been etiiciently carried out and the high standard attained by his - 
l)redecessor, maintained and im])rove<l. 

May 4, 18!J7, Jlr. Lonuix married Adah l>ewis. a daughter of J. P. 
Lewis, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Mr. Lewis married Rachel Brown 
and has a family of six children, of wlioni Mrs. Lonuix is the only 
daugliter. She and Jlr. Lonuix are the parents of a son and a daughter,: 
Otho W. and lOlzene, the daughter being tlu> tiist born. Mr. Lonuix is an 
Odd Fellow, a Modern ^^'oodmau and a member of the Knights and 
Ladies of Security. 



JOHN r. SHEFFl ELI (—Thirty years ago there came to Montgom- 
ery county the gentleman whose honored name pwcedes this paragraph, 
and who has since lieen one of her juost influential ytizeus. He lived, 
for nine years, in the town of Indejiendence. then purchased the present 
farm of two hundred and forty acres, where he has since demonstrated 
what excellent agricultural sense, <'ou]ded with a jienchant for hard 
work, can accomjilish in southern Kansas. There are no j)yrotechnics 
in the life of Mr. Sheffield- — he is just a good jilain <-itizen, but he is all 
that, and in the highest and truest sense of that term — a man to whom 



482 HISTOEy.OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

the stranger will be direeted, as one of the solid men of the community. 

The Sheffields are of English extraction, having emigrated to this 
country prior to the RevoJutiunary war, in the person of the great- 
grandfather of our .subject, who was one of a party of twelve who pur- 
chased Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, from the government. 
Hei-e they formed a colony and, for years, the descendants of the original 
twelve continued to cultivate the island. The father of John P., John, 
also, was born on the island, in 1703. He married Jennette Briggs, a na- 
tive of the island, and, in 1833, removed to Ohio. To these parents were 
born seven children, three of whom are now living: James F., Huldah 
and John P. The parents lived to a rijje old age, the father dying at sev- 
enty-one, the mother at sixty-one years. 

John P. Sheffield was born in George township, Athens county, Ohio. 
May 27, 1844. He was reared on a farm, where he learned the lessons of 
thrift and economy, which have served him so well, during life, and was 
given the advantages of a district school education. At eleven years old, 
he went to live with an older brother, but, at seventeen, returned to take 
charge of the farm for his father and continued to discharge this filial 
duty until the death of both i)arents. 

On the 14tli of April, 1S72, Mr. Sheffield was married to Lavina 
Guernsey, of Lake county, Indiana (born April 4, 18r)3), and, the follow- 
ing year, came to Kansas. The greatest misfortune that can happen to 
man, was the lot of .Mr. Sheffield, on the 3d of March, 1880, when, at the 
early age of twenty-seven years, the mother of his children was taken 
away. She is remembered as a lady of many noltle (pialities. and the two 
children. William and Lavina. and the husband, still cherish her mem- 
ory. I'jion arriving ;i( mattuity. the daughter married Charles F. Smith, 
the exact date being October 1, 11)02, and now lives on the home farm 
with her father. Her husband was born in Crawford county, Kansas, on 
the 20th of August, 1882, the son of James VV. and MoU'ie (Cullison) 
Smith, natives of Kentucky and Indiana. respectivel\ . They located in 
Crawford coimty, in 1871,. and, later removed to Montgomery county, 
where they are now living. Charles F. Smith has been his own man since 
the early age of nine, and is a young man of many sterling qualities 
which make him pojtular with a large circle of acquaintances. 

Mr. Slieffield and ;Uis household are regarded with tli(> greatest re- 
spect in the coninMiaily. wlic,re they have so long resided. 



CLKMKNT L, kf.MVt'idO— (n the sjniiig of lS!i:!. the subject of this 
review became idciijihcd with Montgomery county. He came as an em- 
ploye of the Ind('pen'deni'(,!..Gas. t'onipany, then doing its initial work in 
the development ot 'nie .^as and oil belt of southern Kansas. He was 
from Paola, Kansas, the home Of the prime movers in the formation of the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 483 

Indepeiuleiioe Oas <"()iiii)iiii.v .in wliicli couiit.v of Miiiini. his parents were 
settlors f 11)111 Adams (■()un1\, <)hi<», in 1S84. 

V,\ nativity, Mr. Kimble is an Ohioau. lie was )>oiii in Adams coun- 
ty — the home of the family for several jienerations — Ortober 2. 1870. lie 
is a mixture of Kn»lish and Ii-isli stock, liis father Ix-inj.; tlie f;raiidsou 
of an Kiifilisliman and his inolhcr a dau<;hter of Irish immif-iants to the 
"Buckeye State." The orijiiiial Kimble, of this American family, settled 
in one of the counties of Maryland, in the fii'st years of our national his- 
tory and brouf>ht up his family there. A son. Elijah Kimble, followed 
the tide of eniit'ration westward, in the early years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, and founded the family of Kimbles in Adams county, Ohio. He 
settled a new farm there and brou<iht up his family, according; to the 
rural customs of that day. His wife was a Bradford and their family 
comprised eight sons and two daughters. David B- Kimble, the father of 
our subject, was one of their sons, and he was born about 1839. The lat- 
ter's brinojing;-up was without particular in<ident and for a wife, he chose 
Mary Connor. Durinj; the Civil war, he entered, the army, in 1862, and 
helped tight the battle of Shiloh. Becoming disaljle.d, by disease, he was 
finally discharged for disability. But he. afterward, and toward the 
close of the war, did duty as a nui'se on board-one. of the warships. 

In civil life, the pursuits of the farm claimed tlie attention of David 
B, Kimble, after the war, in Ohio and until 1884, he maintained his resi- 
dence in his native state. He and his wife maintain the family home in 
Paoln, Kansas, and are the parenls of six childl^en, of which number 
Clement L. is the third and only son. 

C. L. Kimble acquired his foundation priniMples of an education in 
the common schools of Kansas. He liecamc a teacher in the country 
schools, on approaching manhood, and. after two years' work in Miami 
county, decided to strenglhen himself by work as a student in the Kan- 
sas State Normal School. He spent the years IHtW^ and 18Jtl there and 
did the work of an irregular course, almost up'to tlie professional year. 
On retiring from the normal, he taught aiMither year, in the common 
schools and then joined the Indeiiendeiice Oas <.'mil]»any, as bookkeeper, 
and became identitied with .Montgomery county.'" ' 

Tlie Inde]iendence Gas Company was 'chiiV'tifri'il, in 18!t;>, with a 
capitti of f.lO.ddO and C. L. Bloom was chosen pi'esident ; A. P. McBride, 
secretary; J. D. Xickerson, vice jiresident, 'and W. f. Brown, of Coffe.y- 
ville, treasurer. In ISJKi, the cajiital s(ock (if the' ctiltijiany was increased 
— at a reorganizatiou^to .|l(M),(l()(t and (he sa'nie' "officers were chosen 
presi(]ent and secretary, while ,\. C. Stichwa^it'l^cted vice-president and 
A. ^^■. Sliulthis treasueer. Tlie third chiV/l^e iVi't'he (-apKal of the 
company, took i)Iace in 1!)(»1. when its stodi w';\s iiicreased to $250,000, 
and Mr. M<-Bride took Sliullhis' place as trea'siii-V>r and C L. Kimble was 



484 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

added to the oflScial board, as secretary of the company; the other offi- 
cers remaining the same. 

While Mr. Kimble is in no sense a politician, he affiliates with the 
Republican party. His father was an Ohio Democrat and was a modest 
but earnest supporter of the cause, while a citizen of the "Buckeye 
State." Masonry is a matter in which our subject has taken much inter- 
est and his rise from the Blue Lodge, which he entered in 1898, to the 
Shrine at Leavenworth and the Consistory at Wichita, since then, marks 
an achievement, unusual in its importance and significance in fraternal 
work. 



JOHN C. THOMAS— In June, 1869, John 0. Thomas settled in 
Montgomery County, an emigrant from Jo Daviess county, Illinois. In 
company with father and mother, he left the town of Council Hill, with a 
team and a few household effects, and the journey to Kansas occupied 
something over a month. A sister of our subject was also in the party 
and, in August, the mother died and was laid away in a rude pine box, 
made of dry goods boxes, by a neighbor. Father and son each took a 
claim in Drum Creek and West Cherry townships, respectively, where 
the former died, February 10, 1870. The cabin, which our subject erected, 
was a small one,'12xl4 feet, and he made it his home for only a couple of 
years, when <a new and more pretentious one appeared. 

Indians, located near his cabin, begged and stole Mr. Thomas' prop- 
erty and they even ordered him to leave his claim. A claim- 
jumper built a shanty on the claim, formerly owned by his father, but 
our subject tore it down and, some time later, lost all his improvements, 
by fire, at the hand, it was lielieved, of the baffled claim-jumper. This 
loss was a disaster that caused hardships and mental suffering to Mr. 
Thomas. Provisions were high — flour |8.00 per hundred, bacon 2.5 cents 
per pound and shelled corn $2.00 per bushel — and it was months before 
he recovered from the effects of the blow. In 1872, he rented his farm 
and went to Sedalia, Missouri, where he worked, as a machinist, for 
twelve years, returning, Ihen, to his farm, able to carry on, successfully, 
the improvement and cultivation of his place. 

John C. Thomas was born at Tywardreth. Cornwall county, Eng- 
land, November 2:^, 1840. In 18r>2, his mother and three children emigrat- 
ed from there to the [hiited States (the father, however, having comei 
four years before) and settled in Jo Daviess county, Illinois. The father 
was John Thomas and the mother was Sarah Cook, a lineal descendant 
of Cai)t. (^ook, the famous navigator. Her father and mother were 
James and Elizabeth (Sleenmn) Cook. John Thomas, grandfather of our 
subject, was born in Couiity Cornwall and married Kittie James of the 
same county. Their children were: John and Mrs. Kittie Hitchens. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 485 

John, Jr.'s thildreii were : John C, onr subject ; Mrs. Sarah A. Bunney, 
of Central City, Colorado; James L.. of I'inole, California; and Mrs. 
Ruth Fuller, of Denver. Colorado. 

John C. Thomas married Rebecca Warren, a native of Camden 
county, Missouri, and a daughter of Thomas L. Warren. His wife died, 
leaving a son. Perry, of Oakland, California, a hospital engineer. Mr. 
Thomas' second wife was Emma A. Cordes, of Morgan county, Missouri, 
and a daughter of Frederick Cordes, a German settler of that state. The 
children of this union are: Walter C. and Oscar L., both with the pa- 
rental home. 

The Thomas family of this record were miners, both in England and 
the United States. Our subject worked in the lead mines of Illinois and 
in the coal mines of Ohio and in the lead and zinc mines of Wisconsin, 
and came to Kansas to build him a home. He has taken a good citizen's 
interest in public affairs, has served his district school board ten years, 
has been a member of his township political committee and was chosen 
a delegate to the Republican State Convention of 1902. 



WILLIAM H. HARTER— When one begins to talk about "early 
days'' in Montgomery connty, it is necessary to reckon with the gentle- 
man whose honored name is herewith given, as his coming dates to the 
time v/hen a single log cabin marked the site of Independence and when 
the aborigines of the jtrairie roamed in undisputed freedom over hill and 
dale. The years which have passed since then, have furrowed the face 
and v.hitened the locks, but have failed to age the heart; youth springs 
eternoi in the old pioneers. 

William Harter's nativity dates in Tarroll county, Indiana, of the 
year 1836. He is the eldest of the seven children born to Andrew and 
Delilah (Hewett) Harter, the names of the other children l)eing: Isaac, 
a farmer, i-esiding in Drum Creek township; Elizabeth, who married John 
Raplogle and lives in Carroll <-ounty, Indiana; Lewis, of Carroll county; 
Frank, of Seattle. Washington: Sarah. Mrs. Miles Flora, of ('arroll 
county, Indiana; Delj)hine. wife of William Lytic, living in (Carroll 
county. Indiana. 

Mr. Harter grew (o manhood and married in Carroll county, the 
year iieing 18r>8, and his wife's maid(>n name was Hachel Haley; also, 
a native of Carroll county. The following year, onr subject and his 
wife came to this county, where they made settlement on i>art of the large 
farm which they now own. in conjunction with Mr. Harter's brother. 

.\t tlvat time, "Poor Lo" was in evidence in the county, to the nunil)er 
of 3,.10(), and not always the most peaceable nor the most trustworthy. 
The trials of the very early pioneers of the county, with the Indians, were 
many, their thieving propensities being the most annoying. It was nee- 



486 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

essai-yto wntch stock all Iho tiiiip, and nothing; of value could be laid down 
for a single moment. 

Ml', and Mrs. Haitcr have reared three children, two of their own, 
•and g.n adopted child. Charles A. lives on the old homestead farm and is 
one of the i)romisino young men of the county; Jessie M., the daughter, 
lives with her parents. An adopted cliild, Jane, is now the wife of 
Clarence Osboriic a farmei' of the coiinty. 

The farm (iwned by the Ilarters is a tine body of four hundred acres, 
part ol it but two miles from the center of the thriving county-seat town 
of Independence, and its broad acres show the hand of the experienced 
agriculturist. The standing of the Harter family, among the yeomanry of 
the county, is un(|uestioned, and the helpful character of their citizenship 
has done much 1<> raise the general moral level. Mr. Harter has never 
taken a very active j)art in the public life of the county, but has always 
been a consistent suj)porter of the Republican i)arty. He is a man who 
combines many of the noble qualities, so nmrked in pioneers, and num- 
bers his friends bv the hundreds in the countv. 



MARTIN BRADFORD SOULE— The esteemed gentleuuin whose 
name introduces this brief sketch, is the efficient and popular Probate 
Judge of Montgomery county. Twenty years have passed since his iden- 
tity with the county liecame a fact and, since his advent here, in the fall 
of 18.S3, he has demonstrated an unselfish, patriotic an<l public-spirited 
citizenship. 

The town of ^A■aterville, Maine, gave him birth, on the 27th of Janu- 
ary, 1838, and in the '•I'ine Tree State," and its educational institutions 
developed him into a well-rounded, strong and intellectual young man. His 
antecedents were Colonial people of Massachusetts, near Duxboro, of 
which state. Daniel Sonic, father of our subject, was born in 1702. Dan- 
iel Soule was a son of Jonathan Soule, whose French forefather estab- 
lished the family in the ISritish colonies of America, some time in the 
eighteenth century. Jonathan Soule followed pastoral pursuits and, in 
1796, he settled at Waterville, Maine, where he died, in 183(5, at the age 
of eighty-four years. He married Honore Souther, who survived to 
ninety-six years of age. and was the mother of: Zebide, who died in Wis- 
consin: George. I'alotiah, Sullivan, ("harlotte and Althea, who passed 
away in Maine, incliidiiig Daniel. Daniel Soule grew up in Waterville 
and was a Maine soldier in the war of 1812. He joined the army,. as a re- 
cruit, toward the end of the war and, on ivturning to civil life^ resumed 
the occupation of his father. He luarriedMary Hayden, born in 1800, 
at. Winslow, ]Maine. She died in 18.^)7 and he in 1881. Their children 
were; Mary J,, who died unmai-ried ; Ge<u'ge H., of Orange, Massachu- 
setts; Ann K., of \\'aterville, Maine, who nuirried Elhanan Cook; Olive 




JUDGE M. B- SOULE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 487 

L., whose first luisbaiid was George W. Hubbard and whose second was 
Mr. Edgar, now residing at St. Charles, Louisiana; Martin B., our sub- 
ject; John W., of Uoston, Massacliusetts ; Daniel A., deceased; Sidney 
C, of Mankato, Minnesota; and Ricliard ('., of Waterville, Maine. 

Judge M. 1?. Soule i)assed the years of his minority in the country 
about Waterville. First, tlie academy and, then, Waterville College, now 
Colby University, at Waterville, supplied him with the sinews of an edu- 
cation. He was just settling down to the life of a farmer when, in 1862, 
he enlisted in <'omj)any "E," Sixteenth Maine Infantry, Capt. A. D. 
Leavett and Cols., respectively. Wilds and Tilden. His regiment was 
assigned to the Second, or Kobinson's, Division and in the First, or Rey- 
nold's Corps — Gen. Paul's Brigade. It rendezvoused at Augusta, the 
state capital, and was ordered to Arlington Heights, where it lay till the 
battle of Antietam, when it was ordered into the field, and took part in 
the ))iittle of Fredericksbuig, in December. 18(12. The battles of Chancel- 
lorsville and Gettysburg followed, the next spring and summer, and, in 
the latter engagement, Mr. Soule was shot in the right elbow and, about 
a year later, was discharged from the service. 

After the war and, on beginning civil life anew, Judge Soule decided 
to enter a profession, and read law with Reuben Foster, of Waterville, 
in 18G.O and ISOf!. He then took a course in the Albany Law School, Al- 
bany, New York, and was in the class with Mr. Conger, now U. S. Minis- 
ter to China. In June, lS(i(i, he was admitted to the bar, in New York^ 
and, in January, 18G7, was admitted to practice in Waterville, Maine, 
and opened an office there at once. The year 1870. he went out to Minne- 
sota and opened an office, in Worthington, where he lesided and was in 
active practice ten years. He' then removed to Kuoxville, Tennes.see, and, 
two years later, came to Kansas and took u\> his residence in Cherryvale. 
For several years he was associated with Jinlge Iv 1 >. Hastings, as a law 
partner, in Cherryvale. and his honorable standing in the profession and 
ins ability as an advocate and c(Hinselor was poi)ularly recognized. Hi.s 
election to the ottice of I'robate Judge, in litOO, foned his temporary 
abandonment of the law. in favor of the jiublic service. 

Judge Soule has received recognition, as a jiolitical factor, wher- 
ever he has been permanently located and his service has been partially 
rewarded by public office. For three terms, he was County Attorney of 
Nobles County, Minnesota, was on the council and mayor of Chei-ryvale 
and served five years on its school board. His first Presidential vote was 
cast for Mr. Lincoln and he lias cast a ballot foi- every l{e|(ul)lican can- 
didate since. He was elt'cled Probate Judge of Montgomery cotinty, by 
a maj(uity of about three lumdi-ed \()tes, aTid was reelected, in Novendier, 
1902. by six hundred and thirteen majority, llis jmblic service, like hi.s 
private life, has been most honorable and simere and, in whatever capac- 



488 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ity lie has labored, right and justice have been his guiding precepts and 
principles. 

March 11, ]8(j!», Judge iSoule was first married, in Haverhill, Massa- 
chusetts, his wife being Annie E. Mitchell. iShe died, in 1874, without is- 
sue and, October 0, 1878, he married Barbara Cosier, of Worthington, 
Minnesota. September 29, 1885, the Judge married Hattie Harvey, a 
daughter of James Hai'vey, an Englishman. Mrs. Soule was born in 
Wisconsin, December 2(i, 1835. Mary L. and Martin H. are the children 
of the Sonle household and they are the issue of the Judge's last mar- 
riage. 

Judge Soule became a Mason forty years ago and holds his member- 
ship in the Blue Lodge at Cherryvale. He is a prominent local G. A. R. 
man and is an Elk. 



JAMES PHILIP HUBBARD— The subject of this notice came into 
Montgomery county, in 1884, and purchased a farm, in section 13, town- 
ship 33, range 15, which he has developed and improved and made one 
of the attractive and valuable homesteads of Independence township. He 
purchased the farm from Madison Yandavier, well known to the early 
settlers about Independence, as an eccentric, who came into the locality 
with a pet bear of the trick order and from which exhibition he gath- 
ered up the means with which to purchase a tract of land in this new 
country. With the small beginning which had been made, Mr. Hubbard 
proceeded with the making of a home in Kansas and his efforts, supple- 
mented by those of an industrious wife and dutiful children, luxs placed 
him in a i)osition of (•onii)arative ease and independence. 

James P. Hublianl is a native of the State of New York. He was born 
in the year 1847, on the :5d day of September. His father was Richard 
Hubbard, a daguerreotyper in early life and then a carpenter. The latter 
was born in Norfolk county, England, in 1818, was a son of Thomas Hub- 
bard, and came to the United States, with his parents, about 1828. The 
family settled in Onondaga county. New York, where, at Corning, the 
grandparents of our subject died. They had a family of ten children, in- 
cluding the following: Philip, who died in New York state; Martin, who 
died in Bartholomew county, Indiana; Thomas, who served in the Con- 
federate army from Te.xas, was wounded, captured and died in Camp 
Chase, Ohio; Wilbur, who died a soldier in the, Union army; Richard, 
father of our subject; lOliza, deceased wife of S. Y. Lee, of Manhattan, 
Kansas; Susan, who married David Jacobs and died in New York; Mary, 
who died in Manhattan, Kansas, was the wife of John Barnes; Martha, 
now Mrs. Seymour Schley, of TojK'ka, Kansas. Richard Hubbard mar- 
ried Elizabeth Swartman, a daughter of an Englishman. In 1857, he 
move J out to Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he died, in ]87(). He 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 489 

was the father of six cliiklien. its follows: Charles TI.. of Hartlioloinew 
county, Indiana; Mary, deroased ; .lames V.. of this review; Edward, de- 
feased: Frederick, of liartholoniew counly. Indiana, and William, de- 
ceased. 

James P, Hubbard grew up from l)oyhood in and around Jonesville, 
Indiana, with only the advantages of the country youth. He attended 
school a few months, during the winter terms, and made a hand on the 
farm in summer. He contributed of his meager earnings to the main- 
tenance of the parental home, till he reached his majority, and continued 
to labor, as a farm hand, till the opportuntiy arose whereby he could 
"crop on the shares." He finally purchased a farm and was engaged with 
its cultivation and improvement till his advent to Kansas. 

September 8, 1871, Mr. Hubbard married Indiana McHeury, a daugh 
ter of Richard McHenry, from Ohio. Mr. McHenry was the father of a 
large family of children. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard's children are: Richard 
H., born January 22, 1872, is still with the family circle; Elizabeth, born 
in February. 1875, is the wife of William f'ourtright. of the Indian Ter 
ritory; Ollie, who married Elmer DeMott, of Montgomery county, Kan 
sas; Emery and James, yet with their parents. 

In his political relations, Mr. Hubbard is a Republican. His father 
was a war Democrat, but the issues of that time and the results of it 
caused the son to seek a different political home and he has been an un 
yielding partisan of the protectionist faith since. He holds a membership 
in the "subordinate" of the I. O. O. F. 



ALBERT W. SHULTHIS— A survey of the financial institutions of 
Independence reveals an array of citizenship connected with their man 
agement, prominent in the business world and conspicuous as pioneers 
or early settlers of Montgomery county. The youngest of them has serv 
ed his quarter of a century with his institution — has grown up in its ser- 
vice — and has, for ten years, been its efficient cashier. We refer to 
Albert W. Shulthis. of the Citizens National Bank. He came to Indepen 
dencc with his parents in 1876, a boy of fourteen, and the next year en 
tered the Hull Bank as office boy. By actual experience, he familiarized 
himself with every menial and clerical duty about the institution, be- 
came its book-keeper and in 1891, was appointed assistant cashier. Since 
1894, he has held the position of cashier and, thus, briefly, is reviewed his 
connection with one of the important concerns of Montgomery county. 

A history of the development of the Citizens National Bank discloses 
the fact that it first took shape as a private bank. In 1871, C. H. and 
Edgar Hull organized the Hull Bank, with a capital of $.34,000.00. They 
conducted it until 188:?. when it was purchased by A. C. Stich and Henry 
Foster, and the name changed fo The Citizens Bank, with a capital of 



490 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

'^4(»,U00.0(). and was conducted as a private institution until 18!)4, when 
it nationalized with a capital of fSd.OOO.KO and a surplus of |10,000.00. Its 
first President was Henry Foster, and its first Cashier, A. C. Stieh. Mr. 
Stich succeeded Mr. Foster as President in 1894, and at the same time 
Mr. Shultliis took the position vacated l),v Mr. Stich. 

From its inception to the present, the ("itizens National Bank has 
been a prosperous and progressive institution. Its officers and managers 
have been men of marked ability in commercial circles and, as a conse- 
quence, its assets liave consisted of live and sul)stantial securities and its 
capital and surjilus always strengthened rather than impaired. It is the 
oldest bank in this jiortion of Kansas and, under its ])resent manage 
ment, is especially reliable and strong. Since nationalization its capital 
has increased from |."j(),(M)(l.()0 to |10O,UO0.00 and its assets from |150,- 
000.00 to |4r)0,()00.00. The deposits amount to $300,000.00 and its busi- 
ness is juinciiially local in character. 

Albert W. Sl'uilthis was born in Quincy. Illinois, March 17, 1863. He 
is the youngest of ten children and a son of George and Magdalene (Win- 
gcrt) Shnlthis, both native of Darmstadt, Germany, where their families 
had resided for generations before them. The father was born in 1807, 
and died in Quincy, Illinois, in 1893. He was married in that city, where 
he was a ])ioneer and where he settled down as a shoemaker. His sav- 
ings he invested in city real estate and. in time, it made him comfortable 
and indeiiendent. He finally engaged in the retail shoe business, and. 
later on, in the wholesale business, retiring at near seventy years of age 
and spending some years as a resident of Independence, Kansas. His 
wife died in 1882, at the age of sixty-six, and eight of their children still 
survive. 

The public schools knew A. W. Shulthis as a pupil no more, after his 
fourteenth year. From thence forward to the present, the salient fea- 
tures of his life work have been referred to. He is devoted to business 
and the interests of his bank and his family chiefly monopolize his time. 
He is a mend)er of the commercial club of Independence, and exerts an in- 
fluence in the promotion of enterprises to the city's advantage. May 1, 
1888, he married 5Iary B. Sewell, a Tennessee lady. Their children are: 
Beatrice and Muriel. 



I'EBRY S. HOLLINGSWORTH— The gentleman whose name in 
troduces this article is one of the early settlers of Montgomery county 
and is widely known as a banker and man-of-afl'airs. His connection 
with the county began more than a quarter of a century since and as a 
merchant, stockman and financier his reputation lias Ijeen established 
and his success has been attained. 

Perry S. Hollingsworth was born in Peoria, Illinois, January 1, 1853, 



HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 49I 

riud is ii son of Kicliiiid iiiid Kcliccc;! ( ri;istiii<is | I lolliiij;swortli, venerahio 
(Quaker parents, who aic lilieiall.v nn'iifioned clsfwlicic licrein. 

The State of Iowa ^ave to 1". S. llollin^swoilli liis jiliysica! and men- 
tal dovelojinient. The puisviits of the farm contributed to his miiSeulaf, 
and file public schools and the University of tlie state to his mental train- 
in)>. He firaduated in the latter institutiim in 1870. and W'^nn life on the 
farm. He clianjjed his vocation after two years and became a merchant 
in the town of West Kranch. He remained there until iiis emif-ration 
from the state in 187(1, and threw in his fortunes with the settlers of 
Montjiomery county, Kansas. His first venture here was in the book and 
stationery store in Hidependence. which he conducted five years. Ketiiv 
ing from the store he engaged in the cattle business until 188(5, and en- 
tered the Caney Valley Bank, at Caney. as cashiei'. He disposed of his 
interest in that institution in 18!i4. and jturchased an interest in the First 
National Hank of Independence and became its president. Upon the 
death of Mr. Kemington and the entry of Mr. Allen as an active factor in 
the management of the bank, the latter became president and Mr. Hol- 
lingsworth became cashier. 

In March, 1873, occurred the first marriage of ^Ir. Hollingsworth. 
His wife was Mary Cole, and she died in 1880, leaving a son. Archer W. 
Holliijgsworth, of Collinsvillc, Indian Territory. The latter is a mer- 
chant and is married to Mattie Walker. The second marriage of our 
subject took place in July. 1884, his wife being Alice Slusser, an Ohio 
lady, who came to Montgomery county with her sister, Mrs. John Kerr. 
Jlrs. Hollingsworth was a daughter of J. B. Slusser. of Ohio — and of Gei'- 
man blood, — but orphaned by the death of both itarents at an early age. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth's children are: Pearl E. and Dale K. 

The political record of P. S. Hollingsworth is ])retty well stimnieil 
up in the word Republican. The family has contributed its mite toward 
the success of this party from its birth down, and there seems to have 
been little ambition for political distinction among the family member- 
ship. Mr. Hollingsworth. our subject, was chosen the first ]\Iayor of 
Caney, and he held the office several years, but this seems to have grati 
fled his political desires. In Masonry he has taken the Knights Templar 
degrees, holding a membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Coniman- 
dery at Indejtendence, and in the Council at Toi)eka and in Abdalah Tem- 
ple, O. M. S., at Leavenworth. 



JOHN T. HENDERSON— One of the largest owners of real estate 
in Montgomery county and a citizen whose name will be recognized as 
among the most substantial in Southern Kansas is John T. Henderson, 
of Independence. He is a direct descendant of an old German family, and 
came (o Montgomei'y county in 1872. 



492 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Mr. Henderson was born on tlu- 2nd of March, 1858, in Jackson 
•couTivy, Indiana. His father was William S. Henderson, and was born 
February 10, 1836, at Louisville, Kentucky, and died in Sycamore town- 
shij>, Montgomery county, December 30, 1885. Hy occupation he was a 
brick moulder and was also a contractor of brick work. He married Su- 
sanuiili Henderson, born in Johnson county, Indiana, October Gth, 1840. 

C>n the father's side our subject's grandfather was Daniel Henderson, 
born in Madison, Indiana, November 18, 1809. died September 20, 1875. 
He married Permelia Cook, who was born July 15, 1800. This was a 
direct descendant of the noted (Jarr family, whose remote ancestor, An- 
dres <iarr, settled in what is now Madison county, Virginia, in 1732, 
together with three hundred Palatines from the old country, who es- 
tablished the first Lutheran church in America. These people left the 
old country to escape the persecution set on foot by Leopold, Arch- Bishop 
of Saltzburg, who, having discovered that many of the subjects of his 
king liad renounced the religion of Rome, determined to reduce them to 
submission or to banish them from the country. During the reign 
of Cht.rles V., in Germany, from 1519 to 15GG, that monarch conferred 
upon the Gaars a coat of arms, the family at this time being one of the 
most prominent in the Fatherland. The Gaars originally came from 
Franconia. The name "Garr," or "Gaar," is distinctly German in its 
origin, and is not traceable to the Celts, the Gauls, the Goths or the 
Romans. 

The domestic life of Mr. Henderson began in 1892, when he was join- 
ed in marriage to Maybelle Madden. They have reared two children : 
Ethel Mav, born Februarv 4, 1894, and John Strother, born August 16. 
1895. 

Mr. Henderson settled in Montgomery county in 1872, and located in 
West Cherry township, where he has since held residence. He owns three 
farms in the county, containing, in all, 360 acres. The farm iu Drum 
Creek township was left by his wife's father to him, and lies in West 
Drum and Cherry townships, and contains 240 acres. 

Mr. Henderson is engaged in the wholesale flour and feed business 
in Independence, which he staried in -luly, 1902. Fie is not a member of 
any church, but his wife communes with the Seventh Day Adventists. 

Mr. Henderson is held in high esteem by a large circle of friends iu 
the county. 



Is'ORRIS BENNETT BRISTOL— At Sixth and Myrtle streets. Inde- 
pendence, in one of the oldest houses on the townsite, lives a gentleman 
who looks back over thirty-three years to the day when he first placed foot 
on Montgomery county soil. He is one of the best known characters in 
the county, and, by reason of his rectitude and his industry, merits the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 493 

large measure of esteem meted out to him. There is something eminently 
fltting: and proper in the association of this "gentleman of tte'old school" 
with the house which he occui)ies. In its early days it rearled its head 
somewhat higher than its neighliors, was the first "jilastered" 4iouse of the 
community, while tlie coming of its master, Norris B. Bristol, made a 
distinct addition to the village population. '■ • ' 

Mr. Bristol's four score and four years set lightly upOn him, his ab- 
stemious and correct life making him hale and hiearty at kn' age which 
generally dims the mind and totters the step. His birtlf occui-red at 
Fulton, Oswego county, N. Y., August 12, 1819. He there' received a good 
common school education and remained at home until aftei^ he had cast 
his first presidential vote, the head of which ballot read" "Martin Van 
Bureu." He then started in life for himself, coming west to Ottawa, Il- 
linois, where he engaged in the grain business for a pCriod of thirty 
years, operating one of the largest elevators in that sectioii of the coun- 
try. With his son-in-law. Benj. Armstrong, he theh cam^'to Indepen- 
dence, Kansas, landing on the townsite December 6, 1870. They immedi- 
ately commenced the erection of the house before mentioned, which was 
distinguished, later, as the office of the U. S. Land office.' ' • ■ ■ ' 

Since that era Mr. Bristol has been prominently identified with the 
deveh^pment of the county and with the growth 'of Independence. In 
1872, he was appointed to the office of United States Commi-ssioner, which 
he administered with satisfaction until its abolishment in 188.5. During 
this period he also served a term as Justice of the Peace. ' His politics 
has changed since that early day, in 1840, and he has, for years,' aflBliated 
with the Re])ublican party. '' '■ 

In 184.5, Jlr. Bristol was joined in marriage with Mary Eddy, a 
daugliter of William Eddy, of Somonauk, Illinois, a prortiineUt Metho- 
dist divine of that section. They reared but one child; Melitta M. F. 
Bristol, who was married, in 1870, to Benj. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong 
is a son of .John and Margaret (Trumble) Armstrong', natives of Illinois. 
The family originally came from Ohio and were piofieers iii the "Sucker 
State." He is one of a fanuly of twelve; those living are: 'Mrs. Fannio 
Barber, of Sheridan, Illinois; Josei>li, also of Sheridan, Illinois; Mrs. 
Sam I'arr. of Ottawa, Illinois; and ]?enjamin. Mr. and' MrS: Armstrong 
are the parents of two children: Carrie, now Mrs. Dr'. Ai'thul' W. Evans, 
of Tndeiiendence. and Fannie B., wife of Charles L.' McAdalns, druggist 
of liul('])endence, who have one son, Carl. Mr. Bristol's family are mem- 
i)ers of the Congregational church and connect themselves cordially with 
movements for the betterment of societv in general. ■ ' 



TUOM.VS N. SICKEIiS — In the material development of Indepen- 
dence, Thomas X. Sickels has performed a modest, though distinct, part 



494 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

iuid a siirvov of the Held of actors who have achieved victories, moulded 
sentiment, or wielded 4nllnen<'e foi- }:;()(k1, reveals him as a charadter most 
worthy to Ix' repiesenled in (he personal annals of Montgomery county, 
("ominji to the county a youiif; man of thirty-one, full of hope and am- 
bitious to occupy ail h<»iioied place in the atlairs of men. he has, for years, 
been before the foot-liffhts in tlie drama of life and has won the esteem 
and confidence of his iiiiinicipality. .\s salesman, as government clerk 
or as editor and iiulilislier of a daily jia])er of Independence, the honesty 
of his motives :uid (he siiicerily of his purpose have never been questioned. 

Mr. Sickels came to ftloiitgomery counly a pioneer. In the autunui 
of 187(1, his career ill' (he county began with a clerkship in the mercantile 
establishment of the pi<iiieer, W. T. l>isho]>, whose place of business was 
located where the ottice of the lnde]iendence (Jas ("omjiany now is. Leav- 
ing Mr. Risliop, he ac^cepted a positi(ui in the tiovernment T^aiid Otlicc in 
the city, which lie tilled for a |»eriod of eight years and, on severing his 
connection with it, piii'clias(>d (he "Daily Reporter" and undertook, at 
once, the conduct of the pajier. \\'hile devoted to the interests of his 
l)ub!i(ation, he haw at the same time enlisted "for the war" in the cause 
of his city and county and, with voice and pen, he has contributed ma- 
terially to a sentiment which has yielded IxMieficial munici])a] results. 

Coming to Kansas in the spring of 1S7(t. .Mr. Sickels stopped briefly 
in the village of Oswego, in Labette county, lie had come to the west to 
identify himself with it and his search for a place of much promise did 
not end 'till he reached Independence. He had passed two years — just 
prior--in Vernon county, Mi.ssouri, but his fear of becoming entangled in 
the moss on the back.s of his neighbors caused him to desert the state and 
he has nev(>r been sorry of the change. 

October 22, 183!>, Thomas N. Hick(ds was born in Indianapolis, In- 
diana. He was a son of Rev. William Sickels, a Presbyterian minister, 
u pioneer and intlucntial factor in the affairs of that denomination in In- 
diana. The-founding of JIanover, College, in that state, resulted largely 
from his efforts, and he pa.ssed his entire life in church and educational 
woi'k. vHe was born iu New York state, was educated in Jefferson College 
and was descended from Holland stock. He married Alma Coe. a daugh- 
ter of Dr. Isaac Coe, one of the pioneer physicians of Indianapolis. Dr. 
Coe was widely known for his interest in Sabbath school work, and a 
monument to him in Crown Point cemetery in the capital city attests to 
his distinguished service as a founder of Sabbath schools in the state. 

To Rev. and Mrs. Wm. Sickels were born four sons, namely : Rev. \A". 
W., of Indianapolis, Indiana; Rev. E. C, of Dixon, Illinois; Isaac C, 
who died in Vernon (-ounty, Missouri; and Thonms N., of this review. 

Thomas N. Sickels was educated in the city schools of Indianapolis, 
Indiana, spent two years in -Jefferson College, near Pittsburg, and 
graduated from there in 18G0. On finishing his education he i)assed a 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 495 

year on a Missouri farm and then looaled in CMcajlo, wliere he l)eoame 
associate coniinercial editor of the "Chicago TilMofe." Six months later, 
orin August. 1862. he enlisted in the Chicago Mercantile Hattery, and was 
subseijuently jiromoted to a First Lieutenancy in' the Kith U. S. Artillery. 
He remained in the service 'till March, 18(l(), wh?n 'he resigned and went 
back to Missouri as superintendent of a mining company. His army 
record, in brief. com])rises service on the Yanoo 'l-iver in the Vicksburg 
campaign, siege of Vicksburg. battle of Arkansas Post, and thence to tho 
Department of the CJulf and i-emained around. New Orleans 'till he quit 
the service. n #. .. , 

Mr. Sickels married Harriet E: McNeil in^'Vernon county, Missouri, 
May 21, 18<)7. She was a daughter of: Col. ^R-/ Wj McN<>)lvand is the mo- 
ther of: Walter S., William N.. of Chibx-co^Gklahomn ; Mrs. Caroline C. 
Taylor, of Independence; Pansy, James and E'dwj^rd. •■■.■■.-■■ . 

Mr. Sickels has supported the Republican' p«»*y;'flnd its principles 
all hi.s life and his official service in a political wa,\»«wtnTn'1ses one term on 
the Poard of Education of Independeneej He is n 'member of and elder 
in the Presbvterian church. ■ ■' •:• ■ '■> • 



THOMAS F. MORROW— Thomas F. Moti^^, one of the soldier 
farmers of Fawn Creek township, has been a r^Sid^nt of Montgomery 
county since 1870. lie came to Kansas, financi'.illy 'cri]ipled and passed 
through some bitter experiences in his efforts to '^'cure a home for him- 
self and children, but, Iby his exei'tions, at lafet overcaitie' the obstacles of 
])ioneer life and is now, in the evening of his'ciii'eer, able to enjoy, peace- 
fully, the fruits of the prosperity which has oonie to him in these later 
years. .... 

A native of Ohio, Mr. Morrow was boPn in Noble county, May 26, 
1844. Gershom Morrow was his father and Nancy Huffman his mother. 
They were both natives of the "Keystone State,'-' had removed to Ohio 
in childhood and married in Belmont county. They continued to 
reside there until 186.'). when they came west to Ralls county, Missouri, 
where the mother soon died, at the age of forty-five years. The father 
mairied a second time, Pelzora C. Ileskett, of Somei-fiebl, Ohio (still re- 
siding in Missouri), becoming his wife. Mr. MoiTow died April 9, 1902, 
at the advanced age of ninety years. The child:-en of the first marriage 
were nine, six of whom are living, viz: John S. and Nancy M., deceased; 
Elizabeth S.. Mrs. James Norman; Charles S. , Sarah S., wife of Mr. 
Hashii;an ; Thomas F. . Mary J., who also married a Norman; Ruth A., 
-Mrs. Calloway; and Melissa R., deceased. To the s<'cond marriage, the 
following were born: Ida, Martha A., Gershom L. and Almira, now Mrs. 
Harris. 

Thomas F. Morrow was a lad of seventeen years, engaged 



496 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

dutifully at work (in ilic hoiiic farm, when war's loud alarm 
reverberated tlii-out;li(»ut (lie couiitr.v. lie immediately jdaied his 
name on the roll and on the "Jud of Fehrnary. 18fi2, took oath to su])iiort. 
by arms, the eonstitiilioii of hi.s nation. .Vs a private soldier, he enlisted 
in ("oinpany "I," 2(»th (♦. X'^ol. Inf. He proceeded to the front and j)assed 
the succeedine; four years in the fierce conflict of battle and throujrh the 
long t;nd weary march iiilerveninp, tinally receivinjj an honorable dis- 
charge, on the ItJtIi of July 1805. Hi.s .service was passed in tlie use of 
liowder and ball, in many of the fierce conflicts of the middle west and 
south. He WUH with (JranI at Fort Uonelson, at the bloody fight at Shi 
loh, and. at Hoiiver, he met the enemy. For the three months ))receding 
the Nation's Itirfhday of 1803, he participated in the siege of Vicksburg, 
Preceding this liie wan afKaymond, Jackson, ('ham]>ion Hills. Kig Hlack 
and then passed tlirough the Atlanta Campaign. He was with 
Slieriiian's hosts as they ni.-irohed to the .sea, and saw the Stars and Hars 
come down at Savannah, and, later, at Shephard and Bradford and Port 
Pocatella and Ormsliurg. Ho partici|»afed in the last scene of the war, 
the capture of tJen. Johnstou at Kaleigh, N. C, and then proceeded with 
the ttiumphant army to Washington, where he marched in that last great 
pageant, the Grand Review. From here he came back to Tjouisville. where 
lie received his discharge and ret\irned home with the consciousness of 
duty faithfully performed. 

His father haviirg I't-moved to Mis.souri during his absence, he re- 
paired to that state and in Kails county, on the 2.5th of October, 1865, was 
joined in marriage (o Martha S. Heskett. Mrs. jNloriow was borii on the 
21st of July, 1837, in t>hio, and is a daughter of Leoiiidas and Eliza 
Heskett. Her [»arents had also removed to Missouri duiing the war. Jlr. 
and Mrs. Morrow (H»nfinu(^d to live in Missouri until 1870, when they gO,t 
together their jfossessions and started for the '"Sunflower State." In 
Fort Scott, they ]»urchased a yoke of oxen and a w;tgon, with which they 
made the trip to Montgomery county. Here they located a claim in the 
eastern part of F'awn Creek township, six miles northwest of Coffeyville. 
Their finances, after the payment on their laud, was at a verv low ebb, 
they having $.50 left to begin the battle. However, they were both in good 
health and proceeded resolutely to carve out a home in the state. To 
enumerate all the trials through which they passed in those early days 
would take more space than this brief article cau allow. Suffice it to say, 
that none of the old seHlers had a "harder row to hoe" than Mr. .M(U'row 
and his devoted wife. They were finally enabled to get a deed for a ]poi- 
tion of the claim which they preempted and are now living on the original 
quarter section. The improvements on this farm are of the substantial 
character and it now indicates the thrifty and careful inanagemeiH of a 
man .^killed in husbandry. 

The life of Mr. Morrow has been of the most upright character and 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 497 

liis iiitelligeiK participation in the duties wliicli conic (o tlic patriotic 
<'itizeii has been of the most helpful nature. He has heen lionored with 
the selection to administer tlie township clerk's odice for two (erms. and 
has also participated in the selection of educational facilities for his 
school district at different times. Fraternally he is a member of the 
.Ma.sons, of the A. H. T. A. and of the G. A. R. In politics he supports 
the piinciples of the Kepublican platform and is a consistent and life long 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 



WILLIAM F. LAVVSON— In the introduction to this personal 
notice api>ears tlie name of a farmer of Fawn Creek townsliip. whose 
nineteen years of life on a Kansas farm has contributed not only to the 
couniy'.s welfare, but has been a positive force in the amelioration of his 
own condition. He is entitled to credit for the commendable way in 
which he has disposed his time and, but for the comjiarative brevity of his 
residence here, he would enjoy the distinction of a pioneer. 

William F. Lawson is a native of Ohio. Richland county gave him 
birth on the 14th of June, 1850, of parents John and Margaret (Snyder) 
Lawson, the father born in Pennsylvania and the mother, also. The lat 
ter were married in their native state and soon thereafter moved to Ohio 
and lived for a time in Richland county, afterward going to Detiance 
county, where their remaining years of life seem to have been spent. The 
latlier was born in 1S()4 and died in 18S!), and the mother's birth occurred 
ill ISdri and her death in 1884. Fourteen children resulted from their 
union, four sons of the number serving in the I'nion army, war of the Re- 
lielli(.i:, and of the family five yet survive. Of the sons who were soldiers, 
only two lived to see the end of the war. William F.. who was the young- 
est child, reached his majority under the ])arental roof and obtained only 
a coiii'try school education. He learned the carpenters' trade and the 
tirst .\ears of his life were devoted exclusively to its pursuit. He came 
out to Kansas in 1880, and purchased a small tract of seventy-three acres 
in Montgomery county, the nucleus of his present farm. He went to Ne- 
lirask.i and spent one year, then a few months in Alichigan and then 
spent three years in Illinois, and in 1884, brought out his family and ef- 
fects with the ultimate intention of growing into and <-losing his career 
as a farmer. He continued to i)ly his trade in Montgomery county, has 
done all his own building and much work for others. His own improve- 
ments are substantial and somewhat imposing and add strikingly to the 
domesticity of his estate. I'nder his guidance and <lire<tion. his domain 
has widened in extent and now enihraces, instead of less than eighty 
acres, tlii-ee hundred aci-es, wliich places him in the category of large 
farmers of the county. His farm is six miles west of Coffeyvilie, and lies 
in sections one and two, township IM. range 1."). 



498 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

(Xiober 2!), 1883, Anna E. Getrost became the wife of William F. 
Lawson. She was a daughter of George W. and Lucy E. (Powell) Get- 
rost, nnd was born in Crawford county, Ohio, August 9, 1848. Mr Get- 
rost was a native (Jornian, came to the United States a boy and narrled 
a Pennsylvania lady. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Law- 
son, namely: William H., nineteen years old, and Emanuel U.. aged fif- 
teen years. 

From this article it will be seen that Mr. Lawson's opportunities 
were limited to those of his own carving and his advantages only those 
common to the poor. Emi)ty handed, then, was his beginning in life and 
the ri'sults of his labors, coupled with those of his wife and sons^ have al- 
ready been told. He affiliates with the Democratic party and has hsen a 
school clerk for nearly ten years, and was re-elected in 1903 for a term of 
three vears. 



I'ETER H. FOX— Among the well known farmers of Fawn Creek 
township and a gentleman who has taken a lively interest in practical 
agriculture in Montgomery county, is Peter H. Fox, of this sketch. For 
near a score of years he has planted and harvested of the crops indigenous 
to Southern Kansas soil, and nature and industry have rew.arded him in 
the possession of a valuable estate. 

]\[r. Fox is a native of Lower Paxton township, Dauphin county, l*a.. 
and was born July 13, 1830. He is a descendant of one of the old German 
families of the "Keystone State" — Fuchs, who settled there many gen- 
erations ago. Henry B. Fox (changed from Fuchs) was his father, and 
Lydia (Miller) Fox his mother. Both were born in Pennsylvania and 
passed their lives on the fai'm. The father died at the age of seventy-six 
and the mother at fifty-six, being the ]iarents of two children, sons: John 
A. and Peter H. Owing to their surroundings the sons were farm lads 
and pupils, while growing up, in the district school. John A. died in 
1897, and to Peter H. is left the responsibility of perpetuating the family 
name. 

Our subject was the first born, and after leaving the country school, 
attended the Harrisburg Academy several terms. Next he enrolled in the 
Burr & Burton Seminary, in Vermont, and, later on, entered Rens- 
salaer's Polytechnic-College, where he graduated in the three years' 
course. His education finished, he joined the engineering corps on the 
Xorthern Central Railroad, and had charge of the same for one year. He 
spent a year then suj»erintending U. S. Sen. Don Cameron's farms, and 
then leturned to his line of railroad work, where he continued for four- 
teen years. Leaving this service in 1884, he went to Nebraska, but the 
following year came to Kansas and settled in Montgomery county. He 
owns a farm of more than three hundred acres, six and one half miles 




PETER H. FOX. 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 499 

west of Coffe.yville, which he has developed into an estate, at once an 
abundant reward for tlie effort it cost. His residence and o(her iniprove- 
nienls indi<-ate the thrift and progress of the owner, and his fuel, which 
conies from a thousand feet under ground, is one of the conveniences and 
luxuries rarely enjoyed. 

Deccniher .30, 1867, Mr. Fox married Emma J. Meese, who died Feb- 
ruary 17, 1800, at tiftyfour years of age. Mrs. Fox was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, and left three children, namely: David M.. a traveling salesman; 
.Toseiili H. and Lydia 'SI. 

Mr. Fox has a fondness for and an interest in family antiquities. To 
iiini tliere is ;in inherent value to some heirloom or relic of former gene- 
rations and he is in possession of his mother's childhood hymn book, pur- 
chased in 1829, and of his grandfather's wedding vest of homespun, and 
colored with walnut bark. Inanimate though they are, these objects 
.sjieak cliaiiters to us on tlie ])rogress of modern times, and stimulate one 
to re(li'cti(Mi on the interesting, but primitive, past. Mr. Fox was on terms 
of professional intinuicy with Senator Cameron, and with his famous 
iather, Simon Tanieron, he had the honor of an acquaintance. He has 
filled the offices of Justice of the Peace and Treasurer of liis townshiji, and 
has been a number of years a member of the County High School hoard. 



IK.V -T. STrRTKVANT— One of the large business enterprises of the 
counly is that of the Cotfeyville Furniture (^)miiany. Connected with it 
as a stockholder and as its efficient manager is Ira J. Sturtevant, a gentle- 
man whose sixteen years in the city has won him a host of friends among 
the urban population. 

Mr. Sturtevant traces his people back to early New England stock; 
indeed, to the very beginnings of civilized life in that section, as a relative 
of the family was one of the men who stepped out of the Mayflower's 
crowded cabin to the historic Plymouth Rock. On his mother's side he is 
connected with the noted Blair family, her mother having been a sister of 
John I. T'.laii-. who attained distinction in New Jersey state Democratic 
politics. 

Shepheid T. Sturtevant, father of our subject, born in 1824. married 
Olivia M. Cooper, and resided for a number of years in Yates county, N. 
Y. He was a carpenter and cabinet-maker and late in life jnoved to Reed 
City, .Michigan, liiter, to Mason, Michigan, where he died in 1900. the 
wife ]>assing away a year later. They were devoutly and sincerely relig- 
ious people, lifelong uieml)ers of the .Methodist church, in which the 
father filled all the offices lo which laymen were eligible. They reared 
three children ; Fiances, now Mrs. AVilliani Adams, of Mason, Michigan ; 
-\lta v.. .Mrs. C. 1). Francisco, of Reed City. Michigan, and Ira .!.. who 
fcu-ms the subject of this brief review. 



500 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Iia J. Stutevant was born in Yates county, N. Y., April 12, 1860. He 
was brought up to his father's trade and remained at home until after the 
family had moved to Michigan, in 1880. In 1887, he came out to Coffey- 
ville. and, after remaining two years, during which time he was married, 
returned to his Michigan home. 

Eighteen months was a sufficient time to induce his return west. 
This time he first tried Guthrie, Oklahoma, but, after six months, was in- 
duced to go to St. Louis, as pattern-maker in a foundry. Here he spent a 
period of two and a half years, and then came to Cotfeyville, where he has 
since resided. In this city he followed his trade for a time, then clerked 
in the hardware house of A. P. Boswell & Co., and at the date of the or- 
ganization of the Coffeyville Furniture Company, in October, 1897, he be- 
came its manager, a position which he has since filled with satisfaction 
to the company. 

In the social life of the city, our subject has been a prominent factor. 
He is a member of the Modern Woodmen and of the I. O. O. F. In this 
latter organization he has attained prominence, being Past Grand and 
Past Chief Patriarch. He is at present chairman of the board of trus 
tees, and has served as a delegate to the grand lodge. Mr. Sturtevant is 
not actively engaged in politics, but nevertheless delights in furthering 
the interests of the Republican party at every opportunity. 

Mr. Stutevant's marriage, spoken of above, occurred in the fall of 
1888. Mrs. Stutevant was Lillie E. Gentner. She was born in Missouri, 
and is a daughter of Charles F. Gentner. To the parents have been born 
two sons: Charles S. and Ira A. 



ISIRS. LETITIA DAVIS— The subject of this article came to Mont- 
gomery county when it was being rai)idly settled up and located, with 
her husband, in Sycamore township, near the Verdigris river. The date 
of the advent hither was the spring of 1881 and it is more than twenty- 
two years now that she has been identified with Kansas affairs. 

Mrs. Davis is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and was born March 24, 
184.3. Her father was John E. (Jodown, a Jerseyman, whose jjarents 
were farmers near Lambertsville, that state. He was one of Iven Go- 
down's children, as follows: Elizabeth Huff, Darich, Mary A., Rebecca. 
George, Jacob and John E. The last named married Fannie Hogueland. 
a daugliter of Henry and Kate Hogueland, of New Jersey. Their children 
were: Catherine, Mrs. Emily Barlow, Mrs. Elizabeth Skinner, of Inde- 
pendence, and Mrs. Letitia Davis. 

Letitia {(iodown) Davis grew up in Jersey and Montgomery coun- 
ties, Illinois, whither her parents migrated, in her childhood. She was 
married, in the latter county, to Samuel Jones, a Jerseyman and a son 
of Samuel and Charlotte Jones. By this marriage of Samuel and Letitia 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 50I 

Jones, two chihiicii wcro horn, namely: Fannie, who first married Alfred 
Dyer and liad two children. Otto and ('arrie, and whose present husband 
is Amos Liuscott, with two children, Charles and Linn. (Miarles Jones is 
Mrs. Davis' second child. In 1875, our .subject became the wife of Jef- 
ferson M. Davis, an Illinois man. This marriaj^e produced four children, 
as follows: Laura, wife of Peter Trimmel, of Wilson county, with a child, 
Buanna; Ida, who married Joseph Obermier, of Montgomery county, 
with one child, Glenn; and Floyd and Robert Davis, yet with the family 
home. Jefferson M. Davis died August 16, 1889. 



JOHN H. BATES— John H. Bates, a well known resident of Mont- 
gomery county, was born in Princeton, Illinois, August 27, 1852. He 
was a son of Jacob P. Bates, a native of Massachusetts, and a grandson 
of George Bates, also a native of the oId"Bay State," where his family 
of fifteen children were born and reared. The children of the last named 
were: Erasmus, Russel, Jacob P., George, Joseph, Henry, of Springfield; 
Isaac, of Salem, Oregon; Sarah Van Horn, Julia Perkins, Almeda Em- 
ery, Ora, deceased ; Lucy Edson, of Canada, and three died in infancy. 

Jacob P. Bates, our subject's father, married Elizabeth Parks, a na- 
tive of Massachusetts and a daughter of Nathan Parks. Their marriage 
produced Le Roy S., of San Antonio, Texas; George P., of Sherman, 
Texas- .John H., of Montgomery county; Helen J. Innes, Lulu B. Hyde, 
Emma L., of Massachusetts, and Frank E. 

^^'hen .John H. Bates was a diild in arms, his parents removed to 
Knox county, Illinois. Here he was kept in the public schools until he 
was fifteen years of age, when his father, who was an agent for the New 
York Home Life Insurance Company, died, leaving a large life insur- 
ance. Witli this money, the children were enabled to acquire a more lib- 
eral education than the common school afforded and John was placed 
in school in Galesburg, where he was a student or two years. At the age 
of twenty, he came to Ottawa county, Kansas, and secured a claim of one 
hundred and sixty acres, l)ut was compelled to wait one year before en- 
tering it. He remained there seven years, when, in an effort to better 
his C(!ndition, he made a nundier of moves, staying but a few years in 
each place. He visiled the following jilaces: St. Joe, Missouri; Ottawa 
county. Kansas; Rogers, Arkansas; New Mexico, I'lerce City, Missouri, 
and Montgomery county, Kansas. In the spring of 1893, he located in 
Montgomery county, on one hundred and fifty eight acres of land, in sec 
tion i; 32-1.5. 

Mr. Bates" marriage occurred July 0, 1878. His wife was Eliza, a 
daughter of -lolin (}. and Patience Adams, the father being a native of 
Ireland and the mother of I^ngland. To Mr. and Mrs. Bates have been 
born five children : Alberta Smith, of Montgomery county, who has one 



302 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

rliild. Dean; Edna C. Ellis, of Moiitwoinery co\m1_v ; I»<na Iv , I'iercy A. 
and Helen; the last tliiee are all living at lionie. 

y\v. Hates has had many and \aried exjieriences. He was at Rogers. 
Arkansas, dni-ing the boom, and made jiood money, but. afterward, lost 
a large portion of it in New Mexico. No other exjierienee is so varied 
as that of cow-boy. in which capacit.v he worked, for some tinie.as a young 
man. driving on the tiail. However, the greater |)art of liis life has been 
spent in fainiing, and jiroliably nu oilier farmer is held in higher respect, 
as is shown by his re]>eated electiiins to office, as a member of the school 
board of his district. He has served, in tliis capacity, for nine consecu 
five years, and is fitted by education, experience and ability, to work for 
the best interest of education.' He also acted as township trustee in Of 
tawa county. He is a member and trustee of the Second Ita]>tist church 
of Independence, and is also a mendier of the A. M. T. A.. Ilic Sons and 
J)anghters of Justice, and the F. A. A. 



JOHN 1. HILL — One of the prominent business men of Coffeyville 
is -John T. Hill, president and general manager of the ("otfeyville Mercan- 
tile t'ompany. doing a wholesale groieiy business. He has been a resident 
of the city since ISilS and has sliown. in numerous instances, that he 
has lis interests at heart. He is a Kentuckian. by nativity, and his par- 
ents, Nathan and Margaret (Malcolm) Hill, moved to the "Blue Grass 
State,"' in 18()0, from the w(>stern part of Virginia. They settled in Can- 
nonsburg, where the father conducted a mercantile business, until 1877, 
when he moved to Cherokee county. Kansas, and where he engaged in 
farn'ing. He sub.sequently reinoved to Wilson county, and, shortly be- 
fore his death, to To]ieka. 

Nathan IHll was born in \'irginia, November 2;?, 1837, and died in 
Topeka, Kansas. July 31, 1901. He was a man of restless energy and 
good business capacity, and. in the ilifl'erent cmnniunities in which he 
resided, claimed the respect and esteem of all. The parents were both 
nuMnbers of the Methodist church, the mother being, now. a resident of 
Chicago. Their tive children were: Felicia J., now a resident of Los An- 
geles, California, the wife of J. \V. McKinley. contractor and carpenter; 
Olive C. Hill, lives near Charleston, West Virginia; Charles, deceased, 
was a merchant in Iowa City, Iowa; and Margaret, who resides in Chi- 
cago, the wife of 10. H. (inise. .John I. is the eldest of the family. 

The birlh of Mr. Hill, of this sketch, occurred in 15oyd county, Ken- 
tucky-, July 1». ISCiO. During the seventeen years of his boyhood in this 
county, he became thoroughly imbued with the Kentucky spirit of cour- 
tesy, a fact which, in later years, had much to do with his great success 
as a traveling salesman. He secured a good education and, after the fam- 
ily came to Kansas, taught school several terms, before he reached his 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 5O3 

majority. In the aprins of 1882, lie accepted a i)Osition with the Park- 
hiirst Davis Meicantile Coiiipaiiy, of Topeka, and continued with them 
until ]8J)8, in tiic capacities of bookkeeper and cashier. In the spring 
of that year, he came to CotTe.vville and, in connection with several others, 
formed the company which has since carried on a wholesale busiiiess, un- 
der the name of the Coft'eyville Mercantile Company. Incorporation 
was made on March 5, the officers of the com])any being: J. I. Hill, presi- 
dent; R. N. Selby, vice-president; J. II. Smith, secretary; and M. S. Mc- 
Nabney, treasurer. Under the energetic management of Mr. Hill and his 
associates, the company has had a prosperous and successful career, and 
has become one of the fixtures in the business circles of southern Kansas. 
The building occupied is 50x140, three stories and basement, covering, 
in all, 2S,0(I0 feci of lloor .spai'c. The trade of the house is confined to 
Kans^is. Oklalutma and llie Indian Territory, the firm having six ti'avel- 
ling salesmen, and emi)loying ten persons in the house. 

Mr. Hill's family consists of wife and six children: Anna May, 
George Irving, Maud, John W., Esther and Henrietta. The marriage of 
Mr. Hill occurred June 10, 1885, in Topeka. Mrs. Hill was Miss Fannie 
Kistler, a native Kansas girl, the daughter of B. F. and Sarah (Ham) 
Kistler. Mrs. Hill combines (pialities of graciousness and true refine- 
men*^. which make her a popular mend)er of Coffey ville social circles. Both 
parents are active workers in the Methodist church, Mr. Hill being a trus- 
tee in the same, and the present efficient suiierintendent of the Sunday 
School. 

Mr. Hill is i)r((min('nt in the JIasonic order, in the Woodmen and 
the Maccabees, and votes the Heimblican ticket. He is a live, earnest, 
helpful citizen, and deserves the large measure of esteem in which he is 
held in his adopted city. 



JA^MES W. I!lvA(!(; — An examjile of what conscientious effort and 
dose attention to business will a<coniplish in sunny Kansas, is afforded 
in the career of -James \V. 15i-agg, a itroniincnt re])resentative of the agri- 
cultural interests of the county, for the jiast thirty-one years, living four 
and one-half miles northeast of Havana, on the farm which he reclaimed 
from the virgin praii'ie. 

Mr. Bragg was born in .^dams county. Illinois, on the 23d of Octo- 
ber, 1845. Jienjamin liragg, his father, was a native of the ''Green Moun- 
tain State," where he mairied Hannah Rich, born in New Hampshire. 
The jjarents removed to Illinois, in an early day, settling in Adams coun- 
ty, wl-.ere they lived out tlu^ir lives, the father dying at seventy-three, the 
mother three years later, at the same age. There were eight children in 
the family, all of whom are living, as follows: Benjamin, Marcellus, 
George, Jlary, wife of Andrew Lind.sey; lOmily, wife of William Denny; 



504 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Sni'ah. Mrs. Moses Conover; and Henrietla. ii<i\v Mrs. Marion Sjipnoer. 

James Hragg was the sixth child of the faniilv. He was brought up 
to farm life and received a fair education in the c<)nimon schools of his 
district. He remained at lioine until he had attained his majority, and, 
on Octol)er 24, 18(i7, was joined in marriajfe with I'^llen K. Siuith, a 
daugluer of William and Ellen (Mc(iuire) Smith, both of whom were 
natives of Ireland. The father came to .America when but seventeen years 
of age, the mother also being in childhood when she made the journey 
across the ocean. They met and married in New Jersey and. later, came 
out to Illinois, settling in Adams county. Here they resided until their 
death. They were the parents of: William J.. Edwin and Ellen. 

Soon aftej- the marriage of Mr. Bragg, he began to look about him 
for land for a suitable home. Land was high in the east and he, there- 
foi'e, resolved to try the west. In 1S71. he landed in .Montgomery 
county and soon found a farm to his taste, in the piece of land which 
he now owns. Industry, perseverance and discretion have sup]ilied him 
with a competence for these latter days, and a liome as good as can be 
found in the county. 

In his social relations to the community, Mr. IJragg is in liap])y ac- 
cord with a large circle of friends and neighbors, who admire his many 
virtues. He is a member of the A. H. T. A., and in political matters, is 
one of the leading Socialists of the county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hragg are the ])arents of four children, all respected 
members of society, two of the (laughters having married prosperous 
young people of the neighborhood. Their names are: Mary C, wife of 
Dr. George Randall; EflRe. Mrs. Walter Bowersock ; Nannie and William, 
the only son, who died in infancy. Nannie is a pO])ular teacher of this 
count v. 



JOHN Dl'NCAN— In the year 1880. there arrived in ^Montgomery 
county the gentleman whose name is here appended and who now resides 
on a farm of two hundred and forty acres, five miles southeast of the 
counts seat town of Independence. He has, since that time, been one of 
Ihe county's most prosjierous and rejiresentative farmers and has shown, 
by many actions, the splendid character of his citizen.ship. 

John Duncan was born in Fulton county, Illinois, in the year 1852. 
His parents were Solomon and Bebecca (Emerinel Duncan. These par- 
ents were originally from the "Blue (irass State" and were farmers, as 
were, also, their ancestors. The maternal grandfather of our subject 
was a resident of eastern Kentucky, living in the beautiful section of the 
state where is now the city of Lexington, and where he cultivated one of 
the best farms in that sectioTi. He, later, removed to Montgomery coun- 
ty and settled a mile north of independence, where he purchased a farm. 




M. D. CURRIER. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 505 

Mr. I)iiiic;iii was reared in liis native connt.v. where he reeeived a 
good coninion schotd education. Mis youth was jiased in the rigorous 
work of tiie farm and he remained at iionie until lie was twenty-three 
years of age. At that time, he started out in the workl for himself, 
renting a farm in the neighborhood, which he cultivated for a year, and 
as stated above, came to Montgomery county, where he has since lived. 
He owns one of the best farms in the connly, well stocked with horses 
and cattle, and which he devotes to general farming. He is one of the 
most successfiil farmers of the county and is first and foremost in every 
cause which looks to the bettei-ment of his fellow citizens about him. 

He has not given a great deal of attention to public matters, but has 
held some of the minor offices in his township and is always on hand to 
aid, bv liis v<tte, the policy of the Uepnblican ])arty. In matters of relig- 
ious faith, he and his family are liberal sup((orters of the Methodist Epis- 
copal ( hurch. 

The married life of Mr. l)uncan began in the year 1878, when he was 
joined in marriage with Miss Allie Hart. Slie was a daughter of Rich- 
ard and (tertrude (Walker) Hart, and was born in the old "Green 
Mountain State" of Vermont. l{ichar<l Hart was a native of Old Virgin- 
ia. He is now deceased, but his wife still resides in Hlinois, at a very ad- 
vanced age. Mr. and Mi's. Duncan have reared three interesting children, 
as follows: Homer, the eldest son, married Nellie Davis, daughter of 
John and Mary Davis of this county, and whose one child is: Bessie; Lot- 
tie, the elder daughter, is residing at home with her parents, and Edna, 
the youngest, is a sdiool gii-l at home. 

It is not fnls(»me ju-aise to say that no more substantial citizen re- 
sides within the bordei's of the county, than Mr. Duncan, and he and his 
family are held in the greatest esteem by a large circle of friends and 
neighbors. 



MILO D. (THUIKK-The retired mechanic and pioneer of Mont- 
gomeiy county, who.se history it is the purj)ose of this article, briefly, to 
narrate, is .Milo D. (Uirrier, of Fawn ('reek township, whose country es- 
tate challenges, in attractiveness and extent, that of any other citizen of 
his community. 

ft was not as a farmer, however, that his cai-eer has been sjient and 
his success achieved — although farming was the first occupation he 
learned — but as a mechanic anil tradesman, which field of effort he occu- 
pied for, at least, a tliird of a century, and from which he retired, at Cof- 
feyvilie, in 1898, and soon thereafter, began the improvement and develop- 
ment of his present estate. 

October L'J, ISJ'J. .Milo D. Currier was born, in Montville, Medina 
count;,. Ohio. He passed his childhood amid village scenes and, on the 



5o6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

approach of mature years, they were changed to the environment of the 
farm. When his father, Thomas Currier, gave up his trade of a stone 
mason, it was to accompany his two sons, Thomas M. and Milo D., to the 
farm, where lie passed his last years as an invalid, alone, save for the 
companionship of his two faithful boys. The father was born in Vermont, 
in 1798, and died at the age of forty-seven years. His father, Sargent 
Currier, was a Vermont soldier in the American Revolution and received 
a wound, at the battle of Bunker Hill. After the war, some years, he 
pioneered to Ohio and settled near the city of Cleveland. In that local- 
ity, his family grew up and in ("uyahoga county, his remains lie buried. 
His son, Thomas M., married Fannie Dille, of which union our subject, 
Milo D., was a product. 

When a little child, Milo ]>. Currier's mother died. He passed 
through the stages of childhood and youth without the loving and tender 
care pnd instruction of tliis good woman and. in early manhood, was 
handicapped by the physical incompetency of his father. When he was 
finally deprived of the presence of his fathei'. by the arch-angel of death, 
he was then brought, consciously, face to face with the stern reali- 
ties of the world. In childhood, he lived about the community, among 
friends of the family, and really never learned the sacredness and the 
sweet influences of a home till he made himself a home and discovered 
them there. He was married, in February. 184.^, to Lestina B. Tracy, a 
Vernu)nt lady, and. in 1840, moved to Dane county, Wisconsin, where 
he purchased a modest farm, expanded it to two hundred acres, improved 
the whole and sold it and located in Marshall, Dane county, where he 
engaged in wagon-making. He carried on this business, in the "Badger 
State," till ISTO, when he came to Kansas and settled in the town of 
Parker, Montgomery county, and, after remaining there at his tiade five 
years, moved to Coffeyville, where he continued his trade for Twenty- 
three years, or until his final settlement, as previously stated. He 
purchased a half section of land, six and one-half miles west of Coffey- 
ville, upon which he erected a sjjieudid residcme and other buildings in 
keejiing with a highly improved farm. Here, in the company of the fam- 
ily of liis daughter, he is enjoying an earned and deserved rest. His per- 
sonal ai)artments aie fitted up to suit his tastes and an air of one in 
easy and comfortable circumstances pervades the surroundings. In 
1850, ilrs. Currier died, and the next year he married Martha Morrell, 
who was his companion t\v(>nly-five years when she, too. died and has 
now no surviving issue. By his first marriage. Mr. Curriei- has a (laugh- 
ter, Kmma <"., wife of M. S. Vogan, who is cultivating our subject's 
farm. Mr. and Mrs. Vogan's children are: t'harles, Jonathan M., Albert, 
Estella and Franklin. This is an industrious family and their conduct of 
the farm mark them as com])etent and successful farmers. 

Mr. Currier's has l)een a life of activity. He lias labored to gratify 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 507 

a modest ambition and, on its achievement, has retired to enjoy its 

fruits. He lias never had political ambition and has done his whole 
duty, as he saw it, in simply votiii;; llic Ucmonatic ticket. 



EDMrXi) MASON — This ffentlenian is one Of the most extensive 
farmers in Riill.-ind lownshi(», wheie he settled, in ISfifl, on a portion of 
secti(!n 'U>. I'.y careful manajjeiiieni and close attention to business, he 
has, since that time, accnmulated a iarjic farm pro|>erty, consistinjr of 
.seven hundred and ninety acres, whicii he devotes, largely, to the rais- 
ing of stock. 

Di'vonshiie, Fhigland, is the |>lace of biith of lOdmund Mason, the 
year beinf;- 1S4(!. He was a son of Thomas and .lohanim (Mason) Mason 
— of the same name, but no blood relation. These parents passed their 
lives in the old i-ouiitr.\. never havinji I'emoved to America. A brother 
of our subject, John Mason, came to this country in 18.5(!. Edmund Ma- 
son remained in I'^nfjland until 18(57. Four years later, a younger brother, 
James, came over and died at Edmund's home,' February 1.5, 1900. These 
three brothers, with another, Henry, were the only members of the fam- 
ily who left England. The father died there, March 22, 18,50, while his 
wido\\ survivcil liim until the year 1880. 

Keared to fai-m.life, Mr. Mason found himself in possession of 
knowledge which has stood him in good stead in the country to which 
he emigrated. He came immediately to ilontgomery county and settled 
on the (piarter section where he now lesides. It was ])urchase(l of the 
state school fund and was without impiovements. He was the first set- 
tler in this ])arl of the towiishi() and, at ditl'ei'ent periods, as he increased 
in financial ability, he added to his domain, until he is now one of the 
largest land owners in the county. His success is due wholly to his 
own efforts and the splendid judgment which he uses in the marketing of 
stock and the products of his farm. 

.Mr. Mason married Mi.ss Etta Howard, of Cliantauipia c<ninty, 
Kansjis. in 1S7.', and they have seven .children, as follows: William, a 
farmer ot Sjiring Creek, Kansas, born .\ugust 22, IS77. married Josie 
Brown, and has a daughter, Lena; Ida, born October 14, 1871), is the wife 
of Barnard Lindley, of Independence, Kan.sas, and they have one child. 
Rex; Ira, born April 14, 1881, married Oertie I'.rooks and is a farmer 
of Rutland townshiii; their (Uie child is ("arrol; Stella, born in 188:^ re- 
sides at liouic; Charles, born. May 1."), 188.">, is deceased; Delia, born in 
1880, resides at home; James, born in May, 1802, also resides at home. 

Our subject is a gentleman of fine, high, social and business stand- 
ing, and he and his family are res[)ected and favored in the community 
where thev have resided so long, lie is a valued member of the Modern 



508 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Woodmen, of the A. O. U. W. and that liberal social order, the B. P. O. E. 
His religious faith is of the Established church of England. 



JEFFERSON GRIFFIN— Among the representative citizens of 
Liberty township, is this son of one of the early pioneers of the county — 
indeed it might be said, one of the earliest i)ioueers — as the family set- 
tled in Montgomery county in the year 1869, a period when all the county 
was given over to cattle raisers and the Indians. 

Mr. Griffin is the youngest son of Lafayette and Catherine (Panthy) 
Griffin. He was born in Chariton county, Missouri, in 1861, where his par- 
ents were tillers of the soil. They removed, as stated, to Liberty town- 
ship, in 18(59, and bought a claim there, where our subject now resides. 
Mr. Griffin was then a lad of but seven years of age and is, therefore, en- 
titled to be regarded as a citizen "to the manor born.'" He grew up among 
the multifarious duties of a pioneer farm and there developed that sturdi- 
ness of physical health and independence of character which has, thus 
far, distinguished him through life. He received a good district school 
education, but, on account of the limited means of his parents, was not 
able to add anything higher in scholastic training. His father died in 
1861, and his mother is an innuite of a daugliter's home — Keturah 
Hamilton's, in Independence township, and is hale and hearty at the age 
of seventy-five years. Their family consists of six children, all of whom 
are respected members of the different communities in which they re- 
side. The eldest is Keturah, who married Thomas Hamilton, of Inde- 
pendence township; her children are: Minnie and Artie. Frank married 
Stella Smith, a daughter of M. V. Smith, a farmer of the county; her 
children are: Ethel and Effie. Matthew married Delie Addy and her 
daughter is named Maud. VVilliain nuirried Jennie Frasier, whose two 
children are: Hester and Tracy; resides in Larned, Kansas. Mary, the 
next daughter, married David Clark and now lives in Mound City, Kan- 
sas. The youngest child was the subject of this sketch. 

Jefferson Griffin began his domestic life, in May of 1898, when he was 
joined in marriage with Miss Bell McDougal, a daughter of William 
and Catherine (Smith) McDougal. Mrs. (Jriffin's jiarents were married 
in 1867, her mother having been the daughter of James and Christiana 
(Heckard) Smith. The jiarents of Mr. Griffin were prosperous and highly- 
respected citizens of the county, the father having lost his life, by drown- 
ing, when our subject was four months and sixteen days old. Mr. Griffin 
has always been a hard worker and, by the exercise of thrift and econo- 
my, has placed himself in the foremost rank of the agriculturists of the 
county. He purchased his present farm of eighty acres in 1895 and de- 
votes it to general farming, engaging, sometinies, somewhat heavily in 
the handling of stock. As time has i)assed, he has j»la<'ed many substan- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 509 

tial iniprovenients upon the farm, the last one lieing a beautiful resi- 
dence, one of the tinest in this part of the county. His farm is situated 
four and three-fourth miles from the county-seat town of Indei)endence. 
In all that goes to make up a good all round citizen, Mr. Griffin exhibits 
all the qualities of that character. In political affiliation, he works 
with the Populist party, prior to the rise of which he voted with the 
Democratic i)arty. The Ihiited Brethren church enrolls himself and wife 
upon its list of members. 

JOSEPH JACKSON — The late pioneer, whose name is announced 
at the opening of this article, was a man of substantial business traits, 
was favorably known over a wide area of Montgomery county and, as a 
farmer, did an important work toward the reduction and imjtrovement 
of his locality. His rise in the county was from a primitive beginning 
and when he died, August 14, 1900, his estate was one of the valuable 
ones of the county, growing out of efforts on the farm. 

•Joseph Jackson began life in the United States under somewhat em- 
barrassing conditions. He was a foreigner, unacquainted with our ways 
and customs, and with little knowledge of our institutions. The first 
prospect that confronted him. on reaching America, was tliat of hard 
work, in a coal mine in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, but he did not 
shirk. His life was ahead of him and he was ready to make the most of 
his lot. Such men deserve to succeed and most of them do. Out of the 
coal shaft, into the ranks of the Federal army, he helped fight the great 
battles for the preservation of the Union and the integrity of the flag. 
Back to the coal business, for a brief period, and then, to Kansas, recites 
in brief, the career of our subject, before his advent to Montgomery 
county. 

A native of Northumberland county, England, Mr. Jackson was born 
April 24, 1831. His parents were William and Mary (Truby) Jackson, who 
brought their family to Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, about 1850. The 
father was a sailor in early life and when he reached the coal fields of the 
"Keystone State," he went to work in a mine. His wife was a French lady 
and a daughter of a captain in the French army. They both died during 
the Civil war — one day apart — at about sixty years of age. and are 
buried at Timoqua, Pennsylvania, in the M. E. churchyard. They left a 
family of five children, three sons and two daugliters. namely : Henry, 
Robert, Jo.s(^ph, Elizabeth, widow of John Airy, and Uatlierine. wi<low of 
Jabez Phillips, of Pennsylvania. 

Jo.seph Jackson was united in marriage, at the home of his parents, 
Deceml)er 3, 1851, with Jane Bell, a daughter of Van and Jane Bell. 
Mrs. Bell-died at thirty-eight years of age. wliile her husband jiassed 
away at the age of seventy-seven. Mr. Jackson enlisted in ISfJli. August 



5IO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

S, in tho One Hiiiulrpd and Twenty-fonrtli Illinois A'dhinfepi-s, to which 
state he liad niijiiated tive years liefoi'e. His enlistment occnri'ed at Tol- 
ehestei- and iiis i'e<>inient formed a jiart of tlie First ]{ri<i'ade. Third r)ivis- 
ion of tlie Seventeenth Corps. He i)artieii)ated in the hattles of Ray- 
mond, ('hampion Hills, siege and capture of Vicksbnrf;. battle at .Tackson, 
and ll'.en his command was transferred to sonthern .\laliama. where he 
aided in the assault on "Spanish Fort" and the capture of JJohile. He 
was at ^'irksllnrJ; when the mine was exjiloded iuid was. himself, wound- 
ed at Champion Uills. The ball passed throujih his haversack and was 
checked to almost a spent ball, by penetrating through liis ]date and cap, 
which latter has been jireserved to the family, as a itdii- of war dayp and 
a memento of the service of its worthy head. His wound was a serious 
matter with Mr. .lackson, for it penned him u]( in the hospital, out of 
which, upon his jdeading, on one occasion, he was taken on an ambulance 
march-, in order to keej) along with his command. Although it healed, 
in time, the wound left its permanent effect with its victim. An inci- 
dent occurred at Vickshurg, in which ]\Ir. Jackson was a jiarticipant. 
which showed his courage and utter lai-k of fear. On one occasi<ui. a 
Confederate ptilled his i>istol and made boasts of what he would do to 
the "Yanks," but before he put his threats into execution, Joe Jackson 
had relieved him of the weapon and told him to call the next morning, 
but he failed to call and Mr. Jackson brought the pistol home. August 
15. ISti-r), the militaiT life of our subject ceased. He was discharged in 
Chicago, as a sergeant, and at once rejoined his family in Colchester, 
Illinois. 

Taking up civil pursuits again. Mr. Jackson bought a trad of coal 
land, upon wliicli he sank a shaft and began the mining of coal. He em- 
ployed a small force of men and did quite a business, shipping his pro- 
duct lo Quincy, Illinois. In 1S70, he gathered his substance, his fandy 
and his elfecls logetlier and brought them to Montgomery county, where 
he imichased .i wild tract of eighty acies of land on Onicni creek.. As a 
farmer, he was pronouncedly successful. His management of his af- 
fairs seemed to keei> them on the upward tendency and. as his circum- 
stances warranted, he added tract after tract, until his estate. embraced 
five hundred and sixty-four acres. This, together with valual.ile j-esidence 
jiropcrty in IndeiKMulence and a de|iosit in one of the city bank.s, consti- 
tuted his estate at his death. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were born the following chilrdren, namely: 
Marv J. wife of Walter Enness, of Colchester, H]inois;:;\',au William, 
of Colorado, who married Ftlie Cox and has childreu: Joseph, Jennie 
and \\'illiam. and Jiattie and .Vi'thur, deceased; Margaret, deceased, mar- 
ried Charles Redwood and left : .May, Joseph. Albert and Kldred ; Robert 
A. ,an<! Joseph H., Iiolli died in babyhood; Joseph, 2d, of Independeijce, 
Kansas, married August 14, 1883, and has children: Lillie M., Joseph, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 5II 

Jennie, Lizzie. John, Robert, Ethel, Floyd and Kate; Samuel C. H. 
(Champion Hills), was born the day his father was in that fight, mar- 
ried Hannah (Jiliard and has three children: Nellie, Stella and Flora; 
Lizzie, wife of Edward Woody, of Independence township, has the fol- 
lowin-: children: Calvin, Morrill and May; James, born Xovend)er 30, 
18(i}), married liose P.ailey, now deceased, himself died, in November, 
1900, leaving children: Jennie, Eddie, Van, deceased; Walter, Maggie, 
deceased; liose, deeea.sed, and MoUie; and Belle, wife of Prank Handdin, 
<)f Independence, has a son. Elnu>r. 

Joseph Jackson and his wife bronght their children n]i to l)elieve 
in the sacredness of the Christian religion. They were both mend)ers of 
the Methodist church and lived consistent and upright lives. Mr. Jack- 
son was a member of the Grand Army, was a Republican in politics^ 
and, as a citizen and a man, his life is worty of emulation. 



JOSEPH BERRY— A patriot defending the cause wliich gave birth 
to the ''Sunflower State," a pioneer subduing natui-e's wilds within her 
borders, a solid and substantial citizen, revered and honored through- 
out the lengtli and breadth of Montgomery county — this, in epitome, is 
the record of Lieutejiant Joseph Berry, farmer of Sycamore township. 

William Berry, grandfatlier of Joseph, was one of the indejiendent 
Trishmen who chose to leave the land of his birth, rather than to further 
stand the exactions of a .selfish English monarch. He came to Amei-ica, 
in tlie early part of the nineteenth century, and settled in tlicHoosier 
State," where he reared a fannly of thirteen children, their names be- 
ing: William, James, Joseph, Isaac, Polly, Nancy, Cecilia, Sarah, Slark, 
Hannali, Samuel (two names not given). Of these. Mark married Chris- 
tine Lozei-. a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Cliristopher and 
Ann (Ivoiland) Lozer, both natives of Switzeiian<l. Their children were: 
Joscpli. John (deceased I. Elizabeth Archer, of Ohio; Hannah Taylor, 
Mark and Christine, al.so of the "Buckeye State;" and Ann Van Nort- 
wicli, mtw deceased. By a former marriage, to I'olly Hughes. Mark Ber- 
ry hail one child, Polly, who, when last heard from, was living in Indiana. 

The immediate family of Josej)!! Berry consists of wife and four 
ohildr<M). Mrs. Berry was Mary Jane Hewitt, born in .Ictferson county. 
New York, July 'JS, IS;?.'), the daughter of (ieorge and Rebecca ( Fisk I 
Hewitt. On the 1st of Septendier, 1'.I02, .Mr. and .Mrs. Berry celebrated 
the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, amid the rt^joicings of many 
friends and relativ(-s. t)f their cliildreii. Ida Tuttle. with her two chil- 
<lreii. Floy and \'iesta, live in Purdy, .Missouii; Ira H. is a locomotive 
engineer, lives in Joplin, .Missouri; he has one son. H(dlis. who served 
in the Philii)pine war; I'JIic IlolbiMl, resides with the parents and has 
one child, Pauline. 



512 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEBY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

.Tosejili Bt'iry was Ixnn iu Holmes (dunty. Ohio. Aiiril 21. 182G. 
-Vt .scveiitwn, lu> went to Lucas county, where he spent eijjht years, 
then! I' to Michijian. where, in I^enawee county, he married. He soon 
returned to Ohio, wher(> he resided, iu various places, until his coming 
to Kan.sas, iu IHtiO. He resided three years in Lawrence and, in the 
sprinj:; of 'fiO, made the trip to Montgomery county, with ox-team, be- 
sides wliidi, the sole family possessions were a few household goods, two 
cows and f:^0.(){( in money. Mr. Berry tiled on a ((uarter section, in sec- 
tion i:!-:!!'-!"), elected a log t'aliiii, and began life anew. The cabin had a 
hay tlooi- and no windows, but it served tliem for a shelter until Provi- 
dence smiled on their ett'orts sutticiently to enable them to re|)lace it with 
a more comfortable home. 

Their neighbors were the Indians, and they soon became well ac- 
quain(ed with a nnmlier of tlie chiefs, among which may be mentioned 
Nopowalla, Beaver, Wild Cat, One Eyed Pete and Old Toby. Ilut once 
were they molested, and that was on account of the lied Man's insatiable 
appetite for liipior. 

The Berrys cultivated the original place until 1882, when tliey sold, 
and bought the present farm, in section 12-821 5, and where they have con- 
tinued to reside. During his residence in the county. Lieutenant Berry 
has ever evinced an intelligent interest in the welfare of his community, 
serving a nundter of terms on the school board, as justice of the peace, 
and as township trustee. The family are members of the Sycamore Con- 
gregational church. 

Passing now to the war record of Lieutenant Berry, the biographer 
notes that, in .Vtigust of 18(')1, he enrolled, as a ])rivate. in Company "H,"" 
Third Kegiment Ohio \'olunteer Cavalry, under Col. Zahm. They entered 
<ien. Wood's division of the Army of the Cumberland, and were at Shiloh 
and every battle of importance following, until they reached Atlanta. 
Here, he was with Gen. Wilson, in his daring raid around that city, and, 
again, at Jonesboro. Tlie time of his enlistment having expired, Mr. Ber- 
ry pixmptly veteranized, again took the oath, and served to the close of 
the war, being mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. August It), 1865. He 
entered the army as high private, was advanced, iu turn, to sergeant,. 
sergeant-UKijor, .sec(uul lieutenant and. just Itefore his service was ended, 
to first lieutenant. He was in the brigade that had the honor of captur- 
ing .Jf'tl' Kavis, at Irwinsville, (ieorgia. 



h.VNllCL B. SNELL — For more than a quarter of a ceutury, the 
subject of this review has been prominently identified with the interests 
of agriculture and grazing in Montgomery county. The prominence of 
such (onnection exists, by virtue of the extent and success of his ven- 
ture, owning, as he does, and having actively cultivated and managed 




D. B. SWELL AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 5IJ 

an esiat(> of five hundred nnd ninety acres. Tliese baronial possessions 
are imrely (he outcome of and have resulted from an unabated effort on 
a Kansas farm. 

The rear 1875 witnessed the advent to Fawn Creek township, Mont- 
gomery county, of Daniel B. Snell. He settled on Onion creek, where he 
purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, with scant improve- 
ments, and at onc(» took the road to wealth— raisiii}; and feeding stock. 
He was a settler fi'om Shelby county, Illinois, where he was a resident 
eight years, and to which point he migrated from Warren county, Ohio, 
where his birth occurred October 17, 188H, The Snells were of IMary- 
land origin, in which state, Daniel Snell, father of (uir subject, was born. 
The hitter married Sarah Peckinpaugh, a Pennsyiania lady, and they 
passed away at seventy-four and seventy-three y(>ars, respectively. 
Twelve children were born to them, six of whom survive, as follows: 
Sarah. Frederick 1*., Mary, Enphemia, Martha and Daniel B. 

The country districts of his native county furnished the scenes of 
our subject's boyhood and the education he acquired, came from the 
]>rimitive school house and in the primitive way. He served his parents, 
dutifully, till past his majority, when he married and settled on a rented 
farm. His marriage occurred in 18(»0 and his wife was Jennette A. 
Marsh, a daughter of William and Sarah O. (Williams) Marsh, her 
father a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and her mother of the State of Mis- 
sissi|ii)i. Her parents had six children, those living being: Mrs. Sarah O. 
Jones. Isaac W., Mrs. Snell. ^Irs. Snell was born in Piqua, Ohio, August 
29, ]S."!7. Soon after tbeii' mari'iage. she and her husband gathered to- 
gether their small savings and moved out to Illinois, where land was 
cheaj;er and opjtort unities somewhat greater than in Ohio. After a few 
years spent in that state, something beckoned them farther west, where 
the field of ojtportnnity was unlimited and their removal to Kansas was 
the result. After twenty three years on the farm. Mr. Snell ])urchased 
thirty acres of land, near Jefferson, on which he erected a sjilendid resi- 
dence, which he at once occupied, in self-retirement from the strife of 
life. He erected a large store-room, in Jefferson, for the accomodation 
of a friend, who engaged in the mercantile business, but with such poor 
success, that Mr. Snell assumed charge of the slock, for his own protec- 
tion, finally closing it out, selling the building and ending his active 
business life. 

Mr. and Jlrs. Snell have four living in a family of seven children, 
viz: Alma L., wife of (ieorge O, Gould, of Coldra<lo; Laura, deceased; 
Melvi'i A., who married Daisy Earnest; Sarah E., deceased; Jennette E., 
wife of William Hockett. of Pawnee county, Kansas, <lied May 14, 1003; 
Clai-ence E.. who mai'ried Olive Koger, and Crace I'earl, wife of William 
D. Wilson, The last two children are twins. 



514 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

In politics, Mr. Snell is a Populist, and he fraternizes with and 
holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America. 

Mr. Snell's sister, Sarah Snell, is living with him and has been for 
the past thirty five years. She was born, January 9, 1815, in Hamilton 
county, Ohio, and has never married. 



P. W. WEAVER — P. W. Weaver, retired farmer, now residing at 
401 South Sixth street, Independence, has been a citizen of Montgomery 
county for the past twenty-two years. During this time, the citizens of 
the county have come to know him as a high-minded, sincere gentleman, 
whoso evident purpose in life is to live and to serve. 

Mr. Weaver is of "Hoosier State" nativity, born in Parke county, 
February Ifi, 1837. His father was John Weaver, his mother Margaret 
Crecelius, natives of Virginia and Tennessee, respectively. They be- 
longed to the pioneer farmer class, whose genius mastered the primeval 
forest and caused it to blossom forth into cultivated field and pastured 
hillside. Both of the parents lived to a ripe age. the father dying at 
eighty four, the mother at eighty-five years. The latter was a consistent 
member of the Fnifed Brefhren chui'i-h and a woman of superior mould 
of character. The former was of that stern quality, frequently found 
among the early pioneei"e, whose love of country amounted to a religious 
creed, nnd whose lives e.omj)orted with the purity of the patriotic senti- 
ment enshrined in their hearts. This, he particularly and forcibly numi- 
fested during the Civil war. Too old to enter the service, he .sent his 
son. and then busied him.self in making it uncomfortable for the Copper- 
heads who infested his neighborhood and who had become members of 
that traitorous organization, known as the Knights of the Golden Cir- 
cle. His family consiste<l of eleven children, five of whom are yet 
living. 

P. W. Weaver received a fair education and passed his life in active 
labor on the farm until the great Civil war buist in all its fury — a fury 
destined to eclipse the most sanguine of history's greatest conllicts. Pat- 
riotism having been a part of his daily sustenance, it was not strange 
that our subject should be one of the first, from his neighborhood, to 
enlist. He became ;i private, in Comjiany "H." Twenty-first Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, his enlistment dating in -lune of 1S(>1. His regiment 
becam> a part of the Aiiiiy of the I'otomac, but was soon changed to the 
First Indiana Artillery 'ancl sent to the extreme south, becoming a part 
of the Army of the (hilf. On the lower Mi.ssissipj)i and about New Or- 
leans, he saw nnu'h service, during the winter of lS(il-(;2, his first battle 
being at Uaton Kouge, Louisiiina. Here, he received a ball in the wrist 
and, with nuuiy other wounded soldiers, was sent to the hospital at 
New Orleans. On this trip, he was a witness to one of the most appalling 



IIISTOUV OF .MOXTlJOMKliY rOUNTY, KANSAS. 5I5 

catasiropliies of the war, ami one wliidi. when tlic tmlli of its diabolism 
became known, caused the most intense feclinjj (hronfjhout the north. 
The vessel on which he was carried to New Orleans was The Jlorning 
Lijfht. On the Ttth of August, 1802, she was run into by one of the Union 
gunboats, and, in eiobteen minutes, sank witli almost iier eutire cargo 
of w(»unded and lielj)less soldiers. Mr. Weaver, IxMug on the hurricane 
deck and liaving one good arm, was able to save him.self, but hundreds 
of liis ciunrades were drowned, like rats in a trap. Investigation proved 
that the deed was consummated by Rebel engineeis. wlio had taken ad- 
vantage of tlie great demand for their craft in the Union navy, deserted, 
osten.sibly, from the Uonfederates, took the oath of allegiance, and were 
at once i)laced in responsible jjositions. 

His wound proving a serious one, Mr. Weaver was sent home, going 
by the way of ('uba and New York, having been discharged at New Or 
leans, ])rior to his embarkation. He did not reenter the service. 

Mr. Weaver engaged in agriciiltural pursuits, in Indiana, until 1881, 
when he came to Montgomery county and settled on a farm on Onion 
creek. Upon this he j)laced many valuable improvements and made it 
his home until 189!), when he moved to Bolton, and, in 1902, became a 
resident of Independence. He still owns an improved farm of one hun- 
dred and twenty acres in the gas belt. 

In October of 1864, our subject was married to Miss Virena Morgan, 
a native of I'arke county, Indiana, and a daugliter of Kinchen and Sarah 
(John&on) Morgan. To this marriage have been born two children: 
Onda A., a resident of Bolton, who married Pearl Lynch and has one 
child. Wayne; OIHe B., nunried William H. Roadruck and resides in 
Independence. 

Mr. Weaver and family are leading members of the Ignited Brethren 
churdi, he being a trustee and (juarterly conference minister. He is also 
a meml^er of the Masonic order, having taken the Blue Lodge degrees 
in 1863, and is a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Looking back on a life, honorable in all its activities and resting 
secure in the esteem of many friends, our subject is jtassing the eve of 
life in peace and contentment, "with chai-ity for all, an<l malice toward 
none." 



T. L. ANDERSON — Thouuis L. Anderson, a large farmer and stock- 
man, of Fawn Creek township, was boi-u in Ross county, Ohio, December 
26, 1846. His father. James R., was a native of Ohio, and was there 
married to Mai'y J. ^lorris, also a native of that state. He was a farmer 
and stock i-aiser. and died in his native state, at the age of sixty-seven 
years, his wife having died at sixty years of age. The family eonsisted 
of eight children, seven of whom are living: John S.. Thomas L.. James 



5l6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

W., Lewis, Lincoln, Mary, wife of J. S. Steel; Jauett, wife of Alex. Steel, 
and Margaret, who died at nineteen years of age. 

Thomas L. Anderson. was the second child, and was born and reared 
on the farm. Like a good many farm boys of his time, he received a 
limited education in the common schools, but, afterward, graduated in 
a commercial course at the Dayton (Ohio) Commercial College, under 
S. J. Greer. After coming of age, he began trading in stock, and also 
carried on a general meri-antile business at Chillicothe, Ohio. 

His marriage occurred on the 2d of Janviary, 1867, when he was 
joined to Margaret J. Mackerly. Mrs. Anderson was a native of Ohio 
and daughter of Michsel and Mary Mackerly. 

In the latter part of 1881, our subject came to Kansas and bought 
one hundred and Ihirty acres of uncultivated land on the state line, 
seven miles west and two, and one-half miles soutli of Coffey ville. in Fawn 
Creek township, where.hew^nt into the sheep business. He began im- 
proving his land, and, at the same time, invested heavily in sheep, but 
the fates were against .him — so many of the shee]) dying the first winter — 
and Ihe second winter found him without a sheep, or anything to live 
on — having lost all. In spite, of these discouragements, he kept up, 
and began work, as a. carpenter or anything he could get to do. In time, 
he secured enough to start in the cattle business, and has since been 
farming and raising stock. He was "on the road" for ten years, for the 
Massillon Machine t'ompauy, selling threshing engines, and other ma- 
chinery, while his farm .and stock were growing in value. But, his per 
sonal attention and inaoageme:U,t being needed at home, he resigned his 
l>osition, in 1902, and JiaS; since given his entire time to his farm and 
stock. . ; 1 ■■ 

^h. Anderson hiis two hundred and ten acres of land, and leases 
from twelve to fifteen hundred acres in the Territory, which gives him 
amj)le room for farming' and grazing purposes. He feeds from one hun- 
dred and fifty to two Itundied head of cattle every year, and ships them 
to market. He also has a herd of seventy-five head of the black Polled 
Angus cattle. He buys grain and hay from his neighbors, thus creating 
a gooj market for the farmers close at home. Among the many improve- 
ments on the fai'iii, are a nice residence and a large stock liavn. .^(ixtiO, 
and a mill for grinding feed, which is run by natural gas. 

Mr. Anderson's wife died Hecember (J, 1805, leaving nine children: 
James M., of Independence; Thomas H., at home; Frank M., in the Ter- 
ritory: Otho, a .luiiior in the Stale Normal School at Emjioria ; Nellie, 
ICmm.i, Ida, Ftliel anjl IiUlii,,at home. Mr. Anderson was married the 
second time. April 14, IHm, to Miss Netta Mackerly, who died June 29, 
19(i:>, iuid was a sister ()f his first wife. In politii-s, Mr. Anderson is a 
Populist. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 51? 

PATRICK H. LINDLEY— Patrick H. Lindley is one of the leading 
citizens of the villajje of Havana, in Montjioniery county, where he is 
engaged in the drug business. The Lindley family is one of the best 
known in the county, both the father and uu)ther of our subject having, 
for over twenty years, been active in the ministry of the Quaker church, 
and in which capacity they have traveled all over this section of the 
state. 

Patrick Lindley is the eldest son of a family of eleven children, 
born to Isaac and Elizabeth (Woody) Lindley, both parents and chil- 
dren natives of th<> "Iloosicr State." as fully apjjcars in their sketch in 
this volume. 

Patrick Lindley was born in I'arke county, Indiana, on the 4th of 
July, 1862. The period of his adolescence and young manhood was 
passed on the home farm and in attendance at the district school and an 
academy near by. After coming to Kansas, he entered the employ of the 
Santa Fe railroad and remained one of their trusted men, until August 
of 1890, when he began the present drug business in Havana. He has 
here, one of the neatest stores in the county, carrying a full line of every- 
thing included in the stock of an average drug store in the smaller 
towns. His courteous treatment of the large trade which he enjoys has 
made his venture a profitable one. He is also interested in agriculture, 
to the extent of owning a one hundred and twenty-acre farm, just outside 
the limits of Havana. 

Mr. Lindley's tastes, in a fraternal way. are satisfied by membership 
in that good insurance lodge, the Modern Woonien. while, in religious 
faith, he follows the training of his youth. Politically, he reserves the 
right to vote for the besl men and measures, regardless of on what ticket 
their names ajipear, or I)y what party a measure is advt)cated. 

The home life of our subject began January u, 1800. when he brought 
Miss Ella Stanley from Indiana, to i)reside over it. She became the 
mother of two children. Harry and Ethel, and. on February 27. 189G, she 
passed to the "great bcvdud." She was a true Christian mother to her 
children and a loving and devoted wife, whose greatest pleasure was 
found in ministering to the wants of lier lionsehold. 



HIRAM FOSTER— Primeval Monlgomery. the banks of the Elk. 
the prairie grass. iiKiunds of rock and unbroken soil, was the welcome of 
Hiran; Foster when he arrived in Kansas, in the early spring of 1870, 
from Cedar county, Missouri. He. with his wife and two children, made 
the journey overland, by team, while two cows were driven ahead, that 
the family might have sustenance, in sjiite of a new country. The family 
located on the banks of the I'Ak river, but. by a new government survey. 



5l8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY rOI'XTY, KANSAS. 

that (laini was lost and they located on a new rlaim, a little to the north 
of th.= first one, and made vacant by the same survey. Later, through 
a coniest, Mr. Foster lost eighty acres, adjoining his present home. The 
old log cabin, which had been erected on the first claim, was moved to 
the last and served for a comfortable residence until the erection of a 
new home, occupied by the family at the pre.'ient time. 

Three years passed before Mr. Foster succeeded in getting all of his 
farm under cultivation. It was here, on the banks of the Elk, that the 
Osage Indians gave one of their greatest demonstrations in numerical 
strength. It was here that this great body of Indians assembled and 
camped with all their belongings for weeks, preparatory to their final 
migration to the south. 

Hiram Foster was a .son of Eldred Foster, a native of Connecticut, 
the father's father being Oliver Foster, born in New England. Oliver 
Foster had children : Monroe, Oliver, Alonzo, Eldred, Michael, Mrs. 
Aurora Woods and Rosa V. Chandler. 

Eldred Foster, the father of our subject, married Susannah Chand- 
ler, a native of North Carolina, and to (his marriage was born two chil- 
dren : Hiram and Mary Tichnel. 

Hiram Foster was born in Madison county, Illinois, ^larch 25, 1847,. 
and he remained there until the fall of 1808, when he went to Cedar 
county. Missouri. He married Mary Ashlock, a native of Illinois and 
a daughter of Richard and Harriet Ashlock. Their family consists of 
seven children : Eugene, of Moutgomeiy county, who has one child, 
Aaron; Eldred, of Elk county, Kansas, whose two children are: Irby 
and Clarence; Ira, of Montana; I.allissie, of Montgomery county, whose 
four children are: Marian, Hiram, Rertha and Orvil; Mrs. Agnes Alex- 
ander, of Montgomery county, who has three children : Clarence, Ralph 
and Rernard; Mrs. Hattie Smith, of Oklahoma Territory; and William^ 
at home. 

Mr. Foster has followed farming, as an occupation, all his life. He 
has served, faithfully, his district, for si.x terms, as a meml)er of the 
school board, and is a member of the Sons and Daughters of Justice and 
of the A. H. T. A. 



RICHARD H. HOLLIXCSWORTH— One of the highly respected 
families, \\iiicli lia\e made Montgomei-y famous as a county of good 
homes, is that of the gentleman named above, whose honored head resides 
in Coffeyville, and in restful quiet from the cares of a long and active 
career. Mr. HoUingsworth has pas.sed, by a full dozen years, the usual 
allotment of man, and yet, is hale and hearty, having lived a singularly 
correct and abstemious life. 

HoUingsworth is an old lOnglisli Quaker name — the family settling 




R. H. HOLLINGSWORTH AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 5(9 

in the Carolinas in early Colonial days. Here, jtrandfather, John Hol- 
lingsworth, and his wife, Rachel, were born and married, and, with a 
younp; family, some time in the latter jtart of the eighteenth century, 
moved up into Ohio, their hatred of the institution of slavery causing 
them to desire to rear their family outside of its influence. At that 
time, Richard Hollingsworth's father was thirteen years old. He was 
Henry Hollingsworth and marrii'd. in Ohio, Addie Skinner, a native of 
Loudon county, Virginia, and they resided in Warren county until 1831, 
when he came out to Richmond, Indiana. In 1S45, he moved to a farm 
in Peoria county, Illinois, where he died, aged eighty-one years. The 
mother passed away, in 182!), at the age of forty-two. Their children 
were: Harriet, Mrs. Robert Thomas; Sarah, Mrs. Absalom Glasscock; 
Richard H., Losson D. , Mary J., Mrs. Michael Crook; our subject being 
the only one now living. 

Richard H. Hollingsworth was born in Warren county, Ohio, April 
27, 1821, With but a primitive education, he left home, in early boy- 
hood, and went to live with an uncle, who taught him the trade of car- 
penter and millwright. He married at the early age of twenty and 
farmed, for several years, in Indiana, thence to I'eoria county, Hlinois, 
where his people, also, settled. ^Yith a young family, he, in 1854, settled 
on a farm near Iowa City, Iowa, from which point he came to Mont- 
gomery county, in 1875. Here, he bought the farm of two hundred 
acres, with and additional bottom piece of one hundred and sixty, upon 
which he resided, for a number of years, and which he brought to a fine 
state of cultivation. He also owns a home in Cott'eyville, together with 
many lots, all of which constitutes a valuable i)iece of real estate. 

The marriage of our subject occurred July 1, 1841 — sixty-two years 
ago — the lady whom he married, still traveling life's jiathway with him. 
Her name was Rebecca Hastings. She was a daughter of William and 
Sarah Hastings, the father a native of North Carolina, leaving that 
state, with his family, in 1S12. on account of the curse of slavery. That 
was an early day in the "Iloosier State," when Indians were plenty and 
fierce, the family having to take advantage of the forts, at various times, 
to escape their ravages. The Hastings were Quakers in faith, and lived 
out their days in Wayne county. Indiana, the mother dying, in 1840, at 
fifty-nine, and the father, in 1S4."). at Ilie age of seventy-two. The Bible 
recor«'. of their children follows: Mary, born .Vugust 2:>, 17!tO; Catherine, 
born July 30, ISOl ; Eunice, born Oecember 1, 1S0:5; Wilmot, born Decem- 
ber 7. 1805; Aaron, born June 2, 1808; Mary, born September 2«, 1810; 
William, born March 10, 1813; Daniel C, born February 10, 1815; Sarah, 
torn April 8, 1817; Hannah, hmu August 28, 1810; David, born March 5, 
1822; and Rebecca! born August 2fi, 1S24. 

To our subject and his good wife were boin live children : .Margaret, 
born June 17, 1843, .Mrs. Thomas Sweetnian; liei- children are: Richard, 



520 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Luke and Anna, and they reside in Nowatta, Indian Territory; William 
H.. born June 11, 184"). married Rosanna Townsend, also deceased, and 
died in 1878; tlieir two children being: Charles and Edward; Julia A., 
born February 20. 1847. resides in this (•ounty with her husband, 
Wui. H. Allin. whose children are mentioned in the Allin sketch; Al- 
bert N.. born August .j, 1840, married Araminta Jayne, and resides in 
Coft'eyville, with two children: May and Bertha; Perry S., whose sketch 
is elsewhere herein. 

A Kejiublican in politics and a Quaker in religious observance and 
belief. Jlr. Hollingswoi-th has. by a life of probity and uprightness, won 
the respect and esteem of all. He has never aspired to political advance- 
ment, though, in his younger days, he served on the school board and 
board of county commissioners. He is one of those "old school" gentlemen, 
whose name on a piece of j)ai>er adds no strength to the obligation to 
pay. liis word l)eing sufficient. Hoth he and his good wife are passing a 
serene and hapjiy old age, secure in the love of their children and a host 
of admiring friends. 



E. r. TODD — In this representative citizen of Montgomery county, 
now independent of the world's activities by reason of the fruits of his 
early labor, the biograi)her found a gentlenum of the "old school," with 
judguient and opinions softened and tempered by long contact with the 
various actors on the stage of life. A residence of nearly thirty years 
in the county, with a life of the strictest rectitude, gives him a prestige 
and iiiHuence unsurpassed. 

Lieutenant Todd is a New York man. born in Chautauciua county, 
July 24. 1S:{7, the son of Silas and Hetsey d'hilley) Todd, both natives 
of Connecticut. Tlie family lived in the east until 1844, when they re- 
moved to Joe Daviess county. Illinois, took up government land, and en- 
gaged in agriculture. A residence of two years in Minnesota, preceded 
their coming to lnde]M'ndence, in 1875. The parents had those superior 
<|ualities so frequently developed by close contact with natuii>, constant 
as the sun's light. in\ariable as (he recurrence of the seasons, in honest 
practices, fruitful in good deeds, as the hillside and meadow which they 
cultivated. They were life-long members of the Congregational church, 
in which the father was an official for many years. They both passed 
the Bible age, the father dying in Lal)ette county, Kansas, at eighty-seven 
years, and the mother at the age of seventy-nine. There were four chil- 
dren besides our sui)ject, viz: Rev. James D.. a prominent minister of the 
Presbyterian church, filling a pulpit in Portland. Oregon; Esther E., Mrs. 
J. A. Funk, of Independence; Adelia, Mrs. 15. B. Benson, decea.sed; E. P., 
of this sketch; and Mary E., Mrs. J. M. LeVake. of Spring Green, Wis- 
consin. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 52 t 

Our subject attended the schools of Joe Daviess county, Illinois, anil 
worked on the home farm until his enlistment. Auj;us( !l, 1802. as a jiri 
rate soldiei', in Company "l->." Ninetysixfli Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
Ilis term of service closed in <'hica}>(), .June !(•. 1805. The war, in his 
case, was not a dress parade affair. Continuous and rig;orous service 
characterized the whole ]teriod of his enlistment. The regiment became 
a part of "Pap" Thomas" corps and arrived at Chickamauga in time to 
take part in that battle, where "the rock," all day, withstood the fren- 
zied charges of the enemy. Mr. Todd was not in the battle ])ro])er, as he 
was early detailed on the ambulame cor])S. He, howevei'. saw plenty of 
'*gun play." later, as he participated in the battle which followed, "above 
the clouds," and in the entire Atlanta campaign. The actions in which 
Le was under fire, were: Lookout Mountain. Kough and Ready. Dalton, 
Rock Face Mountain. Buzzaril's Roost. Triune. Kingston. Cassville, At- 
lanta, Lovejoy Station, Jonesboro. Franklin and Nashville. I Hiring tho 
Atlanta campaign, he was under orders, ninety days continuously, and 
immediately engaged in the return inarch after Hood int<i Tennessee, 
where he took part in the bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville. He 
entered the army, a jirivate, and filled the various positions until he 
reached a second lieutenancy, and, as such, he commanded his company 
for a period of three months. His service was faithful and long. His 
reward was that of thousands of other boys in blue — a reunited, undi- 
vided country. 

Upon his return home. Lieutenant Todd continued farming, in Joe 
Daviess county, until February 24. 1874. when he located in Montgomei'y 
eounty, Kansas. Here he was one of the leading agriculturists, until 
1899, when he removed to town and lias since lived a retired life. 

The marriage of our subject occurred February 2, 18.58. Mrs. Todd 
was Jane M. Lemon, a native of Missouri. Her parents were P. V. and 
Elizabeth (McClellan) Lemon, both now deceased. They were native 
Canadians, farmers near the great falls of Niagara. They became resi- 
dents of Joe Daviess county. 111., in the forties, where they lived out their 
lives, the father dying at seventy-nine, the mother at forty-one years. 
They were parents of ten cliildreu. five yet living: Mrs. Todd, the eldest; 
Mattie, Mrs. S. S. Hughes, of Chicago; Louisa, Mrs. AVilliam Mills, 
of Emporia, Kansas; Addie. Mrs. Henry Glindinning. of LaFayette 
county, Wisconsin ; Ori)ha. Mrs. .7. V. Orabham, of Indeiiendence. 

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Todd consists of six children, viz: Frank 
E., a farmer of the county, married Minnie Coleman and has children: 
Harland, Oscar. Lena. Russell and Frank; Jennie, born Decend)er Iti, 
1802. died October 19, 1871; Howard E., born June 10, 1866. died Feb 
rnary 3, 1890; Herbert W., a graduate of the yali)araiso, Indiana, Nor 
nial Pchool, and for years a siiccessfnl teacher, but now a bookkeeper 
for the wholesale house of Rovse, Stanlev & Co.. of Wichita. Kansas, 



522 HISTORY 01' MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and if. married to Gertrude H. Hileman, with two children: Hubert H. 
and Lora L. ; Wilbur I?., died in infancy; Elsie A., Mrs. Frank E. Stoops, 
of Independence. All of these children are useful members of society 
and a credit to their parents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Todd have always taken an active and hel])ful interest 
in the life of the ditferent communities in which they have lived. They 
are iiieinbers of the Congrejjational churcli, and he is, of course, one of 
the honored members of the (J. A. \i. He also attiliates with the Rons and 
Daughters of Justice. In political matteis, he favors the policies of the 
Republican i)arty. 



J. HOWARD DANA — The bar of Montg;omery county has recently 
known the subject of lliis sketch, as the i)ublic prosecutor of the county. 
Although comparatively young, in the legal field, he has shown himself 
to be deft and vigorous, as a counselor and attorney, and as the county's 
legal advisor and jiublii' prosecutor, to be wary of the i)ublic weal. 

Mr. Dana is one of the pioneers of Montgomery county. His parents 
came hither, in 18(i!l, when he was two years old, from Washingtt)n coun- 
ty, Iowa, where he was born, September 28, 1807. The well-known farmer 
of Caney township, William B. Dana, is his father and was born, in 
Ohio, in the year 1829. He was married, in his native state, to Nancy 
Williams, whose father was a Scotchman, with a long train of American 
antecedents. The Danas are among the American Colonial families, of 
which the distinguished Charles A., late of the New York Sun, was a rep- 
reseniative. They have been prominent in American history and have 
shown themselves to be scholars, statesmen and, above all, patriots. 
Charles A. and William B. Dana's fathers were brothers, the father of 
William B. being Watson Dana, a native of New England. 

William B. and Nancy Dana were the ])arents of five children, viz: 
Williinn L., of Pittsburg. Kansas; Charles, of St. Louis, Missouri; Ed T., 
of Dallas, Texas; Melville C, of Weir, Kansas; and J. Howard, of this 
review. 

Howard Dana passed his life on the farm, as a boy and youth, and 
in the schools of Caney townshij), acquired his liberal education. For a 
higher training, he attended the Kansas Nornuil College at Ft. Scott, 
where he conijdeted the scientific course. He taught school before he 
became a student of the Normal College and was. for three ,years, prin- 
cipal of schools at Caney, Kansas. He continued in the profession till he 
had read law to final admission to the bar, when he at once began its 
practice. His preceptor in law was J. R. Charlton, with whom he, after- 
ward, formed a partnership for jiractice. His first ca.se in court was one 
embracing a charge of assault and battery against his client, Harry 
Temple, of Tyro. The case was tried regularly and resulted in the acquit- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 523 

tal of the accused; Mr. Dana thus scorinfr his first victory. In U»00, he 
was olecteil Coiuity Attorney and. (hiiiii}; tlie conrse of his term, several 
important criminal <-ases were bri)n};iit to trial. .John Nelson, for the 
kiliin*? of Morris, at Ooffevville; John Walker, for the killing of Lancas- 
ter, and Clarence Bird for the nmrder of Harry Linton, were all tried 
and convicted of their <rinies. In the case of Truskett and others, pro- 
moters-, ajiainst the Santa Fe railroad. Mr. Dana represented the plain 
tiffs and secured a judfiment for |4."). 0(1(1 in their favor. 

Mr. Dana was united in niarriajfe with Maud Mulvaney, in Inde 
jjendence. on the 9th of May, 1,S94. Mrs. Dana came to Kansas, with her 
I)arents, from Ohio, and is the mother of two sons: Merle and Paul. Mr. 
Dana is a Rejniblican, an Odd Fellow, a Blue Lodge, Chapter and Ooni- 
manderv Mason and an Elk. 



ANDREW M. MISHLER — The gentleman here mentioned is a mem 
ber of a family which has. for nearly three decades, been prominently 
identified with the development of Montgomery county, and which, 
through its different members, reflects credit on the county's sturdy yeo- 
manr\. The parents and six of the thirteen children born to them, are 
cultivating farms in the c6unty and are all citizens of unusual strength 
of character, whose standing none can gainsay. Mr. Andrew Mishler 
i* the eldest of the fatnily and lives on a farm of recent purchase, four 
and one-half miles from Independence. 

The parents of the family, Samuel and Louisa (Orinon) Mishler, 
reside on a farm in West Cherry townshij). They are natives of the 
"Hoosier State," removing to Montgomery county, Kansas, in 187(J, 
where they opened a farm in Drum Creek township. They are of that 
sturdy stock who bravely stot)d the hardships incident to pioneer life, 
and \vhose wise counsel and upright lives have furnished inspiration to 
the present generation. Their living children are all respectable and use- 
ful members of society, their names being as follows : Andrew XL , Henry, 
of JIanchester. Kansas; Jacob, of West Cherry township; Emeline, who 
married Martin Ormon and lives in Manchester; David, of West Cherry; 
Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Marow, living in Missouri; William, of Drum 
Creek townshiji; Hannah. Mrs. Robert Brown, of Arkansas; Sarah, Mrs. 
B. ^'Iiite, of West Cherry town.shiji; Ellen, wife of Frank Hoagland. of 
Blackwell, Oklahoma Territory; Harry and Charles are deceased; Harley 
lives with his parents in West Cherry township. 

Andrew M. Mishler was born in Indiana — Clay county — in 18(>L'. He 
received a fair common school education in the schools of his native 
county and. at fourteen years old, ac<-ompanied the family to Kansas. His 
lot here has been one of continuous haid labor, but as he comes of stock 
to which labor is as bread and meat, that fact does not worry him in the 



524 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

least. He remained at home until liis marriage, in 1882. He has culti- 
vated different farms in the ronnty, purt'liasing the present one of eighty 
acres, in 1902. This was formerly known as the "John Marsh farm" and 
under the intelligent management of our subject, is fast becoming one of 
the best in the county. Since his ownership began, he has added various 
iniiirovements, the most pretentious being a roomy addition to the house. 

The wife of Jlr. Mishler was Louise 15. Stephens. She is a native 
of Blooniington, Illinois, and is the daughter of Nicholas and Carrie 
(Hughes) Stephens, who came to Kansas in 18G8 and now live six miles 
■west of Independence. Mr. and Mrs. Mishler are the parents of the fol- 
lowing children: Carl, the eldest, who lost his life while bathing, in July, 
1902. was a manly boy, of a rare sunshiny disposition, and was the 
light of the home . His untimely death was a source of great anguish 
to liis jiarenis and genuine sorrow to his many young friends. Nellie is 
a young lady at home; (irace, nine years old, (Mara, seven, while little El- 
sie is a babe in arms. 

Mr. Mishler is too much of a worker to allow jiolitics to interest him. 
except on election day, when he deposits his ballot for the Republican 
nominees. He and his family are members of the Methodist church and 
are always sujiporters of every good work that ])romises well for the 
community. The character of his citizenshi]) is without blemish and par- 
takes of those qualities so essential in tlie individual citizen, honesty, so- 
briety and sincerity of purpose. 



("ONRAD L. ZACHER— One of the best known men in Cherry vale 
is Conrad L. Zacher, since 1886, the Standard Oil Company's trusted 
agent. Mr. Zacher's residence in the city has resulted in establishing 
a re])utation for good citizenship and he and his family are looked upon 
with much favor. He has always evinced a lively interest in the welfare 
of the city of his adoption, and has served her faithfully on the school 
board for several terms, during one of which he was its honored presi- 
dent. 

The parents of our subject were Frank and Caroline Zacher, who 
came to the United States from their native land of Austria, about 1849. 
This removal was the result of a religious persecution then going on in 
Austria, against the Lutherans, of which sect the Zachers were promi- 
nent members. They settled in Ri])ley, Ohio, where the wife died, aged 
tifty-one years, after which the husband went to Little Rock, Arkansas, 
where he died, at the age of fifty-three. Of their six children, five are 
now living. 

Conrad L. Zacher was born in Ripley, Ohio. July 31, 1852. At the age 
of four he was bound out to a j)orkpacker of the name of Archibald 
Liggette, and in his home was reared to manhood with every advantage 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 525 

that could have been };iven a son. In his fosler father's establishment Iio 
learned the trade of cooper, and at twenty-two, came west to try life for 
himself. He found employment with the Armour I'acking House, of Kan- 
sas City, but, after a time, became connected with the Standard people, 
beginnin<f service in 1S7!). He continud with this company in Kansas 
City rntil ISSfJ, the date of his transference to Ch'ei' r yva le. 

Jli. Zacher's family consists of a wife alida daughter, Ruth, by a 
former marriage. Mrs. Zacher was Alice Lining, prior to 1901, daughter 
of Greenburg and Mary Lining. Mr. Zacher is a member of the Meth- 
odist church, while he is enrolled with the' Masons, the A. O. U. W., tho 
I. O. O. F. and the Sons and Daughters of Jtistice. The political belief 
of our subjiM't is i)robably the result of an iiicident which occurred in his 
boyhood home. One day, while the great Li ncoliiAvfts delivering a speech, 
lie was lifted to the shoulders of a bystander!, aiid ft'oiu that point of 
vantage was so impressed with the persbnalit,>' iof the' man as to ever 
after be the firm sujiporter of the prim^ipTeslie-ihere promulgated. 



•JOHN WALLACE HOWE— The itionevH' and worthy gentleman 
who.se name initiates this brief review, has witnessed the development 
of ^[oiitgomery county from its incipiency and has been a part of much 
that has been done. It is interesting to know the landmarks of the fron- 
tier and to get the story of the cominest from their own lips. A third 
of a century is, for this new country, a long time to be identified with 
the same conimuity, yet Mr. Howe occupies just this position. He ar- 
rived in this county, in April, 1870, and settled in Liberty township, 
where he existed — as was then frequently the custom— ^upon what he 
could catch, carpenter and at other miscellaneous work! It is no misfor- 
tune, at this distant day, to be unable to remember just what employment 
one trusted to for subsistence in this new country more than 30 years 
ago. Many of our most worthy pioneers, and Who are liow classed with 
our subject as leading and honored citizens of the county, were unen- 
cumbered, as to pro])erty. and were compelled, as was the Irishman, "to 
make their living by their wits." Suffice it to say, Mr. Howe successfully 
passeilthe Kubicdii and got on his way to prosperity, off of the green grass 
and iileak ]iiaiiies of a si)aisely settled community and without the neces- 
sity of explaining how. 

John W. Howe came to Kansas, from Btecke.nridge, Missouri, where 
he lo( ated, just after the war, from NewbuiHi, Indiana. He was born in 
I'.arllifilomew county, that state, July 5, 1847! aiid was reared and liber- 
ally s< lidoled there. His father. Isaac Howe, was One of the early set- 
tlers of that locality and came from the iioilh of li'eland, where his birth 
occuiicd, about ISOL He migrated from his native land after he was 
grown and made his home, first, in the United States, in the city of Cin- 



526 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

cinnali, Ohio. There lie met aii<l married Rosamia Dnnhip, a ladj from 
the North of Ireland. They moved up into Bartholomew county, Indi- 
ana, where they reared their family, maintained their reputation as 
splendid citizens and died; (he molhci- in ISOl* and the father in 18J)4. 
The issue of their union was: Mary, (leceascnl; Nancy J., wife of Albert 
Richardson, of ISreckeuridm', Missouri; Rebecca. Avho married Charles 
A. May, of the same poin) ; .lohu ^^^, our subject; Robert, of Bi-eeken 
ridge. Missouri; William, of Richmond, Missouri; and Charles I"'., of 
Breckenridge, Missouri. 

Mr. Howe, of this record, was only a schoolboy when the war of the 
Rebellion came on. At just past sixteen years old, he enlisted, October 
3, lS6:j, in Company "A," One Hundred and Twentieth Indiana Infantry, 
Ool. A. W. Prather. The reginrent formed a part of the F'irst Brigade. 
First Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, and went out on to the Atlanta 
campaign, a few nionllis after Mr. Howe joined it. He jiarticipated in 
nearly all the engagements leading up to the capture of Atlanta, and 
when the city fell, the ivgiment accompanied Schofleld's army back to 
Nashville, where, and at Franklin, Hood's army was annihilated. The 
command was then sent to Washington, I). C, and down the coast of 
North Carolina to Morehead Landing and \i\> to Newburn, where Ilardie's 
Corps was encountere<l, the battle I'cally occuring at Wise Forks. ^Ir. 
Howe's regiment went next to Charlotte, by the way of Raleigh, and was 
mustered out at the former place, in January, 1S(J<i, the actual muster 
of our subject occurring at Indianap(dis, Indiana, in the month of Feb- 
ruary. 

Resuming peaceful pursuits, Mr. Howe took a jiosition in a mill at 
Newburn, Indiana, but, in the autumn of ISCiCi, he started west, stopping, 
as previously stated, at Breckenridge, Missouri, where his relatives lived. 
His trip to Kansas wa.s made in a wagon, in company with two others, 
and he l)egan the life of a carpenter in Montgomery county. For many 
years of his life he has been identified with commercial pursuits, in some 
capacity. ■ For twenty year's, he.;was a. traveling salesman, for five years a 
salesman in the New Yoi-k Stoiv, in Independence, Kansas, and the same 
number of years, in a like capacity, with the mercantile house of Henry 
Baden, and, finally, a.s proprietor of the New York Store, of Independ- 
ence, two years. Removing liis stock to Blackwell, Oklahoma, he disposed 
of it and returned to Independence, where he oj)ened a clothing store, the 
firm being J. W. Howe & Company, whi(-h changed hands, by sale, in two 
years, and Mr. Howe again engaged in the novelty business, which he sold 
to the DeBard Dry Good.s Company, in 1!)01. 

The politics of Montgomery county has known John ^^'. Howe as a 
factor for many years. He became a Republican before he left the mili- 
tary service of the irnited States and has carried the standard of that 
party aloft in every campaign sinrcethe war. While he has made no loud 




J. W. HOWE 



HISTORY OF MONTCjO.MEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 527 

demonstration nor claimed tredit for particular victories, he has lent 
his interest and enthusiasm in a quiet and modest way, which is always 
potent in the general result. In 1902, he was nominated by his party, as 
a candidate for County Treasurer, and was elected by a majority of 
four hundred and sixty-nine votes; his term of office beginning in Octo- 
ber, !!)(«. 

In the month of May, 1873, Mi-. Howe married Lillian Watts, a 
daugnter of David V. Watts, of Anadarko, Oklahtuna. Mr. Watts came 
originally from Ohio 1o Missouri, theuce to Independence, Kansas, where 
he was known, for some years, as a merchant. One child, Birdie, consti- 
tutes the family of Mr. and Mrs. Howe. 

In 10(12, ^Ir. Howe engaged in the real estate' business in the county 
seat and in the sale and exchange of pro])ertyheie and elsewhere, has 
experienced a gratifying interest and demand for realty listed under his 
special favor. 

While a traveling salesman, he became a member of the United Com- 
mercial Travelers of America and is now secretary and treasurer of the 
order. He is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter apd Knight Templar 
Masons and a prominent jiarticipant in the afifairs of the Grand Armj' 
of the Republic, of his district. 



CHRISTOPHER C. KINCAID— Christopher C. Kincaid, general 
merchant of Cherryvale and president of the Montgomery County Na- 
tional Bank, is one of our oldest citizens, in ]>o\ni of continuous resi- 
dence. He has seen Cherryvale grow from a single business building to 
a thriving, busy little city, with all the modern institutions which go to 
make urban residence desirable. 

Tiumbnll county, Oliio, was the place of Mr. Kincaid's birth and 
February 28, 1847, tlie date. He is the son of Robert Kincaid and Mary 
Pierce, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Connecticut. The father 
was a farmer and a leading citizen of tlie county." He and his wife were 
active members of the Methodist church and wei'6 widely known and es- 
teemed. The father lived to see his eighty-sixth year, dying July 24, 1902, 
the wife having jias.sed away the |)recediiig year, at the age of seventy- 
four. Of their six children, the three now surviving are: Christopher, 
• 'ornelia, Mrs. O. B. Percival, Trumbull county, Ohio; and Maggie J., 
Mrs. I. .). Kay, of Redlands, California. 

To a good ordinary education, Mr. Kincaid was engaged in adding 
higliev scholastic training, at the Western Reserve Seminary, when the 
tocsin of war sounded its loud alarm througlioiit the land, calling every 
jiatriotic citizen to enlist in the service of liis country. His young heart 
heat with entlmsiasm, but not until he had jiassed liis sixteenth birthday, 
was he able to pass muster. In the spring of 18(>:{. lie entered the army, 



52S HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

as a ])i'ivate in ("(niipjiiiy "M," Sccoiul Oliio Cavalrv, and from that time 
to the close of tin- sli-uf;nl«', was an active iiarticii)aiit in many of the ex- 
citinj; expiMienccH (if llic wai' in the Slieiiandoali ^'alle.v. under the dash- 
ing Sheridan. lie well reiiieiiiliers seein"; (ien. Sheridan on that ride 
from Winchester, made memoralde liy IJuehauan Reed's immortal poem, 
"Sheridan's Hide." T(» Sheridan's immortal cry of "Come on, boys, 
we're i;oin<; ItacU," he turned with the rest and gallantly followed Old Glo- 
ry hack to victory. He was with his regiment at that last dramatic 
scene, when it sat in the .saddle across the pathway of the beleaguered I^e 
and saw that prinid chieftan lowei' his colors to the invincible (irant. 
After participating in that .sublime pageant, the (irand Review, the regi- 
ment received its discharge at Colnnd)us, Ohio, the date being September 

11, i8r..-.. 

A veteran, but not attained to legal manhood, Mr. Kincaid took uj) 
the thread just where it had been broken at the Western Reserve Semi- 
nary and continued his studies. However, school life had lost its charms, 
and after one term, he came west to Kansas and began his business ca- 
reer. I'ntil 1871, he clerked in a general store in Linn county, and then 
came out to Independence, continuing in (he same line for three years. 
This brings us to the date of his coming to t'herryvale. 1874. where hi! 
set up business for himself, in a small frame bilding. This was the begin- 
ning of what has proved to be a long and successful business career. 
The little frame, in time, gave way to a more pretentious brick, two sto- 
ries, and the first of its kind in the village, and the same which Mr. Kin- 
caid Is now using. He has here, one of the most complete stocks of gen- 
eral merchandi.se in the .southern part of the county and caters to a very 
large trade, six clerks being employed. ^Ir. Kincaid has identified him- 
.self closely with the growth of the city, and has always felt a pardonable 
pride in the fact that he was the first incumbent of the mayor's chair. His 
interest in the city (^ea.sed not, with his retirement from office, but has 
been continuou.s through the years which have seen so much of splendid 
(levelo]iment. He sub.se(|uently .served in the common council and was 
treasurer of the city. In addition to his mercantile interests, Mr. Kin- 
caid is at the head of one of the l)est financial institutions of the county, 
the Montgomery County National Bank, and is president of the Fairview 
Cemetery Association. In the social and religious life of the community, 
INIr. Kincaid and his family have been most prominent. He and Mrs. Kin 
caid are leading worker.s in the Methodist cluirch. he being one of the 
trustees. His fraternal relations are jirominent with the Masons — Klne 
Lodgo, Chapter and Commandery — and in the exclusive social order, the 
Mystic Shrine. He is a charter member and has filled all the chairs of 
the Ir.cal lodge, I. O. O. F., and is, of course, a Grand Army man. of 
which noble organization he has served as jiost commander. Though well 
qualified to fill any office in the gift of the party, ^Ir. Kincaid has never 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 529 

soufilil political preferiiient, contenting himself to ciist liis vote for pros- 
j)eri(\ and pi-of-ress. as set forth in the platforms of the Republican 
jiart.v. 

Mrs. Kincaid, prior to her marriage, was Miss Lon ]\Iarsliall. She is 
n native of Leavenworth, Kansas, and is the daugiiter of Aloses and 
Lavinia Marshall, formerly of Illinois, and now honored residents of 
Oherr.vvale, where Mr. Jlarshall's ninety-two years distinguishes him as 
the oldest man in town. To Mrs. Kincaid have been born three children. 
Of these. Robert M. was the eldest; Maud K. married C. R. Slianton and 
lives in (V>hind)us. Kansas; Blanche ^I., an accomi)lished juusician. a 
graduate of music at Kmjioi-ia, resides at liome. Robert, the eldest, was 
a boy of unusual promis<\ when death claimed him, on the 17tli day of 
•January, ISlMt, the result of an accident by drowning. With a number 
of companions, he had si)ent the afternoon skating and. loath to lose any 
of the splendid sport while it lasted, tarried late with a comi»anion. 
Snd<lonly the ice broke iinder him and before succor could reach him, 
be sunk to his death. He was of a vivacious temperament, deejdy relig- 
ious ;>nd studious, and most popular among his playmates, and his un- 
timely death was felt almost as a personal loss by every <Mtizen in Ther- 
rvvale. 



ELI AS M. IXGMIRE — Ellas M. lugniire, one of the class which has 
been ajitly styled, by a jirominent writer, as "Kniglits of the soil," resides 
on (Uie of the best farms in the coinity. four miles from Ooft'eyville, in 
Fawn Creek townshii). Since his coming to the county, in ISJHI. he has 
shown excellent citiy-enslii|) and is much esteemed by all who know him. 

Mr. Ingmire belongs to the "immortal few,"' now fast passing away, 
who fonglit, liled and all but died, that future generations might have 
an undivided country. Not old enough to secure his acceptance, as a sol- 
dier, in ISfU. his ])crsistence succeeded in landing him in the ranks before 
his sixteenth birthday, the date of his enlistment being February '2'2. 
ISti:!. ('<>m]iany "H," of the Sixty-third Ohio \'oluiiteer Infantry, eu- 
rolleil liim, as a jirivatc soldier, and he served until the close of the war 
ill the army of the center. His service was active and strenuous, until the 
;!l)th of .May, isti4, when, at the battle of Dallas, (ieorgia, he received a 
grievous wound, by the bursting of a shell. This finished him as a fight- 
ing m.-in, and. after a |)eriod in the hos]iital, he was sent to Indianapolis. 
«lierc he i)Ul in I he lemainder of his servict», as a member of the invalid 
(■i)r]is. Ills discharge dated the ITtli of .\pril. ISCi."). 

.\fter the war, Mr. Ingmire joined his ]iarents in lo^\a. wliilher they 
had removed, during the struggle, from Hocking county, Ohio. It was in 
Muskingum county. Ohio, that the birth of our subject occurred, the date 
beiui; Mecember i:!, 1S47. His father. Franklin Ingmire. had come to the 
■'liuckevc Slate" from Mar\ land, as a \oun'; man. and h.ul there married 



530 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Catheiine (libbons. She became the mother of: John, who died in 1862; 
Hestor, also deceased; William, a farmer near Coffe.vville; Maggie E.. 
now Mrs. (Irt^n; Ida, wife of Ed Forshe, and Thomas, both residents 
near Indiana]iolis, Indiana. In 1SG4. the parents settled in Colfax, Iowa, 
wliere the.v continued to reside until their demise. The mother died in 
1SG5, at about forty-five, the father in 1885, at seventy-five years. 

Mr. Ingniire remained under the home roof for a number of years, 
eng.aged in farming. In 1872, he and a brother resolved to see what Ne- 
braskii had in store for enterprising youths, and, with nine head of good 
horse.*^. made the trip out to near David City. They were unfortunate, 
however, in arriving just in time to get the full benefit of the grasshopper 
scourge, and the following year, returned to Iowa, feeling themselves 
fortunate in the possession of a poor old "plug." Nothing daunted by 
this reserse, Mr. Ingmire again began at the bottom of the ladder and 
was foon on the upgrade to comparative prosperity. This time he made 
sure of the matter by taking unto himself a lielpmeet, and who lias, in- 
deed, been a splendid partner of all his joys and sorrows. Mrs. Ingmire 
was Gertrude H. Dee, prior to her marriage day, May 18, 1876. She 
was born in Hancock county, Illinois, and is the daughter of Jackson and 
Eliza (Cain) Dee, natives of Vermont and Pennsylvania, respectively. 
The parents married in Illinois and, in 1877, moved to Jasjier county. 
Iowa, where Mr. Dee died, on the utli of Sej)teml)er, 1902, the wife still 
being a resident of Colfax. In their family were fifteen children, the 
uaniesof tliose reared being: Josephine, Mrs. Berkley; Gertrude, Mrs. Ing- 
mire; Eva, Mrs. English; Harriett, Mrs. (iray; Grant, and Mrs. Jessie 
Nichols; Clarkson and Francis are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Ingmire fol- 
lowed farming, with success, in Iowa, until 1890, when they sold out and 
came to their j)resent farm. They have here, one hundred and eiglity-five 
acres of fine creek. bottom, with an elevation for their residence and 
barns, and near which is a beautiful artificial grove. The intelligent 
methods employed by Mr. Ingmire have resulted in the production of one 
of the finest farms in the county, and he takes a pardonable pride in 
nuiintaining it so. 

Children have been born to Mrs. Ingmire, as follows: Adelbert 
ICUhu'a. burn May !), 1877, has been a trusted cnijjloyee of the Missouri 
I'acific railroad for several years; Merle Ernest, born December 17, 1878; 
Carroll Ryan, born September 27, 1880. These boys are all of splendid 
capabilities and of fine moral character, a credit to their training. In .a 
social way, Mr. Ingmire is a valued member of the (Jrand Army of the 
Republic' Post !."):{, Of CoHeyville; a Mason, a member of the A. H. T. A. 
and of the Tiiple Tie, and both he and his good wife are iri<>tnbers of tho 
Knigi'.ts and Ladies of Security. In his younger manhood, while in Io- 
wa, Mr. Ingmire took an active part in local official matters, but has left 



mSTOItV OF .\1()NT(;0MERV COrNTY, KANSAS. 53I 

tlio lutldiiif'- of oflice licie to ollicrs, coiiteiil iiiji liiiiisclf in (lie sii|ijioi'( of 
tlio Ki'](ul)lic:ui ticket. 



MARION K. KELSO— Marion E. Kelso, wlio lives in ojie of tlie 
handsomest residences in the county, on a beautifnl elevation overiookiug 
the rural village of Havana, and one and a half miles from that jdace, 
is another of the "elect of '71," though he was but seven years of age 
when his parents settled in the county. He is one of the thrifty farmers 
of the county, controlling' 1,140 acres, and his jilace is the embodiment 
of neatness and rural elegance, and bespeaks the careful management 
of a uKister liusbandman. 

The fatlier of Marion E. Kelso, Thomas Kelso, was a native of Vir 
ginia, where he was reared to young manhood. Thence he migrated to 
Johnson county, Iowa, where he met and married Sarah Welch, and 
where he continued to reside until 1868, and where his wife died in 1865. 
l^he left him with a family of six children, of whom our subject is tho 
only one living. The father came to Kansas in 1868, and settled, 
first, in Lyon count.v, thence, in a short time, to Neosho county, where he 
located near the Osage Mission. He was attracted to Montgomery 
county in the year of the great influx, namely, 1871, and tiled on a claim 
upon n part of which our subject now resides. For a number of years 
prior to his death, in 1892, Mr. Kelso was in poor health and thus Ma- 
rion, very e.irly, l»ecame his father's "right hand man." They s])ent two 
years togethei- at Eureka Springs in the vain hope of im])roving the fath- 
er's health, and, with this exception, Marion Kelso's residence in the 
county has been continuous since his seventh year. 

Our subject was born in Johnson county, Iowa, on the first of De- 
cember, 1864. Depi'ived of a mother's love and care when but a babe in 
arms, he grew to sturdy manhood under the father's care and, in the 
meandme. secured a good common school education. August 11, 1887, 
the marriage of Mi-. Kelso and Miss Belle Lamb was <clebrated. Jlrs. 
Kelso is a native of Montgomery county, a daughter of EIroy and Mary 
Lamb, and has borne her husband seven children, as follows :l'earl, Thom- 
as, Iva, Lesley, Zora, Floyd and Ernest. 

Ii. the cultivation of the homestead of three hundred and forty 
acres, Mr. Kelso tinds amjile opportunity to demonstrate his ability as 
an agriculturist, his other holdings being rented. His handsome and 
modei-n residence is built against Ihe blutf and commands a mosl beaiiti- 
ful view of all the surrounding country. 

In the social life of tlie community, !Mr. and Mrs. Kelso and family 
are iiclpful factors. Their inlluence is wielded at all times in the intere.st 
of l)eil('r condiiions in the matter of the educational and civic life of the 
ciinimunity. and they arc liberal snp])or1cis of good schools, good 



532 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

cliiinlies and good governnieut. Their place is secure iu the hearts of a 
host of friends, whom tliey delight to honor in their regal and hospitable- 
home. 



IIMVOODRING— H. Woodriug, grain dealer and buyer of Elk City, 
needs no word of introduction to the citizens of Montgomery county, for 
he has always been here; at least, so long that the "mind of man runneth 
not lo the contrary." There are comjjaratively few now living in the 
county who relate occurrences personally observed as far back as the 
sjiring of 1871, but our subject is one of these few, and a continued resi- 
dence since that date, together with a life that has been an open book 
to all. has made him a person of much interest and of much personal 
popularity 

Mr. Woodring's ancestors were Holland Dutch, his i)ateriuil grand- 
parents, John and Cliristiiia (Wolf) Woodring, having come to America 
in 177S. They reared a family of twelve children, all of whom, save the 
father of Mr. Woodring, lived to an advanced age. On the maternal 
side, the grand])arents, Christian and ilargaret (Miller) Hahn, were of 
German and Scotch descent, respectively, the latter living to the remark- 
able age of ninety-eight years. 

Our subject's jiarents were Jacob and Mary A. (Hahn) Woodring. 
Jacob Itolni was born in Pennsylvania, and his wife in Kentucky. Jacob 

^__^ was a man of tine qualities, a member of the United Baptist church, and 

"7 U) orJL>^/-<\ 'Of good influence iu his community. Mrs. Woodring is remembered as 

* I C a superior woman, a most devout member of the Methodist church, and 

/t/\/t-^ of great devotion to her family. She died, at the home of her son in Elk 

» Citv, Februarv 1(1, 1878, at the age of seventy-seven years. The husband 

^|aA^ had preceded her, August '28, 1852, at the age of fifty-four. The family 

born to them consisted of ten I'liildren, but three of whom survive: 
(4eorge. who lives at Louisburg, Tennessee, aged eighty years; Dr. W. W. 
Woodring, of Mt. Pleasant, Utah, aged sixty-three; and the subject of 
this sketch. 

H. Woodring was liorn in Hardin county, Kentucky, January 29, 
183<>. In youth, he learned the i)aiuter's trade, which, with farming and 
grain buying, has constituted his occupation during life. He lived in 
Kentucky and Boone county, Indiana, until his removal to Montgomery 
county, in 1871. In 18()4, he enlisted in Company "B," One Hundred and 
Fifty-fourth Indiana ^'olunteer Infantry. This regiment was a part of 
the Army of the Potomac, his comi)any arriving in time to partici])ate 
in the si)ectacular tight of Winchester, where Black Jack Logan did such 
valiant deeds of heroism and saved the day. The rest of his service was 
in the guarding of commissary supplies at Stevenson's Station, Virginia. 
His discharge dated August 14, 1865. 




C. L. BLOOM. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 533 

Upon his arrival in Elk City our subject opened a butcher shop, but 
after seven moTiths took up a claim, seven miles northwest of the village. 
.\ five year i)eri(>(l here was followed by a year on a farm a mile north of 
town. He then came (o town and be<ran the business which he has since 
followed, that of handlinj; all kinds of grain. During 1898-99, Mr. Wood- 
ring r("sided at Parsons, having been aj)pointed Assistant State Grain In- 
spector, with headquarters there. Jn local affairs, he has been a promi- 
nent factor, having served as Mayor, Councilman, and in several other 
responsible offices. In social and religious lines, he is equally prominent. 
He is trustee of the Masonic Lodge, Sergeant ^lajor of the (1. A. K., and 
he and his entire family are valued workers in the Christian church, of 
which he is a deacon. 

Mrs. Woodring was Miss Melissa J. Cooper, her marriage having 
been an '^y^^rf^j j a ^.lii i. •! i j^rtrr- f^he was the daughter of Burnside and 
liUza -rltFTTnett) < "()Oper, of Tliorntown, Indiana. Six children have been 
born to the union : Effle, Mrs. J. J. Carroll, of Neodesha, one child, Faye; 
Dollie, deceased at three years; ('laudine, wife of S. H. Piper, an attor- 
ney at Independence, two children: .\lpha W. and (ienevieve; Lida C, at 
home; Grace E., Mrs. A. K. Shatter, of Elk City, one child: Alberta; 
Harry H., the youngest, is a bright student of the high school. 

It is not too much to say that Mr. Woodring and his family consti- 
tute an import.int factor in the life of Elk City, exerting an inttuence 
which cannot be overestimated in its power for good. 



CAMDON L. BLOOM — One of tiie conspicuous developers of the min- 
eral resounes of the southwest, and more particularly identified with the 
gas and oil development of southern Kansas, is Camden L. Bloom, of Inde- 
pendence, I'resident of the Independence Gas Company. His geological 
researches for the past fifteen years have led to a quite thorough perfor- 
ation of the earth's cr\ist from Paola, Kansas, where he began work in 
1887, all the way down to the Indian Territory and Texas, and have re- 
vealed to him the hiding ])lac(>s of many of nature's resources and havo 
been instrumental in the establishing of a new article of domestic com- 
merce in the west. 

Mr. Bloom is a scion of the Pennsylvania Blooms, having been born 
and reared in the ''Keystone State" till nine years of age. His birth oc- 
curred in Clearfield county, March 14, 18G8. His father was Amos W. 
Bloom, a native of the same state, a farmer by occupation and now a 
citizen of Mianu county, Kansas. The latter married Rebecca McCracken 
and Camdon L. is the third of their ten children. The parents left their 
nati\e state in 1877, and in their removal to the west stopped three years in 
Fulton county, Indiana. From that point they migrated to Bollinger 
county, Missouri, whence they came, in 1880, to Miami county, Kansas. 



534 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY", KANSAS. 

The cominon schools knew our subject only till his sixteenth year, 
when he became connected, as a hand, with the operation of a gas drilling 
machine. As he learned the business he liecanie nioi'e interested in the 
I)ossible results of exj»erinientinji; with the innermost parts of the earth 
and e\entually acquired a drilling-rig and began ojierations for himself. 
Asanieniberof the firm of McBride & Bloom, he contracted much develop- 
ment work in Miama county, where the gas agitation first struck Kansas. 
Ninety per cent, of the drilling done there was by this firm and, toward 
1888, the firm transferred its chief operations to the vicinity of Neodesha, 
where they drilled the two wells which proved that to be a gas and oil 
field o<; value. In 188!). Mr. Bloom became identified with Montgomery 
county. His firm was associated with the people of <"otl'eyville, investi- 
gating the gas resources of that locality and finally took up their prop- 
osition and did the development work necessary to carry it out success 
fully. The (\)ffeyville Gas t^ompany was organized with <". L. Bloom as 
I*resident and the city plant partially constructed and set in operation. 
In 18fl2, McBride & Bloom came to Independence, still retaining their 
holdings at Coffeyville, and began drilling for gas around the county seat. 
They were the pioneers in this field and. after great mental, physical and 
financial exertion, opened up the strong gas pressure of the Bolton field, 
assuring the future of Indejiendence and insuring the material indepen- 
dence of its benefactors. 

With the discovery of gas came the rush of (»nterj>rise to ilontgomery 
county. The cotton twine mill, the paper mill and the Midland Glass 
Gompany all located in Independence and Mr. Bloom performed his mod- 
est ])art in the work of their location. 

In the Bartlesville oil field McBride & Bloom did the first work of 
develojjment for Gudahy of Ghicago. The Gudahy Oil Gomj)any also de- 
veloped some territory in the Greek Nation through this firm. Mc- 
Bride and Bloom hold leases of Indian lauds near Bartlesville, Indian 
Territory, and its scant development has proven the real value of the 
field. 

li< October. 1S!).5, Mr. Bloom mairied in Kansas City. Missouri, Mrs. 
Belle Steele, a daughter of A. T. Spaulding. Helen Louise, a daughter, 
was born October (». 1899. 

Mr. Bloom has united with the Knights of Pythias and Elks fraterni- 
ties and is a Modern Woodman, a Workman, a Maccabee and, in politics, 
a Democrat. He was elected as councilman from the 4th ward in the 
spring election of 1903. 



A\'ILLIAM H. ALLIN. In the ojiening of this personal record we 
are pleased to present the name of the splendid citizen and substantial 
farmer, William H- Allin, of F^iwn Greek township. His identity with 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 535 

Montgomery county interests dates from March, 1880, when he purchased 
a tract of one hundred sixty acres of land four miles west of Coffeyville up- 
on wliich he has since made his home. Hy nativity he is of the east but 
by training and inclination of the west and his sixty-five years of life 
have been filled with achievements of an industrial and civil nature. 

January 31, 18.38, in Knox county, Ohio, William H. Allin was born. 
He is of pure English origin, his parents, William and Mary S. (Ban- 
bury) Allin, having been born in l>evonshire, England, the fatlier in 1807. 
and the mother in the year 1813. They were married in England and in 
1835, came across the Atlantic to the United States and settled in Knox 
county, Ohio. The father was a local preacher and followed the occu- 
pation of a farmer. He took his family to Johnson county, Iowa, to 
settle, in 18.51, where he passed the remainder of his life as a farmer and 
grower of stock. He died there in 1880-.Tuly, and his wife survived him 
till January 189(!, dying in Pasadena, California, while on a visit to her 
children. Ten children were born to this venerable couple, nine of whoni 
yet live and are: John, Mary J. Robert.son, William H., Thomas B., 
Richard H., Samuel E., Elizabeth A., Dunbar, Martha A., Harrison, 
I>>titia G. Willis and .Jabez W. Allin. 

At the age of twelve years William H. Allin left his native state to 
become identified with the west. He acconi])ained his parents to Iowa 
and was there educated in the district schools. For a higher training he 
was for two and one-half years a .student in the Iowa State University 
and, on the completion of his pupilage, assumed his station on the farm. 
His father presented him with an eighty acre tract which he im])roved and 
afterward (lis))ose(l of to become a resident and a farmer of Cedar Co.. 
that state, where he ])ur(hase(l a tai'm twice its size. Upon this farm he 
resided fifteen years and sold it only to come to Montgomery Co., Kansas. 

Mr. Allin's connection with Montgomery county has been mutually 
valuable. Here he has accumulated an estate of three hundred and sev- 
enty-five acres and made it, artificially, one of the beautifully attractive 
farms of the county. His residence, im])osing and commodious, occupies 
an eminence studded with evergreen ;ind natural forest and presents a 
lands( ajie scene nnsuri)assed by a country Kansas home. To these sur- 
roundings add the convenien<-e of natural gas and the less common lux- 
uries for physical man. and an ideal condition of life is the portion of our 
subject. 

His ca])ital beyond the rcipiirements of his household and his farm, 
Mr. .\llin uses in investments to the advantage of his estate. He was one 
of the organizers of the First National Bank of Coffeyville, was director 
of it a nundier of years and is yet a stockholder. He has served on the 
townshi]( board a number of terms and has l)e('n school director for many 
years. He is a Kepublican in politics and lias contributed, in a modest 
and unassuming way, to the success of his party at the polls. 



536 -.HISTORY OF .MONTlJOMKRY COVNTY, KANSAS. 

July 5, 180:^ ^Ir. Alliii nimried Julia A. Holliii<!;s\V()ith, a dausbter 
of the venerable Kichard 11. Holliu^swoitli. of Cotfevville, a])iiroi)riate 
mention of whom is made in his article herein. Mrs. AUin was born near 
Peoria, Illinois, February 20, 1847. and is one of five children. Whe is the 
niother of the followinji' childi-en : Perry N., in the ji;rain business in 
Cott'eyville; Franklin ^^'.. a graduate of Baker T'niversity. for a number 
of years a successful leadier of the state — beiuij seven years jirincipal of 
the I'aola schools and one year in the Em]>oria lii!z;h school — and now a 
student in Rush Medii-al ('olle<;p. Chicajio; Jessie B., wife of William 
L. Etchen, of Omaha. Nebraska, and Miss Marpnet Allin. The children 
are all graduates of the Coffey ville hijih sdiool and have assumed most 
honorable and useful stations in life. 



E.S.REA.— E. S. Rea is the General Manajier of the Rea Patterson 
Milling Tompany of Coffeyville. Kansas, anil was born in Saline county, 
JIo. His i»arents were: P. H. aud Maftie E. ( Samuel 1 Rea, both natives 
of Missouri. 

Mr. Rea, senior, was a member of the state militia of Missouri, under 
General Price, was for a number of years a merchant, but is now retired 
and living at Marshall, Mo. He was born in 184(1. and in 1894 his wife 
died, leaving five children. 

Our subject obtained his education in the common schools, and in 
the Miinual Training school, and graduated from the University of St. 
1-ouis Mo., in the class of 18IKI. .\fter coniideting his schooling, he en- 
gaged at milling, in Marshall, Mo., where he i-emained four yaers. In 
1894, he came to Jlontgomery county, and has since become interested in 
the gas and oil develoi)ment of the county. 

On the inth of April, 189(i, Mr. Rea was united in marriage with 
Margaret Owens, of Sweet Springs, Mo., and a daughter of the late Wil- 
liam Owens. To this union was boin one child. Nellie E. 

The liea I'atteisoii Mill's of which Mr. Rea is manager, are now the 
largest of the kind in the State of Kansas, employing about eighty-five 
hands, and ju-oducing about tAvo tliousand barrels daily. 



JOHN A. MAHAFFY— The little municiiiality of Tyro is one of the 
most enterprising villages of the county, and is surrounded by an agri- 
cultural community of more than ordinary intelligence and thrift. They 
have good schools aud churches and are. to a good degi-ee, progressive. 
Among the most cntcrin-ising of the business men of the community is the 
geutlcinan her(> mentioned, one of the leading meichants of the place, and 
one \\liose long associ.-ition with the peoi»le of the county makes him pe- 
culiaily adajited to rejiresentat ion in this work. 



HI.STOKV OF M()NT(iOMKUY COUNTV, KANSAS. 537 

^Ji'. Maliiiffy caiiic In Ihis vicinity witli liis parents in 1870, when a 
boy of eleven years, and has {^rowii np aiuonj" the peojile where he now re- 
sides. He was horn in (ialeslmrji, III., on the :'.rd of .\|iril, IS")!), and was a 
son of Alexander and lOniily (McdilV) MaiiatV.N, nat ives of the Emerald 
Isle. The fatiier was Ixtrn in 18l!'.t, and, at niatin-ity, crossed the ooean in 
search of forlnne. He first found it in New York, where he met and niar- 
riedhiswife. From thence hecanie out to Illinois, and settled in Galesburg, 
where he remained nntil ISfiit. wli(>ii he came on to Kansas, and, the follow- 
in<j year, setllcil his family on a farm adjoinin<; Tyro on the south. Hero 
he jiassed the I'cmaindcr of his day.s, succeedini; hy hard work, and good 
judgment, in ac(|uiring a nice little competejicy before his death. He was 
a nmn possesing, in a high degree, the marked characteristics of his race, 
honest to a fault, and generous in the distribution of his charity. He 
died, in 1892, at the age of sixty-three years, and his wife still survives 
him, at th(> age of seventy-thi-ee. They were the parents of seven children, 
viz: Delila, th<> wife of K. .V. Denney; .\nnice, wife of C. L. Keller; John 
A., Virginia, deceased, in girlhood; David, managing the home farm; 
Mary, died in childiiood; and one died in infancy. 

John A. Mahaft'y passed the entire period of his boyhood and youth 
under the home roof, dutifully helping to care for the family until he had 
arrived at maturity. \t the age of twenty-three, with the assistance of 
Miranda -I. I'arrisli, he began the building of a h(»me of his own, the date 
of their marriage being .March 2, 18!fi. Mrs. MahatTy was born in Wa- 
bash i-ounty, Indiana, on the 5th of December, 1875. She was taken into 
the home of Dr. Hradley, at an early age, and was reared to womanhood 
by them , coming to Kansas and being married in their home. She is the 
mother of three bright children: Alger Henry, George Ed and Ida 
Blanche. 

Mr. Maliatly was engaged, until the year l!ll)2, in agricultural pur- 
suits, when he set up his present mercantile establishment. He carries 
a nice line of goods and his courteous treatment of custom is rapidly se- 
curing him a large trade. INditically, he supports the policies of the Pop- 
ulist party and is always found ready to aid any cause that looks to the 
upbuilding of his home town. 



A K. QUKKi — .V hai-dware merchant of Elk City and one of the old- 
est residents of Lfniisburg township, Mr. A. K. Quigg holds an honored 
place in the hearts of a large Ixtdy of its citizens. His connection with 
the remarkable (h'\('loi)ment which has come to Montgomery county in 
the past, has been of a most substantial nature, and places him in the list 
wortliy of the special mention accorded those whose names appear in 
this volume. 

Mr. Quigg fii-st came to Kansas in ISOd. Remaining a sliort time 



538 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

in eai'h of Johnson and Franklin counties, lie then settled in Leroy, Coffey 
county, and engaged, as a carpenter and builder. The year 1870 marks 
his coming to this county and his location in Elk f'ity. where he engaged 
in the cabinet-making and undertaking business. This he abandoned for 
the hardware business, in 1878, and his connection with this business has 
been continuous and successful to this date. Elk City has had no more 
earne.-it advocate of its interests than he. In season and out. he has spent 
time and money in the advancement of its interests and now takes a par- 
donable pride in the evidences of its growth. He has served the people 
of his townshiji in several of the minor otHces — Treasurer and Clerk-- 
and has used his influence, at all times, in furthering projects which had 
for their object, the moral or material, advancement of his community. He 
votes the Republican ticket with regularity and is hxiked ujion as a val- 
ned worker in the ranks of that party. 

Noting, briefly, the salient jtoints in the ancestral history of our es- 
teemed subject, his father, Jose]>h Quigg, was a Pennsylvanian, born in 
1811, and, with his parents, went to Indiana at twelve years of age. 
When he grew to manhood, he adopted farming as an occupation, follow- 
ing that till his death, in 1873. He was a man of intensely patriotic 
mould, an out-and-out Abolitionist, fairly worrying him.self sick over 
the fact that he was beyond the age to enter the army, as a volunteer sol- 
dier. He married an Ohio girl, of the name of Lydia Swain, and became 
the father if nine children, as follows: Ira, of Indiana; A. R., the subject 
of this sketch; Sallie, widow of Harvey Mendenhall; ('yrus B., of In- 
diana: and Frank. Those decea.sed are: Eunice. \ViIliam. flattie and 
John. 

A. R. Quigg was born in Wayne county. Indiana, Aj)ril 14, 1843. Hia 
education was such as could be procured in the short winter months in 
the district school. He helped his parents on the farm most dutifully 
until the date of his enlistment in the army. August 0, 1SC2, when he 
went forth as a sacrifice, if need be, for an undivided couTitry. He en- 
rolled, as a private, of Company "E," Sixty-ninth Indiana ^■olunteer In- 
fantry, and in the very first battle, that of Richmond, Kentucky, was se- 
verely wounded. He remained in the service until his honorable dis- 
charge, on the 8th of August, 1863. 

The 4th of May, 1871, was a day made memorable, in the life of our 
subject, by his marriage to the lady who now presides over his home, and 
who lias been a splendid partner of his joys and sorrows. Mrs. Qnigg's 
maiden name was M. J. Sutton. She was born in the "Buckeye State" 
and is the daughter of Enoch Sutton. Four childj-en have come to bless the 
marriage of our subject and his wife: Mrs. W. E. Johnson, of Joplin, Mis- 
souri, whose three children are: Ralph, I'aul and Helen; Bertha, Emma 
and Frank. 

Successful as a business man. honored bv his fellow townsmen, and 



IllsrOUV OF MOXTOOMKRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 539' 

revered by a lai'^e circle of fi-iends and ac(|uainfances in the eoiinty, Mr. 
Quigg is passing into lia|)py and i)ea<-eful old age, conscious of having 
measured up to all the requirements of a good and loyal citizen. 



JOHN E. WIXO.VRD— Introducing this review is the name of the 
State (JrainWeiglimasler at ("ofl'cyville. He is one of the successful and 
well-known farmers of the county of Montgomery, of which he has been 
a resident since 1.SS2, and of the state since two years before. 

Mr. Winganl comes of Ohio origin, in Stark county, where his birth 
occurred September 24, 18.~).'">. His father, .Joseph Wingard. was born in 
the Si'.me count.\. October .5, 182!(, and his mother, ]\Iaria, a daughter of 
John Speelman, was born in Holmes county, Ohio, May 12, 1831. The 
parei.ts were married September 2.'>, 1S.~)2, and resided in the vicinity of 
Massillon till March, IS.'JT, when they moved to DeKalb county, Indiana, 
where, at Auburn, the father now resides. 

The Wingards of this generation are descended from John Win- 
gard, our subject's giandfather, wlio was born in Franklin county, Penn- 
sylvania, Septeud)er i:'>, 1798. The latter nmrried PoHy Zent, born in the 
same county, March 1!t, 170J», the wedding occurring March 8, 1821. 
Their children, in their order, were: Jacob, of Williams county, Ohio; 
John, who died in the same county; Joseph, father of our subject; and a 
daugliter. who married Cornelius Clapi>er and resides in Stark county, 
Ohio. In the spring of 1820, John and Polly Wingard left the "Key- 
stone State" and settled in Stark county, Ohio, where they reared their 
family and passed their lives. 

The issue of Joseph Wingard and wife were: Reuben, deceased; 
Charles F., of Auburn, Indiana; John E. and Ira N., likewise of DeKalb 
county. Indiana. Reuben was i)oin December 9, 18o3; Charles F., Jan- 
uary 12. 18.-.7, and Ira N., October tt, 1804. 

John I^. U'ingard was the second child in his father's family and 
repei\ed a good coninion school education while growing up on his fath- 
er's farm. The Auburn high school was the last institution he attended, 
of an educational character, and when he assumed his indei>endent sta- 
tion in life, it was as a farmer. When he left Indiana and directed his 
steps westward, it was toward chcaiicr land and the ultimate possession 
of a home. He stopjted two years in ("I'awford county, and when he set- 
tled in Montgomery county, he i»urchased a farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, in sections 18 and 13, township 33, ranges IG and 15. Since 
his first settlement he has purchased an additional quarter in the same 
townshii) of lnde])endence and, while he is occu])ied with his official du- 
ties, he also does all of the farming exce]tt the actual work, which respon- 
sibility devohcs ujion his young and manly sons. 

Mr. W'iiigaid was married in DeKalb countv, Indiana, February 



540 HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

10, 1876, his wife beiug Ella I. Pyle, a daughter of John Pvle, formerly 
from Stark county, Ohio. The issue of this marriage is two sons : Frank 
Leroy, aged twenty years, and Homer Hester, aged fifteen years. 

Mr. Wingard is a Kepublican in ])olitics, has served his township 
as trustee twif-e, has worked with the jtarty leaders in the county in every 
campaign and was a])pointed to his present })osition and commissioned 
by Gov. Stanley, in 1902. He l)ecanie interested in the establishment of 
rural delivery, early, and i)etitioued for one of the first rural routes 
established in the Third Congressional District. 



DR. JOHN T. DAVIS — Among the practicing j)hysi(ians who have 
attained renown in Montgomery county, is the worthy citizen of Inde- 
pendence whose name initiates this i)ersonal record. Since the year 1881. 
he has been numbered among the men of medicine, that date noting his 
advent to the county and his residence in Elk ("ity. He c.inie to the 
county seat in 1892, where he has taken front rank among the physicians 
of his school. 

Mr. Davis is a vigorous example of the sons of the "Hoosier State." 
His birth occurred in Warren county, Indiana, February 2(5, 1853, on the 
farm of his father, James Davis, who was born in the county of the same 
name in Ohio, in 1823, At ten years of age, the fatluM- accompanied his 
parents, Andrew and Zillah (<iranti Davis, to Warren county, Indiana, 
where he grew up and married. Andrew I>avis was a Jerseyman by 
birth, left his native state in the fore part of the nineteenth century and 
lived in Indiana, Illinois and, finally, in Kansas, wliere, at Manhattan, 
he died, at ninety-six years of age. He was of Welch stock, his father 
being a son of a Welchman whose emigration from the I'.ritish Isles oc- 
curred during the contented and thrifty jieriod of lOnglish domination 
and colonization of America. Andrew Davis' father was a wagon-master, 
under Gen. Washington, during the Revolution, and lie, himself, served, 
loyally, against the British in our War of 1812. He had seven sons and 
four (laughters, as follows: James, Joseph, deceased, left three children; 
Willijim, of Cass county, Missouri; Caleb, of Rice county, Kansas; An- 
drew, of \A'alla Walla, AA'ashington ; Thomas, of Los Angeles, California; 
and J(>hn G., of Elk county, Kansas. The daughters were: Mrs. George 
Little, of Warren county, Indiana; Mrs. John Kerns, of Manhattan, Kan- 
sas; Mrs. Millie (name not known), of Indiana; and Mrs. Nelson Farden, 
of Warren county, Indiana. Joseph and John Davis were Civil war sol- 
diers from Illinois and Indiana, resjiectively. 

James Davis married Mary Dawson, born neai- Cliillicothe, Ohio, 
where her father, "Neddie" Dawson, was also born. Mary (Ihiwson) 
Davis died in 1874, beiug tlie mother of Kate, who died at twenty three 
years of age; Edward, of Kingfisher. Oklahoma; Dr. John T. , Zillah, who 



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J. T. DAVIS, M. D. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 54 1 

iiiarriod Milton Keys and died in Benton county, Tudiana, at the age of 
twenty-three; and Wesley, of Kansas City, Missouri. 

At eighteen years of age. Dr. Davis left the home farm and all its 
peaceable and quiet environment. His parents moved into Iroquois 
county, Illinois, in 18.55, and Grand Prairie Seminary, at Onargo. Illi- 
nois, was wliei'e liis literary education was obtained. He began life as 
a. teacher in the country schools, followed it two years and then took up 
the study of medicine, with Dr. Gaston, of Ashgrove, Illinois. He entered 
the department of medicine in Ann Arbor University and graduated in 
medicine and surgery, in 1879. He located at Ambia, Indiana, where 
he was associated with Dr. J. M. G. Baird till 1880, when he closed his 
practice and came to Kansas. From 1881 to 1802, or eleven years, he 
was at the head of his [)rofession in lOlk (Mty. The year following his 
adveni to Independence, he took a post-graduate course in the Post- 
Graduate School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, and, since 1901, has had 
associated in i)ractice with him. Dr. DeJIott, firm of Davis & DeMott. 
In 1887, he was ajipointed Health Officer of Montgomery county, where he 
served twelve years, and, for eight years, he was a member of the Mont- 
gomery County Pension Hoard. Wliile at Elk City, he was local surgeon 
for the Santa Fe Ry. and sustains the same i-elation to the Missouri Pa- 
cific Ky. at Independence. He is a Republican, but never held or sought 
office. 

May 1, 1883, Dr. Davis married flattie Carson, of Elk City. She was 
a daughter of William Carson, whose memoir is preserved in the record 
of Lafayette Carson, in this vohiiiie. One child, Leita, born November 
13, 1887, has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Davis. 

Dr. Davis is a man of sjdendid business (pialities and has managed 
his personal affairs well. His accumulations have been steady and his 
investments in real estate and in other lines, have demonstrated his 
keen foresight. He owns a farm of four hundred acres, on the Verdigris 
River, is the .senior member of th drug firm of Davis & Calk, of Inde- 
pendence, and is a sti>ckhoider and one of the directors of the First Na- 
tional Bank. Dr. Davis i-esides in one of the most beautiful homes in 
this county, etiuijtped with all the modern conveniences, at Ninth and 
Maple streets. 



HORATIO TASKER— One of the i-ecent and substantial settlers 
of Montgomery county is Horatio Tasker, of Tyro. His residence in Kan- 
Siis dates from 1S79, when he entered land in Gove county, patented it 
and i-esided on that western edge of the Kansas wheat belt, for eleven 
•years. By his experience in this state and in the Indian Territory, he 
has been thoroughly assimilated and his ways are as ])urely western and 
ada[)te(i to we.stern customs as though he had passed his majority be- 
tween the Mississippi and the Rockies. 



542 HISTOBY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Ml-. Tusker was iiiariiotl in Gove county. Kansas. Maicli 3, 188G, his 
•wife beinj"; EIniira Freas, whose parents, Jolin and Susan (('anii)bell) 
Freas, niiiirale*! to Trejjo county, from Whiteside county. Illinois, in 
188.5. Mr. and .Mrs. Freas were native to Pennsylvania, whence they 
settled in Whiteside county, Illinois, where Mrs. Tasker was born. May 
28. 18(!G. Haviuf; moved about much, in their course from their native 
state toward the setting sun, Mr. and Mrs. Freas finally located in Inde- 
pendence. Kansas, where they now reside. Their five children are: Hor- 
ace, Mrs. S. .V. (iibbons, Flmira Tasker, Ida and Mrs. Ed Harper. In 
189(». Mr. Tasker disposed of his western interests and removed to the 
Indi;;ii Territory, where ten years were passed, at farminj;. on the do- 
nuiin of the Red Jtlan. In 1900, he came back into Kansas and purchased 
a farm near Tyro, which he has substantially imjiroved and upon which 
he is devoting his time to stock and grain. 

His start in life, Mr. Tasker acquired in the short grass country of 
Kansas. He settled away out on the frontier and trusted to the elements 
and his industry to win him fortune. The elements occasionally failed 
to favor him, but his nerve never and he braved the difficulties till, when 
he de|<arted from, the fickle west, he had laid the foundation for his pres- 
ent inde])endeiit condition. For the achievement of this beneficient re- 
sult, much credit is due to his helpful and encouraging companion. Wo- 
men are as brave, under trials, as men and, when the difficulties and dis- 
asters came, she su|)plied her own courage to pass through them. 

Horatio Tasker was born in Milwaukee, Wjsconsin, March 29, 1850. 
His father was -lames Tasker and his mother's maiden name was Lydia 
Hiles. The i>arents were both of Elnglish birth and came to the United 
States in 1841. The first four years of his residence in this country, 
James Tasker spent in New York state, where he supported his family 
at his trade of shoemaking. In 184.'), he moved out to Milwaukee. Wis- 
consin, and continued his trade in the" Heer City" till 1881, when he fol- 
lowed his son to Kansas and to the Territory and back into Montgomery 
county, Kansas, where he died, in the fall of 1900, at eighty-one years of 
age. His wife died at the age of seventy-six. being the motlier of two 
childien: Horatio and Alfred H., the latter of whom died in 1901. Hora- 
tio Ti;sker was educated in the public schools of Jlilwaukee and learned 
the crrpeiiter trade, following it a few years in the city. With his small 
accuinulatiims he settled on a timber claim in the Kansas county before 
mentioned, determined to win his way in the world as a farmer. 

I'.y their marriage, ilr. and Mrs. Tasker have four children, namely: 
Elmira, Fr.mces, .Tohii and Charles. 



ALEX.VNDIOU 1'.. I'OWELL— The career of the subject of this re- 
view covers a diversified field of activity and leads the reader to the con- 
clusion that his has lieeu a busy life; that from early manhood to ap- 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 543 

proaching «ld age, he lias continuously caused soinefhing to be done. His 
prominence in Montgomery county is not the result of any distinction, 
as a i>ioneer, hut as a sincere and devoted citizen, to the cause of his 
locality, whether commercial, political or official. lOdgar county, Illinois, 
gave origin to Mr. Powell, on the 12th of November, 1S3S. Ilis ])arents, 
Thomas M. and Lucretia (Dill) Powell, of Kentucky birth, came into the. 
"Sucker State" from Kentucky, in 1835, and entered a tract of the publio 
domain and passed their lives in the town of Paris, where the father 
worked at the blacksmith and cai-[)enter trade. He was born in 1809 
and died July 3, 187(!. He and his wife were faithful members of the 
Christian chui-ch, of which he served as deacon and trustee. His wife 
died ttctober 17. 1875, at sixty-three years of age. The issue of their mar- 
riage were: Alexander B., our subject; Sue M., widow of C. W. Powell, 
of Paris, Hlinois; and Zara E., of Paris, Edgar county, Illinois. 

The education of A. 15. Powell was gleaned from an attendance upon 
the common schools in his youth, and at the Paris Seminary, as he 
neared his majority. August 1, 1862, he enlisted in the Seventy-ninth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and his command formed a part of the Army 
of the Oumberland. He was in engagements at Stone River. Missionary 
Ridge and ('ulps Farm ( while on detached duty), the latter being his last 
battle. He received the appointment of quartermaster-sergeant and per- 
formed those duties until his discharge from the service, at Nashville, 
June 27, 1864. 

On leaving the army, he entered railroad work at Paris, Illinois, and 
resigned his position as agent to accept the clerkship of the Edgar 
County Court, to which he was elected for four years. His reelection 
occurred with a satisfactory majority and he was the incumbent of the 
oflBce from 1868 to 1876. He went next into the employ of the Midland 
Railway Company, as their superintendent and, in twenty months, re- 
signed and became cashier of the Edgar County National Hank, at I'aris, 
and served the institution eleven months. Resigning, he went to Colo- 
rado and engaged in mining in lireckenridge district for about one year. 
He then went to Albucpieniue, New Mexico, where he was emjiloyed. for 
a few months, by the Adams Express Company. Returning to the east, 
he engaged in contracting railroad ties at Indiana])olis, Indiana, and 
was in that business some sixteen months. This work closed his career 
in the east and he came to Kansas, in the sju-ing of 18.'<2, and identified 
himself with Coffeyville. 

In this city he is connected with the real estate, loan and abstract 
business. For four years, he served Coffeyville, as postmaster, and was 
widely halted ^as the best official of the office the city ever had. He was 
ai)pointed by President McKinley and filled the position four years. 

Mr. Powell was first nuirried in April, 1862, to lOlla Houglas, a 
■daughter of J. T. Houglas, of Logansport, Indiana, who once had charge 



544 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

of th'- IJureiui of Indian Atfairs. Three sons resulted from tliis niar- 
riajiO. namely: -lolui ('., of (Miicaoo. Illinois, manager, of the Associated 
I'rcss and for twelve year-s in their employ; Jesse M.. an engineer, resid- 
ing in Chicago; and Burt B., manager of the tailoring department of 
Buinam. Ilanna & JIunger. of Kansas City. November !). 1882. 5Ir. 
Powell nrarried, at Terre Haute, Indiana. Frances Kausclion. a native of 
Cologne. Cermany. Two children by this union are; Luhi and Ivlward C. 
Mr. Powell is a Mason and holds a memiiership in the Blue Lodge. Chap- 
ter and Commandery. He is an ardent Repnbliian in ]iolitics and has 
commanded Cotfevville Post 158, G. A. R. 



MARSHAL H. ROSS — It is always interesting lo note the succes- 
sive steps in the progress of a ))rainy young man. There is something in- 
spiring in the manner in which obstacles are overcome and success often 
snatched out of the very jaws of defeat. The stirring little town of Ha- 
vanna. in Montgomery county, numbers among her business men, one of 
these pushing, restless characters, whose magic touch seems to have solved 
the jiroblem irpon which alchemists have been working for ages, for everj'- 
thing prospers which receives his attention. However, there is no mystery 
in th" success of Marshal H. Ross. I'ersistent application, a mind that 
forms its judgments (|uickly and absolute fidelity to a promise, once given, 
these are tlu' only secrets in the success which has attended him in his 
short career. 

Thirty-one years ago, July :>, of 111(13. this stirring citizen was born 
into llie world, which he finds easy to master. A few brief facts concern- 
ing the history of the Ross family will j)rove of interest to the general 
reader. 

The grandfather of our subject was Marshal II. Ross, and was born 
in the State of Kentucky, in 1813. He. there, married Mary A. Taylor, 
and removed to the city of Cincinnati, where he was a brick-moulder, 
from the year 1843 until 1855. In 1855, he removed to Lawrence county, 
Indiana, and, after a seven years' residence there, again took his way 
westward, this time settling in Illinois, and from thence, in 18(55. to 
Kansas. He located on a farm in Rutland township, whicli he cultivated 
for several years, where he died, in 1872. He was a man of restless dis- 
positi<in, but withal, a good citizen. His wife, who was born in 1814, 
survived him many years, dying at the advanced age of seventy-five. She 
was the mother of five children, of whom William W., the father of our 
subjei t, was born in Boone county, Kentucky, on the 2d of July, 18.39. 
He passed the period of his youth in Cincinnati and there, in 18<!]. nuir- 
ried ICvaline S. (larvey, a daughter of Obadiah and .Mary (Jarvey, tho 
former still living with his daugliter, at the advanced age of eighty-eight 
years. 



lUSTORY OF MONT(;OMEny COU-NTY^ JiANfAS. 545 

Heediiifj; the call to arms, Mr. Ross, sopii i\1\e\- his marriage, enlisted 
in the army, as a teamster, and, three months afterward, was promoted 
to the position of wagonmaster. In this )iosition lie continued to serve 
during tlie remainder of the war, never having been away from his com- 
mand a single day to the time of liis discharge, at Tajie (iiradean. Mis- 
souri. Tpon his return home, he resolved to try liis fortune in the west, 
and, after a stay of about a year in Illinois, settled in T>inn county, Kan- 
sas. Jn 181)0, he came out to Montgomery county and took a claim in 
Rutland township, which he held till 1898. >vhen he removed to the vil- 
lage (>f Havana, the place of his present residence. He is a gentleman 
possessing the respect of his friends and neighbors, and has served as 
Justice, both in Rutland and Caney townships, anil <an always be found 
on the right side of any question involving the good name of his commu- 
nity. 

Marshal H. Ross is the only child of his parents, and, as stated, is 
a pioduct of Kansas, and early developed a penchant for "getting on 
in the world." When but a lad lie husked corn by the shoik and with the 
money thus earned, bought several head of young stock. This was the 
foundation of the fortune which he seems destined to control. He is, at 
present, engaged in several ditferent enterprises, liaving a well-equipped 
livery barn, and a large stock bain. He is also dealing in coal, grain, 
stock and real estate, and, in all of these diffei-^nt lines, is successful. 
He owns a number of desirable residence i)roperties in Havana, in addi- 
tion to a handsome cottage, erected for his own use. A fine farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres also forms one of his possessions. 

On the Titli of August, 1S!(.~), Mr. Ross married Mary E., a daughter of 
Mori.ih and Mary (Smith) Hendrickson. Mrs. Ross was born on the 3d 
of June, 1871, in Livingston county, Illinois. She is a descendant of a 
Revolutionary hero, her father having been the son of Philip Hendrick- 
son, whose wife, Margaret Snioch. was the daughter of (ieorge Smoch, 
who served under (Jeneral ^^'asllington, and who lived to the remarkable 
age of one hundred and two years. Philip Hendiick,son was a native of 
New Jersey and, later, removed to Indiana county. Pennsylvania, where 
Moriah Hendrickson was born, on the !)th of March. 18;{7. and who is now 
the only one of nine children living. The latter left home in 1850, and 
came out to Illinois, where, in 1S()2, he married. In 1875, he settled on 
a farm, six miles east of Havana, where he still resides. They are the 
parents of; Milton. James, (Jeorge. Alice 11.. wife of Al. I'ittnian; Mar- 
garet, wife of Marshal Ross; and Sarah, single and at home. Mr. and 
Mrs. .Marshal Ross are the parents of three interesting children ; Frank- 
lin W: Alta Ulela; and Opal Marie. 

Ii is needless to add that our subject is enthusiastic for his commu- 
nitv .ind has a healthv intluem-e within its boi-ders. He is a staunch Re- 



546 ' HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

publK^an, and a gentJeman whose popularity is only limited by his ac- 
quaintance. 



DAVID L. BURKET— David L. Burket, of the large general mer- 
cantile firm of Burket & Kelly, of Elk Oity, is an example of what per- 
sistence, in following a given line, will accomplish, and that, in these 
later days, when one hears so much of lack of opportunity. A short half 
dozen years since. Mr. Burket began business, against sharp competition, 
with $700 capital invested. His present establishment covers two floors, 
80xS0. in which is a stock valued at |18,000, and his business shows a 
growing tendency. 

Montgomery county, Ohio, was the birthplace of Mr. Burket and 
September 17, 1861, the date. He is a son of Moses and Margaret ( Spit- 
ler) Burket, both natives of the "Buckeye State," their people before 
them having been i»ioneers in the first state carved out of the Northwest 
Territory. The father followed the saw-mill business in Ohio for many 
years and was prominent in the industrial, social and political life of 
the county, until in 1893, when he removed to Gait, Michigan. Here he 
has been engaged extensively in fruit culture, having a fine fruit farm of 
seven hundred acres. The parents are both active members of the Dunk- 
ard church and their children are as follows: David L. , Hester C, Mrs. 
Robert Ardis; Daniel F., and Isaac L., of Michigan; -Jacob L., of Sand 
Point, Idaho; Mrs. Mary E. Disbrough , Clarence L., of Michigan; and 
Maggie V., at home with the parents. 

David L. Burket received his education in the .schools of Union City, 
Indiana, and wielding the ferrule constituted his initial venture in early 
life. After teaching, successfully, five years, he entered the business col- 
lege at Dayton, Ohio, and took a thorough commercial course. In 1884, 
he started west on a tour of investigation, and, after short stops in Illi- 
nois and western Missouri, came to Weir City, Kansas. Here he engaged 
in the hotel business for a year. Another period was passed in the pat- 
ent right business, and then he settled in Elk City. For four years, he 
clerked for Davis & Watkins and then went to Winfield, Kansas, where 
he spent three and one half years in the mercantile business, with E. 
Youngheim. This brings us to the year of the l)eginning of his [)resent 
business. 

It is not fulsome praise to .say that the hustling qualities of Mr. 
Burkel ax-v not to be surpassed in the county. Courteous and obliging, 
and yel, withal, "diligent in business," he is fast forging to the front, as 
one of the county's most prosptuous and substantial men. He takes a 
keen interest in the welfare of his adopted city, and has served in both 
the mayor's chair and on the common council. He and his family are 




WW. p. EOWEN. 



HISTORY OF MONT(;OMEKY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 547 

active nieiiibpis of tbe Southern Methodist ••h«i:clr;ni(l ho is a member of 
the Modern Woodmen. 

The marriage of our subject occurred in lOlU < 'ity. August 13, 1880. 
Mrs. Burlcet was ^liss Nauuie L. Kelly, daughter of James M. and Mary 
Ann Kelly, old and honored residents. The mother still resides in the 
city, the father having died December 29, 1902, at the advanced age of 
eighty years. At the time of her marriage, Mrs. Burket was one of the 
])0])ular school teachers of the city, in whose schools she had done excel- 
lent work for a number of years. She is a lady of culture and is still 
j)rominent in the social and educational life of the coinmunily. She has 
borne oui' subject two bright children: Margaret M. and .Tames M. 



WILLIAM PHARES BOWEN— The gentleman whose name intro- 
duces this personal refei-ence has resided in and been a citizen of Inde- 
pendence since 18S2. His identity with the varied public and private in- 
terests of the city has been so conspicuous that he can, with absolute 
propriety, be regarded a public man. While now exercising the functions 
of jxiblic office, he is the active promoter of many enterprises that affect 
the j)ublic welfare of the county seat. 

Mr. Bowen first saw Kansas in 1876, at which time he remained about 
one year, returning to his native city and state and continuing his resi- 
dence there, till his permanent return to southern Kansas and his loca^ 
tion in Independence. He is a .son of the venerable, active citizen, 
of Independence, George W. Bowen, of the Eagle Mills, whose 
advent to Kansas occurred in 1869, but whose identity with 
ilontgomery county began with the same year as his son. The father has 
passed his life as a miller, learning his trade back in Ohio and Indiana, 
in the days of primitive milling — the old water wheel and the like. In 
1848, he removed from his native state and located in Ottumwa, Iowa, 
where, for a time, he was the senior partner in the firm of Bowen & Wil- 
liams, and, afterward, being the sole proprietor of the mill. He was 
born in -Jackson county, Ohio, February 21, 1831, but was brought up in 
Shelby county, and in Adams and Huntington counties, Indiana. His 
father was Thomas Bowen, of Athens county, Ohio, a farmer and a gen- 
tleman with Welsh ancestry. Thomas Bowen married Catherine Hig- 
gins, a lady with Gennan antecedents, who bore five sons and six 
daughters. George W. Bowen first married ElUni N. Hackworth, a 
daughter of George D. Hackworth. people of Welch descent. In 1862, 
Ellen N. Bowen died, leaving four <-hildren, namely; William P., our sub- 
ject; f'lara ll, wife of Christopher Haw, of Ottumwa, Iowa; Emma A., 
who married Roger W. Berry, of Great Palls, Montana; and Katie, de- 
ceased. In 1864, Mr. Bowen married Angeline Miller and has a son, 
George M., with the Eagle Mills, of Indejtendence. Kansas. 



548 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

\^'illiam P. Bowen was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, August 31, 1855. 
At the age of sixteen yeacs,. he engaged in the business of milling at that 
plaee, and pursued that vocation there until 1876, when, at the age of 
majority, he went to Labette City, Kansas, where, for about one year, he 
was employed in the s.ihie pursuit. For the next five years, he was asso- 
ciated with his father in his native city and, with that gentleman, began 
the milling business in Independence, in 1882. 

January 17, 1878, he wedded Hester Amelia Puruell, at Ottumwa, 
Iowa. She is a daughter of William Purnell and Rebecca (Miller) Pur- 
nell. Four children have resulted from this union, viz : Louis H., with 
the Eagle Mills; Mary A., Charles E. and Bertha H. 

Mr. Bowen had been a resident of Independence about two years 
when, in 1884. he was chosen a Biember of the school board, first, to fill 
the short term and, then, as hjs own successor for two successive terms, 
in 1892, he was elected a couuciljnau from the Fifth Ward and served 
in that office until 189G,,when he was chosen mayor of the city, which of- 
fice he held till 1900. Sin.ce then .Jie has given that portion of his time 
to the milling business, which has not teen taken up in promoting and 
encouraging enteri)riseS and measures for the weal of Independence. 

During his last term, as a. meudjer of the city council, there was 
much agitation over what is kuown as the "water works question." The 
mayor and city council,. and,.i)erhaps, a majority of the people, felt that 
some drastic measures sliould be resorted to against the water works 
company, for the ])uri)Ose of securing better water and higher pressure, 
as security against fires. ,, Mr. Bowen was a meml)er of the committee on 
water works and, having failed, by negotiations, to obtain from the water 
company, the city's just rights, :he, in company with the mayor, marshall, 
city attorney and other members of, the water committee, proceeded to 
the engine room and forcibly took possession of the works. This action 
resulted in litigation that is still pending and undetermined in the Fed- 
eral Courts. 

During his adniinisi ration as mayor, Mr. Bowen bent all his untir- 
ing energies to this litigation. During his fii'st term in the mayorality, 
the project of establishing an extensive brick plant, came up, and, inci- 
dental thereto, the proposition to i>ave certain portions of the streets of 
the city with vitrifitMl brick. A promoter was on the ground, offering the 
necessary machinery for making a fine fpiality of brick. Both enter- 
prises, especially the first, .xvere very poi)ular in llie beginning, but before 
the end. the incidental phase of the compound propcisition ceased to hold 
favor with the tax payers, when they discovered the cost of it would be 
far in excess of their expectations; but, with others, the paving project 
lost none of its original popularity. Mr. I5owen s])ent time to secure the 
brick plant and when it was ap accomplished fact, with untlagging in- 
dustrv and energy, he devoted himself to the paving, which was success- 



HISTORY OV MOXTGOMEUY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 549 

fully accomplished.after long litigation iu tlie District and Supreme 
Courts. 

While Mr. Bowen was a member of the school board, there was some 
agitation relating to the unsafe condition of the Fourth Ward school 
house. This commotion continued, periodically, for many years and, 
finally, caused the legal destruction of the three city school buildings and 
the erection, in their j)laces, of two, niore modern and costly and in high 
favor with tlie friends of the pnlilic schools. While the discussion of the 
dangers lurking iu the unpopular Fourth Ward school house was going 
on, some one suggested that Indejiendence ought to have a county high 
school, of proportion equal to the one recently erected at'Altamont, in La- 
bette county. Mr. Bowen was then mayor and, while never convinced of 
the rejiorted danger in the school house where his children constantly at- 
tended, at once enthusiastically adopted the county high school idea. To 
secure this, the first step necessary was to get a special act of the legis- 
lature authorizing it, which matter was entrusted to State Senator Hen- 
ry W. Young and Representative Isaac B. Fulton, both of Montgomery 
county. With characteristic energy, Mr. Bowen set about raising the 
funds necessary to i)ay the exi)enses of a committee to go to Topeka, iu 
the interest of the i)assage of the special act. After much hard work, 
this was accomplished, the conunittee did its work well, the bill was in- 
troduced and passed and became a law. The school board appointed, 
under the provisions of the law. was enjoined and the enterpri.se waa 
"hung up" for many months, awaiting the termination of the injunction 
proceedings, which were carried to the Sn])reme Court. The mayor was 
ever alert and untiring, iu defending against these proceedings, and never 
once let any private business deter him fnim looking after the interests 
of the town and county in the matter. 

After all litigation had been settled, and the way was opened to our 
long-cherished \\o])e. it beamed uiion the citizens that it was necessary to 
furnish a free site for the school luiildiug. The High School Board de- 
manded the best that cduld be secured. Jlr. BowtMi went before the 
board and asked them to go over the town and select a location from 
severri which he i)roposed and assured them the people would purchase. 
Several members of the board were unfriendly to the "whole business," 
claiming it to be a move, by Independence, to compel .Montgomery county, 
to furnish school facilities for the city. After examining the various 
proposed sites, the board selected the one most exi)ensive, where the 
beautiful building now stands. To get this site, would cost more than 
S5,500. The (iuesti<m of "where is the money to come from to pay for it?" 
at once arose. At that time, no such sum — nor even half of it — had ever 
been raised by pojmlar subscri])tion, in the ( ky. Many who were warmly 
in fa\()r of raising tlie money, failed to find it agreeable or convenient 



550 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

to pav any jiart of it. The debt to pay for the site was contracted and, 
afterward, liquidated in taxes, without a murnier. 

In the matter of how to raise the necessary funds, Mr. Bowen was, 
himself, at fii'st puzzled. He was tireless in devising means to buy the 
land, and, at the beginning, thought it would be best to issue city orders 
for the amount, but, on further investigation, found that such orders 
would be wholly illegal and, of course, could not be negotiated. After 
"threshing the matter over," for hours, with the "city fathers," he pro- 
posed that the mayor and council should, individually, sign notes, bor- 
row the money from the banks and pay for the land; and, thereupon, the 
"Gordian Knot" was cut. The suggestion was followed to the letter, the 
notes signed, the money obtained and the site paid for. For the credit 
and honor of the people of the town, be it said, none of these oflScers was 
ever repuired to pay a single dollar of said notes. 

The unique way in which the funds were raised, to meet the admin- 
istration notes, was as follows: After the purchase of the property, 
streets were opened around it and the award in condemning them was 
fixed at a sum sufficient to pay the $5, GOO, the purchase price of the school 
site. 

H is impossible, in the limited space allotted to this article, to pur- 
sue Mr. Bowen's career as an enterprising and valuable citizen. In the 
establishing of the various industries that are buihling up Independence 
and giving promise that it will soon lie a beautiful and prosi)erous city, 
Mr. Bowen has ever been in the very front rank — in the thick of the 
fight — among those whose energy has brought the brick plant, the crack- 
er factory, cotton mill, creamery, Ellsworth Paper Mill, the Adamson 
Manufacturing t'ompany, the glass factory, the Bartlesville Railroad 
and other enterprises. He has always been among the first to lend assist- 
ance and has, more than once, led ovei' obstacles that seemed insurmount- 
able. 



EDWIN M. WHEELER— The fruit industry of Montgomery county 
is worthily represented by Edwin M. Wheeler, of Fawn Creek township. 
His attention was diverted from general farming, some years ago, and di- 
rected to the planting of orchards and the growing of fruit. In this in- 
dustry, he stands at the head, in his county, and the diversity and variety 
of his fruit jtroducts, class him among the prominent and successful fruit 
men of the state. He enjoys the additional distinction of being a pio- 
neer and the effects of his efforts, in the internal development of Mont- 
gomery county, are told in the improvement of three farms before he 
became permanently established on his [)resent productive farm. 

Kent county. Michigan, was Mr. Wheeler's native place and he was 
born Septen)ber 4, 1848. His parents were New York people and were 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY', KANSAS. 551 

Laurence S. and Adaliue (Ford) Wheeler. WIkmi our subject was eleven 
years old, the parents came west, to St. Charles couut.v, Missouri, and, 
five years later, settled in St. Louis county, that state, from where, in 
1869, they came on to Kansas and became pioneers of Montgomery coun- 
ty. They entered land near where .Jefferson was afterward founded, and 
were employed with its improvement and cultivation, when they died, 
the father at seventy four years old and the mother at sixty-nine. They 
were the parents of eioht diildren, of whom five survive, namely: Edwin 
M., our subject ; Charles W'., (ileorge R., Oscar F., and Bertha, wife of 
Irvin Gray. 

After leaving the district schools, Edwin yi. Wheeler entered the 
Schenck Scientific Military Institute at St. Charles, Missouri, but, when 
done with his work there, he was too young to obtain a position in the 
regular T', S. military establishment and he turned his attention to in- 
dustrial pursuits. He came to Kansas when the family did and took a 
claim on the site of .lefTerson, Montgomery county, sold it and took an- 
other, and repeated the practice again and, finally, bought one hundred 
acres in section 10, township 33, range 1.5, on which has his reputation 
as a horticulturist, been made. He has fifteen hundred choice, bearing 
apple trees, otlier trees of various fruits, thirty varieties of strawberries, 
from which thousands of quarts of berries are annually harvested, black 
and raspberries in great profusion, and a vineyard filled with varieties of 
grapes best adapted to soil and climate. He contracts the Montgomery 
county market on strawberries and a good fruit year shows his farm to 
be one of the lively jilaces and liis business to l>e one of the most profit- 
able of the county. His farm improvements are neat and substantial and 
in thorougli keeping with the life of tlie careful and pains-tiiking owner. 

December 4, ISTJt, Mr. Wheeler married <'lara Broadbent, whose 
father, Andrew Broadbent. was one of the ])ioneers to Neosho county, 
Kansas, where he died, in 18!)><. Mrs. Wheeler was born in LaCrosse 
county, Wisconsin, an<l i-ame to Kansas with her j)arents. when a little 
girl. (The history of the family is |iresenfed in the sketch of Albert J. 
Broadbent, in this work.) Three children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Wheeler, viz: Daisy D.. wife of .lohn Wagner. (»f Dayton, Ohio; 
Ray C. and Robin. The sons are valuable ai<ls in the i-ultivatiim of the 
family homestead. Mr. Wheeler has no asjiirations for jtublic office, yet 
he has been justice of the peace, and is content in the gratification of his 
ambition, fo lx» the successful and leading fi-uit grower of his county. 



HENRY HAA(i — Seventy-five years has this jiioneer of .Montgomery 
county traveled this mundane sphcic, sonietiiiics laboring mid the mire 
of the slough of des](on(l. again on the mountain to(( of good cheer and 
prosi»erity, but always with a heart an<I conscieiirc void of offense toward 



552 HISTORY OF :MONTGOMERY county, KANSAS. 

the Beiiifi whose relijiion he professed, when a lad of fifteen years. It is 
not a light matter to cimsider the life of a good man. for therein are les- 
sons which, heeded or passed li.v, have their fruitage in eternity. The 
brief space allotted to the biographer precludes specific consideration of 
the lessons taught by the life of Henry Haag. but we feel that those who 
are Ciii-eful to ''read between the lines" of this sketch, will be impressed 
with their value. 

Henry Haag is one of Nature's noblemen, who lives with his son, 
Henry G., on a well-tilled farm of one-hundred and seventeen acres, two 
and a half miles east of the town of Havana. He is the son of George 
Haag. and was born in York county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of Sep- 
tember. 1828. His father was a native of the same state and, at matur- 
ity, was joined in marriage to Mary Young, also a native of Pennsylvania. 
He passed his life, as a miller, in his native state, reared a family of 
elever. children, and died, at eighty-three, while his wife died at seventy 
years. Eight of the children are now living: Andrew, Mary Snell, Lydia, 
Jarvis. Elizabeth. Margaret, Fannie and George. 

Henry was the ninth member of his parent's family and was reared 
to the life of the farm and the mill. With the meager education then 
possible to be .secured in the district school, he set out alone and married, 
in Pennsylvania, in 18o0, Ann Gladfelter, and, four years later, moved, 
with his young family, to the then pioneer State of Ohio, settling in the 
virgin forest of Clark county. Here he worked, for a few months, and 
then again took up the western trail, this time to Illinois, where he 
stopped sixteen years. He then moved westward to Iowa, and, in 1873, 
made the journey that landed him, without a penny, in the ''Sunflower 
State." Nothing daunted, however, he took a claim in Caney township, 
where ill-luck attended him a number of years. But everything comes 
to the man who "learns to labor and to wait" — and especially to the 
farmer. Kind neighbors soon found that the newcomer, though without 
much of this world's goods, was the right sort of "stuft'" for a good citi- 
zen, and rallied to his sujiport. He was given work about the neighbor* 
hood until he could raise his first crop. Matters then eased up a little, 
but ti'C time of deeding came and he was not able to do so without plac- 
ing a mortgage. This was embarrassing, but further misfortune fol- 
lowed, in the destruction of all his buildings, by flre, and the subsequent 
foreclosing of the mortgage on his farm. 

]\Ir. Haag now found himself where he had begun — everything gone 
but hope. "Hoiie sjniiigs eternal in the human breast." He rented a 
farm and worked on manfully, iirofiting by former errors, living close 
and saving every possible ixMiny. until he was, at last, enabled to pur- 
chase the piece of land he now occupies. This he and his son have im- 
proved, from time to time, until they are in possession of one of the best 



HISTORY' (IK MriNTi^llMKltY <'()|XTV. KANSAS. 553 

litlle farms in the couiil.v, willi snlpslaiitial buildings, and stocked witli a 
line giade of cattle and lioises. 

In July of 189."). Mv. Haag sutleicd the greatest niisfoihine of all, 
in the loss of his wife. who. with true womanly hei-oism. had trod the 
paths of adversity with him. in his younger manhood, without complain- 
ing. She was the mother of ten children, as follows: all of whom are 
dead hut two: Frances (Clark l. whose wherealiouts is not known, and 
Henry G. 

Of this family, Henry (i. is in charge of llie home farm. He married 
in 1890, Miss Nettie I'ritchard, a native of Champaign county, Illinois, 
and who came to Kansiis in 1880. They have one son, Geoi'ge Haag. 

Mr. Haag is of the Presbyterian faith, having joined that church 
when he was but fifteen years of age. Until the rise of the Populist 
party, he was a rock-ribbed Democrat, but the party having abandoned 
its time-honored principles, he has since suji])orted, by his vote, the party 
of reform. 



FRED B. SKINNER — One of the stirring young business men of 
Coffeyville is here introduced to the reader. He is manager of the Gate 
City Lunil)er Company and has an abiding faith in the future of the city 
where he has had his home for years. 

Mr. Skinner is a western man, having been born in Washington 
county, Nebraska, October 8, 18<J8. He is a son of James L. and Lizzie 
(Newell) Skinner, natives of Michigan and Massachusetts, respectively, 
the father being in the transfer business in Coffeyville. The latter was 
reared in Michigan and made the trip through to Nebraska, in a wagon, 
in 1857. He settled within a few miles of where the city of Schuyler now 
stands, crossing the river at Omaha — then a mere watering place. He 
continued to reside in Nebraska until 1870, when he came to Johnson 
county, Kansas. He farmed there, some three years, and then came 
down to Coffeyville, where he has held continuous residence since. In the 
family which he has reared, there were five children, as follows: Fred B. , 
Julia A., wife of William Francis, manager of the Coffeyville Vitrified 
Brick Company ,at Cherry vale; Frank M., undertaker with the Coffey- 
ville Furniture Company; Lela E.. a graduate of the high school, class 
of 1902; and Addie, a high school pupil. 

Fred B. Skinner was but six years of age when the familj' removed 
to Coffeyville, and is, therefore, to be looked upon as a product of her 
institutions. He received a good common school education and, at the 
age of twenty-one, accepted service with the S. A. Brown Lumber Com- 
pany. This beginning of his business career was at a small salary, a fig- 
ure which would have had the effect, with many a boy, of making him 
listless and inattentive to business. But he continued to "saw wood," 



554 HISTORY Ol- M()NT(;OMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

did his work carefully, kept his eyes and mind on the details of the busi- 
ness, and the inevitable followed — he soon became too valuable a 
man to allow him to become dissatisfied, on account of salary. Mr. Skin- 
ner has served with sevei-al of the leading lumber companies doing busi< 
ness in the city. In 180S, he accepted his present place, as manager, with 
the Gate City Lumber ('onipany, since which the business of that con- 
cern has increased largely. 

The home life of our subject began in 1891, when, on November 21, 
he was hai)pily joined in marriage with Mary 10., a daughter of A. F. 
Peterson. Mrs. Skinner was born in Green county, Ohio, and came to 
Kansas, with her parents, in 18,S(!. She is the eldest of five children, the 
others being: Mrs. Irene Day, now deceased; Wilson, a Montgomery 
county farmer; Carrie, who resides with her parents; and Edwin, also 
a farmer of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. Skinner has been born a son: 
Jesse Leroy. 

In the social litV of the community, both Mr. and Mrs. Skinner are 
prominent factors, ^Mrs. Skinner being an active member of the Method- 
ist church, while he is active in two of the best fraternities — the A. O. U. 
W. and the I. 0.0. F.,in the latter of which he is in both the Subordinate 
and Fincam])nient. Too busy to pay much attention to politics, Mr. 
Skinner yet exercises the privilege of casting his vote, and it is always 
i-ecorded in favor of the Republican party. 



ALVO J. AXTELL— The trite adage that "the road to one's heart 
is through his stomach" was never more true than when considered in 
connection with the landlord and his guest, and he that ministers to the 
temporal wants of his fellows, bountifully and with good cheer, merits 
the deep gratitude and wins the unstinted praise of the recipients of his 
hospilality. These observations apply with s])ecial force to the host who 
caters to the caprices, whims and eccentricities of a traveling public, 
burdened with a grist of kickers, growlers, grumblers and non-de-scrii)ts. 
with ap]ireciative capacities, real vaccums in themselves, and are but a 
slight tribute to one who fills so imj)ortant a niche in the world's bus- 
iness affairs. The hotel is the traveling man's home, and of the myriads 
of landlords who play host, but few measure up to a real standard of 
excellence and deserve recognition in a treatise devoted to the eminent 
men of their locality. 

Axtell has become a name famed in the hotel annals of Montgomery 
county and the "Axtell"' is a Mecca toward which the knight of the 
grip sack wends his way, and in which is found rich, restful repose. Its 
landlord is a prince among hosts and its royal hostess a queen among 
entertainers. Neat to a fault, cheerful in its surroundings, and domestic 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 555 

in all its appointments, the "Axtell" is a liosieli-.v widely knowti and tini- 
versally appreciated. 

Alvo J. Axtell, whose name is borne bv the iiolel he owns, is the pro- 
prietor of the leadinj; eonimercial lionse of ("hei-rvvah', and dates his resi- 
dence in the county from the sprin<; of I8!(lt. when he became tlie owner 
of the Handley hotel and honored it with his own name. ITe had passed 
his life, chiefly, in the hotel business and his experience, coupled with 
his abundant native talent. brou};lit him into favorable contact with the 
roniniercial fraternity. The wide jiupularity of his hou.«<e is not only of 
]jecuniary concern to himself, but it is one of the beneficial institutions 
of and a positive recommendation for the town. 

Wyoming county. New Yt>rk. jrave birth to Alvo J. Axtell, in the 
year 1852. His parents. John anil AVillmina (Heach) Axtell, wei-e of 
Vermont and I'ennsylvania nativity, resjiectively, and their lives were 
passed in the hotel business on the farm. While rearing their family 
of .seven children, theirs was a country home and amid rural scenes and 
the pure air was our subject brought up. In religious belief, the father 
was a I'niversalist and the mother an Episcopalian, and the former 
lived to be seventy-four years old, while the mother died, in 1891, at just 
three score and ten. The four sons and three daughters, constituting 
their interesting family, are scattered widely over our continent and are: 
Josejjh 1).. of Santa Barbara. California, a hotel proprietor; Zeruiah, 
wife of Dr. A. B. Bottsfortl. of Chicago. Illinois; John W., now with 
the "Axtell" in Cherryvale. but for many years a passenger conductor 
on the Santa Fe Ry. ; Zerina A.. Mrs. E. A. Vaughn, of New York; 
Wintield, a hotel keeper in New York state; Dell H., wife of Alonzo 
Wheeler, proprietor of a hotel in Anthony, Kansas; and Alvo J., the sub- 
ject of this review. 

The common schools of his native state furnished A. J. Axtell, his 
educational jiriviieges and. when his school days were ended, he secured 
a clerkship in Post's hotel, in Castile, New Y'ork, and was so employed 
several years, or, until the death of his employer, when he, himself, 
became the proprietor of the house, and, in this capacity, spent six years 
more of his early manhood. Upon disposing of his interests there, he 
<'ame west and established himself in Missouri Valley, Iowa, as proprie- 
tor of the Commercial hotel. After running this house six jears, he re 
turnotitohisnative .state and leased the Congress Hall hotel, at Rochester, 
and continued, as its proprietor, from 1880 till 1887. This latter year 
he again came west and this time, located in Wallace county, Kansas, 
and became j>roprietor of a Union Pacific eating hous^, at Wallace, and 
conducted its affairs for four years. Upon disposing of this place, and, 
after a bi-lef period s]ient in Kansas (Jity, he located in Cherryvale, where 
he jiurchased the Handley hotel, in the spring of 1899. 

riis methods of conducting his place of business has made the Axtell 



556 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

hotel one of tlie best known in southern Kansas. Nothing can speak 
more elciqueutly of the refinement and material prosperity of any com- 
munity than the establishments which cater, admirably, to the palate 
and i)hysical wants of the jtulilic. Mr. and Mrs. Axtell ai-e admirably 
adapted, each in his own line, to manage and make a homelike place for 
the traveling public. Their house is modernly equipped, their rooms are 
neat and cheerful and their table staggers under the freshest viands the 
market supplies. Fifty guest chambers do service to their full capacity 
and every facility is possessed to insure the comfort of the guests and 
furnish them a quiet resting ])lace. 

March 7, 1888, Mr. Axtell was united in marriage, at Liberty, Mis- 
souri, with Miss Nora L. Leister, a daughter of J. E. and Nellie (Mc- 
Carthy) Leister. Mr. Leister was born in Kentucky but reared in Mis- 
souri and passed his life as a farmer. ITis wife was born in New York 
state and is an honored resident of Hannibal, Missouri, her hubaud hav- 
ing died at thirty years of age. 

The Axtells have lived purely business lives. While their social na- 
tures have been cultivated and possess a warmth and a charm rarely ex- 
celled, politics and other side issues have not led them from their hearts' 
affections. They are steeped in Republicanism, but merely exercise their 
franchise as citizens and not as aspirants for ofticial favors. 



(JEOR(JE T. Gl'ERNSEY— In introducing the cashier of the Com- 
mercial National Bank of Indejiendence, the eminent financier and man- 
of-affi'.irs, (Jeorge T. Guernsey, we are conscious of presenting one of the 
real characters of Montgomery county; a man whose genius and adapta- 
bility to the affairs of life, mark him as one of the notable and conspicu- 
ous citizens of the municipality. 

When he came to Independence, Mr. Guernsey was an unpreposses- 
sing youth, with a fair education gained in the common schools, and 
with life's ])lans immature and unlaid. When he took the position of 
errand boy, in Turner & Otis' Bank, in 1874, there was, apparently, 
nothing to mark him as destined, in manhood, to jtilot the affairs of one 
of the stiong financial institutions of the state, down through the years 
of business harmony, across the billowy sea of panic and into the rhodes 
of restored confidence, a fete requiring sagacity and foresight to perform. 
But those ten years with Turner & Otis were years of observation, years 
of [)i'eparation for a successful cai'eer in that field of endeavor, in after 
years. 

Mr. Guernsey was fifteen years old when he left Dubuque, Iowa, to 
make his home in Independence. He was born in the former city, August 
11, 18.59, his ])arents being Rev. Jesse and Elizabeth (Eaton) Guernsey, 
of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively. The father was a Con- 




GEO. T. GUERNSEY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 557 

gregatioual minister, au educated and accomplished gentleman. He was 
born in 182.3 and came out to Iowa when it was a new state. He died in 
1871 and his widow now resides in New Briton, Connecticut. The latter 
was a native of Framingham, Massachusetts, and is the mother of four 
children, as follows: Nathaniel T., a lawyer of DesMoines, Iowa; George 
T., of this review; Eben E., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Jessie E., 
teacher of history in the Normal School at New Briton, Connecticut. 

December 2, 1S74, George T. Guernsey identified himself, in an 
humble way, with Independence, Kansas, and Montgomery county. His 
first ten years here were passed in i)reparation for the real responsibil- 
ities of life. .lanuary 1, 1884, together with P. V. Hockett and Lyman 
r. Humphrey, he organized the State Commercial Bank, with a capital 
stock of $10,000, himself being chosen its cashier. In Jiily of the same 
year, the stock was increased to $50,000. and February 1, 1891, the busi- 
ness of the institution had been so flattering- as to warrant its conver- 
sion into a national bank and. on this' date, it- was accomplished, and the 
capital stock increased to .f7.5,000, with a snr])lus of |.3.^,000. The offi- 
cers were : L. TJ. Humphrey, president ; P. V. Hockett, vice-president, and 
George T. Guernsey, cashier. During all these years, the cashier has been 
the active spirit in the bank. Its substantial stockholders have been a 
power toward inspiring confidence in the institution, but the courteous 
and affable cashier came in touch with the -people and incurred the 
friendsliip and won the patronage of a wide range of custom. Mr. 
(Guernsey has manifested a personal interest in so many different enter- 
jirises in Montgomery county, that he has had business and, often, confi- 
dential relations with many of the leading men in all parts of the county. 
Thus have his superior talents become known and thus his and the bank's 
prestige increased. 

The Independence Commercial Club has found in Mr. Guernsey, one 
of its most active members. He is its treasurer and one of its directors 
and he has rendered active and personal aid in procuring nearly, if not 
quite, all of the industries doing business in the county seat today. The 
Midland Glass Company, the Independence Ice Company, of which he is 
a director and treasui-er, the Kansas Cotton Twine Company, the Els- 
worth Paper (Company, and the Sugar Mill, and, finally, the Adamson 
ilanufacturing Company, all have felt the magic touch of his hand. In 
the political field, he has extended many favors to friends in the Repub- 
lican i>arty, but has never sought office for himself. 

September 1.3, 1881, Mr. Guernsey married, in Emporia, Kansas, 
Miss MIlie E. Mitchell, a daughter of Elder D. P. Mitchell, of the Method- 
ist church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Guernsey are the parents of three children: George T., 
Jr., Harold M., deceased, and Jessie E. 



^58 HISTOKV (W MONTGOMKRY COUNTV^ KANSAS. 

In 1901, the family moved into their handsome residence, on Pennsjl- 
vania avenue, formerly the home of Judge Chandler. 



JAME^i VV. lONGICLS— Five miles norUi of Coffeyville, stands the 
handsome rural home of James W. Engels. The farm of two hundred 
and forty aires, is one of the best pieces of land in the county and the 
splendid improvements which have been placed upon it, mark it as one 
of the most <lesiral»le pioi>erties in I'arker township. Mr. Engels gives 
special attention to the appearance of the grounds surrounding his home, 
the yard Ijeing planted with evergreeu.s and, covered with a carpet of 
blue grass, is kej)t in the best order during all seasons of the year. He is 
one of the old time farmer.s, confining his attention exclusively to the 
raising of giain and food products. I>uring his i-esidence, he has never 
failed to have something for the market. He plants a diversity of crops, 
and, should one or nioi-e fail, he ha.s others to command the prices which 
])revaii. 

?.lr. ICngels was born in Itotetourt county, Vii-ginia, March 17, 184S. 
John W. Engels was his father's name, that of his mother, Maria John- 
ston; and both were natives of Virginia. A farmer, by occupation, the 
father continued to reside in the "Old Dominion" until his deatli, at the 
age ot eighty years, the mother dying, in Kausas, at about sixty-eight 
years. There were nine children in the family: Ann Louisa, Mary E., 
Emily, deceased; James W., Leander R., John T., Maria S., Sarah E., 
George W. and Charles E. 

.\t the age of nineteen years, Mr. Engels left the home and started 
out to make his own way in the world. He made a trip into Tennessee 
and Kentucky, then went to Ohio, where he met and married, on the 24th 
of November, 1874, in Fayette county, Carlista A. Drurie. Mrs. Engels 
was born in Colunibu.s.rOhio.'Mav 18. 1855, and was a daughter of John 
H. and' Eliza (Grajg) 'Drurie. She was one of four children: Marshall, 
Milton, Emily and Carlista. On account of the death of her mother at 
her birth, Mrs. Engels became .separated from the rest of the family, was 
reared by other parties and lost trace of her family and has no infoinia- 
tion concerning them. 

After marriage, Mr. lOngels began farming, on a rented place, and 
continued for some ye<irs. Tn January of 1878, he came west with the 
purpo.se of securing a home of his own. He came to Montgomery 
county, where, for .seven years, he rented land and then went down into 
the Cherokee Nation and engaged in the stock business. This proved to 
be a profitable venture and, after fourteen years, he returned to Mont- 
gomery county with .sufficient means to purchase his home farm of two 
liundred and forty acres, five miles northwest of Cofifeyville. He moved 
to this farm in 1899 and, as intimated in the first part of this sketch, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 559 

owus one of the best fariii properties in the county, now owning four 
liundred and eighty acres, all told. The success which has attended him 
in life may be ascribed entirely to his own efforts. He is what might be 
called a self-made man, having started at the very lowest round of the 
ladder. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Engels have been born two children : William T., who 
died at three years of age, and Wellington T., who married Edna L. Bar- 
bour, and is a successful farmer of Fawn Creek township, on one of his 
father's farms. Mr. Engels is not given much to participation in political 
life, but is pleased to aid in the success of the Democratic pai',<|y, by his 
vote. 



JOSEPH McNEAIj — One of the sturdy and substantial farmers of 
I'arker township is Joseph McNeal, who resides in a handsome rural 
home, six miles north of Coffeyville. His "goings in aud coinings out" 
before the people of Montgomery, since the date of his settlement here, 
in 18S0, have been of such a nature as to secure to him the good will of 
every one with whom he has had dealings, and he and his family are rated 
among the best citizens of the county. 

On the 3d of October, 1858, in Athens county, Ohio, Joseph began 
this life of alternate joy and sorrow. The great-grandparents of our sub- 
ject were natives of the Emerald Isle, and there reare<l twelve children, 
one of whom, Malcolm, settled in Pennsylvania, and became the parent of 
Joseph McNeal, the father of Joseph of whom we write. At maturity, 
Jose])h, Sr., married Mary Wattrous, a native of Connecticut, but of 
Welsh descent, and they, in turn, became the parents of: Mrs. Mary E. 
Willjjims. Joseph, Mrs. Almeda Taylor, Mrs. L. E. Selbe, Mrs. Lucinda 
Taylor and Mrs. Nettie Schader. In his young manhood, the father 
was a teacher and, at twenty-one, came out to Ohio, where he learned 
the carpenter's trade. In his later days he became a general merchant 
and lumber dealer. He was a resident of Ohio until 1888, when he re- 
moved, with his family, to White county, Indiana, and there died, in 
1890. aged seventy-two. He was a man of good traits of chara<-ter, aud of 
most patriotic mould. Altliough a man of family, he entered the army, 
as a private soldier, serving three years, from April of 1861, in Company 
"K," One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He partici- 
l)ated in sixteen of the battles, fought on and about the Potomac, being 
under the dashing Sheridan a portion of the time. The mother of our 
snbjei'i died in 1877, aged fifty-two years. 

Joseph JIcNeal, our subject, continued, in dutiful residence at home, 
until he had attained his majority, and then came direct to Montgomery 
county. He worked on (he farm of Isaac Wycoff, for a perod, and then 
invested his savings in one hundred and twenty acres of Verdigiis botlom 



560 HISTOUV OF MONTGOMERY COrNTY, KANSAS. 

liiml. He coiititiiuMi (<» iniiirove this tract, adding, in time, sixty acres 
inoie, and is now in |M»ssession of one of Ihe clioice farms of the conntv. 
Tlie iiniii-ovenients on the farm consist of a handsome residence and 
large barn, with coniforlalde outbuildings for tlie further care of stock, 
and a splendid orchard of well selected fruit trees. This property is the 
result of the unaided ert'orts of Mr. McNeal, and, in very large part, since 
his i-oming to the ■•Suiiillowi'r State." 

Mr. McNeal remained in a slate of single blessedness until he had pre- 
pared a home, when lie brought to it a Montgomery county girl. Miss 
Henrietta Utterback, tlie mariiage being celebrated January 25, 1891. 
Mrs. McNeal is a native of the "Hoosier State," born in Boone county, 
November 22, 18G7, the daughter of Albert and Susan ( Blakemoi-e) Utter- 
back. These parents were also natives of Indiana, children, respectively, 
of Henry Utterback and Thomas I'.lakemore, both of English descent. 
They were pioneers of llie county, having settled near Independence, in 
180!). Here the fatliei- died, in 1881, aged forty-eight years, the mother 
still surviving at the age of sixty-five. Her six children are: Melissa 
Kenyon, Sarah (iopeland, Henrietta McNeal, Rose Heape, Alonzo and 
Frank all of whom live in the county, except Alonzo, who resides in 
Colorado. To Mr. and Mrs. McNeal have been born: Lucy E., Susan 
Ellen, Joseph H., Hildred and Sarah. 

The period of Mr. McNeal's residence in the county has been marked 
by an intelligent comprehension of the duties of a good citizen, and a 
willingness to sacrifice time in the interests of his community. He is 
at present the efficient trustee of the township. Though not caring for 
offlce himself, he deliglits in helping his friends in the Democratic party, 
in their aspirations. 



CHARLES M. HtCKS— Charles M. Hicks is a native of Green 
county, Tennessee, and was born September 4, 1842. His father was 
Lorenzo Doll Hicks, a native of Virginia. The latter went to Tennessee 
when a small boy arid was there married to Catherine Jliller, a native 
of North Carolina. "Andy" Johnson made his wedding coat, and also 
performed the cereiiio'iiy, for when he was married Johnson was then a 
.justi<e of the peace. L. D. Hicks died at Montvale Springs, at the age of 
fifty-tive, while his wife came to Kansas with her son, where she died at 
the age of sixty-eight J-ears, and lies buried in the Coffeyville cemetery. 
A family of ten children came to them, five of whom are living, viz: 
Lorenzo Doll, Jr., George B., of Texas; Mary Jane, widow of J. Wilkin- 
son, lives in Kansas City.; and Lina, wife of Thomas Tinet, of Cotfeyville. 

Charles M. Hioks-wa."4 the second child, and was reared in Gi-een 
count}, Tenne.ssee, arid lived with his Grandfather Miller, until the be- 



lUSTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COU^iTYJ KANSAS. 561 

};iniiiiig of the Civil war. His opportunities for an education were very 
limited, those of the country school being all that were within his 
reach. He enlisted in the Thirteenth Tennessee Regiment. Confeder- 
ate troops, and served during the entire war. He was in several great 
battles, and was caijtured once, at Winchester, Virginia, liut made his 
escape the first night, by slipping away from his guard. After getting 
through the picket line, he was many days and nights getting back to his 
command; traveling by night and hiding during the day. and at last ar- 
rived, worn out and nearly exhausted. He wiis also in the siege of 
Knoxville. (A brother of Mr. Hicks and other relatives were in the Fed- 
eral i'.rmy at the same time.) At the close of the war. he went to ^liddle 
Tennes.see and hired out, by the month, for two yeai-s. 

In 1872, our subject came to Kansas. He made the trip by land, in 
a wagon, drawn by a small pair of mules. He stopped on the Verdigris 
river, north of Cott'eyville, and hired, by the moth, to work on a farm. 
He afterward rented a farm for himself, and during the years '74 and '75, 
saw some pretty hard times, having lost everything by the grasshoppers, 
but with grit and iierseverance, he went to work hauling wood to town, 
at fifty cents a cord, that he might buy corn at a dollar per bushel. 

In 187."), he went to the Territory and leased a large ranch and en- 
gaged in farming and stock raising, being one of the first white men to 
go into the stock business in that country. He made a great deal of 
money during his residence there, and, in 1897, came back to Montgom- 
ery '-ounty, wliere he l)ouglit one hundred and sixty acres of fine bottom 
land on Onion creek, five miles northwest of Cott'eyville. Besides his 
farming interest he still keeps up an interest in the cattle business in the 
Territory, and is also receiving |200 a year in gas leases. When be came 
to Kansas, his only possessions were one small team of mules and thirty 
dollars in money, and his success in business may be attributed solely to 
his restless energy and resolute purpose. 

Mr. Hicks married on the 29th of starch, 1867. his wife being Vir- 
ginia Nicely, a native of Virginia ; her death occurring in July, 1887. 
Mr. Hicks never married again, and is living alone on his farm. He is 
a m('ml)er of the JIasons, Keystone Lodge No. 1021, ("offeyville. Politi- 
t:\\\\. ho is a Democrat, and cast his first vote in 1902. 



•lOSKPH S. HENNETT— Four miles north of the littlecityofCaney, 
i-esides a settler who came to Montgomery county in 1884 — to quote 
his own words, "came to the county with twenty-five cents in my jjockct 
an<l this 1 s|(cnt for stationery and [lostage to write back home with." 
The country was then, practically, new and our new settler. Joseph S. 
IJennctt, api>iied himself to the task of earning a livelihood and of hatch- 
ing the egg. as it were, which opportunity had laid. His education was* 



562 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

meagci' and he was without a trade and he did whatever his hands found 
to do. 

He came into Kansas and settled among the ex-soldiers of the Union, 
embarrassed by a record of service in the Confederate army, yet the 
manly [)rin(uj)le within him was dominant and it shown out at every con- 
tact, with a lustre that won confidence, and the race to civic success was 
early won. The year of his advent to Kansas, he secured employment 
in a hotel in Independence and was soon able to make a payment on his 
first tract of land. This he located in Caney township, comprised forty 
aci'es and forms a part of his present home. He erected a modest shanty 
on it and began a rather lonely, but positive, existence on a Kansas farm. 
The v/ork of improvement has gone steadily on, until his is one of the 
profitiible little farms of the county. 

By nativity, Mr. Bennett is a Kentuckian. He was born in Taylor 
county. January 2, 1845, and his parents were Faris and I'ermelia 
(Short) Bennett. The latter passed their lives in the "Blue Grass 
State." the mother dying many years ago, while the father passed away 
in 1893, at the age of seventy-five years. Five children constituted the 
family, by the first wife, and the second one bore Mr. Bennett seven ; and 
still a third wife was the mother of three. 

•Iitseph S. Bennett was the oldest of the faTuily of fifteen children 
and his surroundings were those of the average country youth. Although 
young in years, he was prom})ted to a military career in the volunteer 
armies of the South, by a desire to battle for a cause that was lost, and 
he became a private in the cavalry brigade of the Confederate chieftan, 
Gen. John Morgan, the most daring of the Southern leaders. He partici- 
pated in '"Morgan's Raid" into Ohio, where he was captured and taken, 
first, to Canij) Chase, and thence to Camp Douglas, Chicago. He was 
confined, as a prisoner of war, for nearly a year, and was then exchanged, 
with others, and returned, again, to the field. He helped fight the bloody 
battle of Stone Kiver, besides many others, and retired to civil life when 
the war was ended and the Confederacy overthrown. 

Peace again established in our land, Mr. Bennett sought his old 
home and was busy with husbandry there, till 1884, when he cast his lot 
with the straggling settlements of Montgomery county, to which locality 
he has contributed an honorable part toward the building-up. He is a 
gentleman of mature and safe judgment and of good discrimination. He 
manifests some interest in local politics, votes with the Democrats and 
has never married. 



JOHN R. WATTS — Among the worthy citizens of Independence 
whoso brawn and brain has figured conspicuously in the development 
and pi'ogress of the city, is the gentleman here named, a contractor and 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 563 

"builder, whose handiwork, both in public and piivato buildings, is found 
on nuiny hands. 

.U)hn R. Watts was born in Butler county, Ohio, Deceml)cr 19, 1844, 
a son of Joseph S. and Mary Ann Watts. Joseph Watts was a farmer 
by ot-eupation, a thresher, and was widely known. He was a man of great 
energy and lived an upright and consistently moral life. He and the 
family, which he reaifd. were prominent factors in the social life of their 
community. He died in 1806, at the age of fifty-two years, his wife sur- 
viving him tifteen years and dying at the age of sixty-five. They reared a 
family of nine children, as follows: Sarah, Mrs. William Boes, of Inde- 
pendence, Kansas; Jane, deceased; William, who was killed at Hhe battle 
of Chickamauga; J. R.. our subject; Joseph, a farmer in Boliver, Mis- 
souri ; James, of Independence; Amanda, Mrs. James McKinsey, of Bra- 
zil, Indiana ; Margai-et. Mrs. Jesse Poor, of Harmon, Indiana ; I^na. Mrs. 
Geor^jc Sackett. of Dayton. Ohio; and Cornelius, of Brazil, Indiana. 

In the ca.se of our subject, a good common school educalion was fol- 
lowed by a .seven-year apprenticeship at the carpenter trade, ending in 
18fi5, since which time he has been contracting work for himself. He lo- 
cated in Parke county. Indiana, where he remained until the spring of 
1883, the date of his cfiming to Independence. Here he soon became one 
of the leading contractors of the county, and, during the two decades of 
his active life here, has handled a number of large contracts, notably 
the Baden warehouse, the Lutheran church, and several of the larger 
and more handsome residences of the city. 

The domestic life of Mr. Watts began in Parke county, Indiana, on 
the ISfh of April, 1S()8. the date of his marriage to Mary, a daughter of 
Edwaid and Mahala Pratt. Mrs. Pratt is the cldes( of four children, the 
others being as follows: Keziah, Mrs. Dr. Bence. now deceased; Rosa, 
Mrs. .Milton Havlan, of Hollandsburg, Indiana; and Dora, deceased, was 
Mrs. George Ames. To the marriage of our subject and his wife have 
been horn : Priscilla. Mrs. Eugene Evans, of Kansas City, with children: 
John and Cora: Eva, Mrs. .Toe Gee, of Independence; Edmond, of Leaven 
wortli : Rosa, Mrs. ^'orhees, of Independence, whose two children are: 
Floyd and an infant; .Vnumda, Mrs. Newton Blakeley. with children: 
Ella and an infant: Bertha, Frank, Clemmie and Ada are still at home. 

.Mr. and Mrs. Watts are active members of the Christian church and 
are suj)i)orters of every good cause which has for its object the ameliora- 
tion of conditions in society and the ujilift of humanity. Mr. Watts is a 
til-Ill JM'licvci' in the principle of organized labor and has long been .1 
iMciiilici- of the ( 'arpciiters' I'nion. In jiolitics, he is indejiendent, reserv- 
ing the right to exercise his judgment in the selection of the best men 
.iiiii the best measures. 



56'\ HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ALBERT PERRY McBRIDE— In the subject of this personal re- 
view, is presented a native Kansan, whose name is familiar in almost 
every household in Montgomery county, and whose efforts in the past 
deca<le have yielded momentous results and have been of immeasurable 
importance and value to the material interests of the county. His name 
and fiune have extended beyond the confines of his own state and, in the 
development of the subterranean resources of southeastern Kansas and 
the Indian Territory, the name of A. P. MeBride stands the peer of all. 
Tunnelling the earth's crust, has been his life work, and the hidden 
truths which his etforts have brought to light, have yielded to the geolo- 
gist a fund of positive knowledge, and to commerce and the industries, 
an impetus that will endure permanently and increase with the lapse 
of years. 

On the 2tlth day of February, 1SC2, Albert P. McBride was born in 
Miami county, Kansas. His paternal antecedents were from West Vir- 
ginia and his maternal from Tennessee. His father, Thomas J. McBride. 
was born near \Miiteliall, Illinois, a sou of James McBride, of Tennessee, 
whose paternal ancestor emigrated from the old Virginia state, as a pio- 
neer to that state. They were of Scotch-Irish lineage and descended 
from a pioneer ancestor who established himself a citizen of the New 
World, in the year 1730. 

Thomas J. McBride was born February 7, 18.32, was brought up on 
a farm, subsequently learned the blacksmith trade and, finally, entered 
the n:inistry. He pioneered to Kansas in 1858 from Green county, Illi- 
nois — first stopping, for eighteen months, in Bates county, Missouri — and 
j)articipating in the stirring events which took place there, both before 
and during the war. He enlisted in Company "E," First Battalion of 
Missouri troops — from Cass county — and also served in George H. 
Hume's Rangers. Since the war, he has, when actively engaged, been 
emi)loyed with the civil pursuits above mentioned, chiefly in Miami 
county, Kansas, and has, recently, become a resident of Independence, 
Kansas. In politics, he is a Democrat, and in religion, a Baptist. No- 
vember 3, 1853, he married Lucinda Barnett, a daughter of John Bar- 
nett, formerly from Tennessee, who was killed, in 18G2, by Capt. Irvin 
Walla's gang. Eight children were the issue of this marriage, seven of 
whom are : John A., James H., William T., C. W., C. M., I. J. and W. F. 
The first four mentioned are Kansas farmers, and the others are gas and 
oil drillers at Butler, Missouri. The fourth son in the family is A. P., 
the subject of this notice. 

•lames McBride, Sr., the great-grandfather of Thomas Jefferson 
McBride, comes to us as the original head of this numerous branch of the 
American McBrides. With four other brothers, he emigrated from the 
highlands of Scotland, about 1730, and made settlement in the Colony 
of Virginia, in America. The other brothers were: William, Jaseth. 




A. P. McBRIDE. 



HISTORY OF MONTOOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 565 

John and Andrew. The name of James McBride was deciphered from 
the bai-k of a beech tree, in 1755, as recited in Frost's History of Ken- 
tucky, it havinf" evidently been carved there by the owner, soon after his 
settlement in that state. These five brothers fought in the French and 
Indian war. under Gen. IJraddock, and three of them were killed, Wil- 
liam and James l)eing the sole survivors of the battle of Ft. Duquense. 
William McBride was subsequently killed by an Indian and James re- 
mained a resident of Virginia, where he reared a family of sons and 
worked at his trade — gunsmith and shoemaker. He married a Crawford- 
a lady of noble lOnglish blood, and made his home on Clinch river. 
Among their family of ten children was a son, William, the grandfather 
of Thomas J. McIJride, mentioned in this article. He married a Miss Lee 
and was the father of two .sons and five daughters. James, their first son, 
was the father of Thomas J. McBride, and married Nancy A. Taylor, who 
bore him thirteen childi'en. 

A. P. McBride grew up a country, Kansas lad. Conditions and cir- 
cumstances were such that anything beyond a limited country school 
education, for him, was impossible. He l)egan life as a well-driller and, 
in time, became associated with O. L. Bloom, doing a contract business 
in prospecting for gas and oil. In 1892, McBride & Bloom engaged in the 
gas business, on their own account, at Cotfeyville, Kansas, and in 1893, 
came to Inde])enden(e, from which point they have conducted their opera- 
tions siiKM''. What is now believed to l>e the heart of the gas and oil field 
of Montgomery county, is under the control of the Independence Gas 
Company, of which these two gentlemen are the chief promoters and the 
executive head. In 1899, this company acquired interests in lease hold- 
ings near Bartelsville, in the Territory, and these are now being success- 
fully and profitably developed. 

Mr. McBride is not, alone, known as a developer of resources, but 
as a promoter of industries, as well. He was one of the organizers of tlie 
Cofl"e^ville Gas Company, in 1892, of the Inde])endence Gas Company, 
a year later, and of the Bartelsville Gas and Oil Company, in 1899. He 
is a large stockholder in the Independence Brick Company, which con- 
cern he also lK'lpe<l bring into existence. All other factories and indus- 
trial enterprises of Independence have felt the influence of his friendly 
interest, and the most flattering inducements are held out by him and his 
business colleagues, as an encouragement to legitimate investors, seek- 
ing f;'ctory locations, to the end that Independence may become tlie cen- 
ter of business activity and the hid) of industrial enterprises of south- 
eastern Kansas. 

Mr. McBride is a busy man. His numerous personal interests and 
the extensive interests of the gas company — the growth and importance 
of which is presented in its proy)er place in this volume — fully occupy 
Lis fime. He is a nmu of rentarkal)le vigor, filled with enthusiasm and 



366 HISTORY OF SIONTIiOMKKY •■(JIINTY. KANSAS. 

hope. ;md has a facility for in-foiiiplishiii}; things, without loss of time. 
His influence with men is at once apjiarent and his oi)inions are valued 
as the results of practical experience. His intei'i'st in Independence ia 
a warm and abiding one and the work lie has tlone toward its ornamen 
tation. is best detailed by a view of his handsome brick residence on 
North Pennsylvania avenue. He maintains an attitude of liberality 
toward deserving and worthy ])ublic enterju-ises and is optimistic in his 
position relative to favors along this line. As a fraternity man, he holds 
a membership in the Knights of Pythias, the <1dd Fellows, the Elks and 
the Masons. With his wife, he belongs to the Eastern Star, and has, 
himself, taken the Knight Templar degrees, belongs to the ^lystic Shrine, 
and is a Scottish Kite,' thirty-two degrees. He also belongs to the T'nite<l 
<'ommercial Travellers. 

Jlr. McRride was united in marriage. January 7. 18S4. with Laura 
A. ("lampitt. a daughter of .J. A. <'lamiiitt. of <ireeley, Kans., lint who, for 
the past twelve years, has been residing in Los Angeles, California. Three 
children have been the result of their union, namely: Hert Thomas, Jesse 
<'anuh>n and Maude Gertrude. 



DANIEL B. SHANK — liearing on his body the evidence of the mea- 
sure of his devotion to country, in several cruel scars, this old soldier- 
farmer of Parker townshiji. is jiassing into a jieaceful and honored old 
age, surrounded by comforts wliich are the result of faithful labors, in 
his earlier years. He is a "Buckeye" by birth, born in Preble county, 
October S, 1837, a son of Daniel Shank and l']lizabeth flongwer, both na- 
tive <it Virginia. These parents were brought to Ohio, as children, and, 
marrying in Pi-eble county, there lived out their lives, the father dying 
in 18H7, the mother in 18(55. They reared but two children, our subject 
and Mrs. Sarah A. Lahman, of Dayton, Ohio. 

With rather a meagre education, Mr. Shank left home, at the age of 
twenty, and went to Vigo county. Indiana ; thence, in 1861. to Edgar 
county, Illinois. The struggle for freedom coming on, it found, in Mr. 
Shank, an enthusiastic sujiporter, and, on the 22d of July, 1861, he took 
the oath of a soldier, in Comjiany "E," Twelfth Hlinois Volunteer In- 
fantry. With this body of patriots, he endured the fierce strife of battle 
and the long marches between, for a jieriod of four years, receiving hon- 
urnlile discharge on the 10th of July, 1865. Ten pitched battles and thir- 
ty-two skirmishes, is the record, some of the more prominent being Forts 
Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Kennesaw Mtn. and Peachtree Creek. At 
thelalter,on the 22d of July. 1864, he received a ball through both wrists. 
The wound was a most grievous one and very nearly resulted in the aai- 
jMitation of both arms. This; of course, ended his career as a soldier, and, 
-Sifter a period in (he hospital, he returned home. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 567 

Farniinfj constituted the ofiiipation of Mr. Shank, in Tllinois, until 
1882, when he fame out to Kansas, first going to the extreme western 
part of the state, wliere he decided that was not a .suitable country for 
him to settle in, and he came to Montgomery. Here, he purchased the 
farm of fifty-six acres, five miles north of Ooflfeyville, upon which he has 
since resided. This was bare prairie land, without improvements. A 
small box house was erected, and continued to do service until more pros- 
j)erous times, when the comfortable, modern home which now stands in 
its place, was built. The farm of Mr. Shank is not of large proportions, 
but is a model of neatness and of thrifty appearance. 

Mr. and Mrs. Shank have exerted a wholesome influence on society, 
since their coming to the county, and are most highly regarded for their 
many virtues. The family which they have reared consisted of but two 
children: IMyrtle, now the wife of F^rank Walters, a minister of the Chris- 
tian church, in Colorado; and Paul D. The youngest daughter, Hattie 
E., was the victim of accidental drowning in the Verdigris river, on the 
15th of June, 1892, then fourteen years old. 

Prior to September 3, 1868, Mrs. Shank was Amanda J. Webster. 
She 's a native of Page county, Virginia, born July 26, 1849, and is the 
daughter of Phili]) Webster and Susan HoUingsworth. Her father died 
in ISOl, at sixty-seven, in \ngo county, Indiana, where the family had 
remo\ed, in 18.J9. Her mother died in early life, and Margaret Ward 
was the second wife of her father. By the first marriage, there were 
five children: John, James, Harbara, Mary and Mrs. Shank. In the sec- 
ond faniilv, there were: Thomas .1., Charles, Fi*ank, Etta and Emma. 



EDWARD J. ^V^\UI> — On a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, 
three miles southeast of Cott'eyville. resides Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. 
Waud. their residence in the county covering some twenty-two years. Mr. 
Waud is well known throughout the west, as a breeder of fine horses, 
many of which he has trained for the track, with his own hand, and 
which have shown qualities of speed creditable on any course. 

Rensselaer county. New York, and September 13, 1847, will serve 
to maik the jilace and date of Mr. Waud's birth. John M. Waud, his 
father, was also a native of the '■10mi)ire State," his mother, Frances 
Lambly, being a twelve-year old lass when she came, with her parents, 
to this- country, frnin England. They were mari'ied in New York state, 
and, with a young family, in 18.50, removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 
father was an artist in early life, and of high merit, as is shown by a 
painting still in possession of his son, being a life-like picture of his 
favoriic hunting dog. Later in life, he became interested in the raising 
of trofting horses, and was a citizen of Kalamazoo at the time of his 
demise, at the age of seventy-four years. .Mrs. Waud was a lady of supe- 



568 IIISTOKY (11' .MONTIJOMEUY COrNTY, KANSAS. 

rior i.uMital iittiiiniiieiits and fjentle breeding, surviving him several 
years; liei- age, at death, l)eing sevent\ -tive. Thev were tlie jiareiits of two 
sons and four daughters: ^larinaduke Wand, now residing in Kahiniazoo, 
and Edward; and Annie, Frances, Ellen and (Jeorgiana; Annie and 
Frames are deceased. 

ICdward Waud was ten years of age when the parents moved out to 
^Michigan. He was reared on his father's stock farm, in daily association 
with trainers and fanciers of thoroughhred horses, and thus became 
thoroughly inoculated with the love for horseflesh, which has con- 
tinued to be his distinguishing trait of cliaracter throughot his man- 
hood. And it is not at all strange that one finds in him. a "gentleman to 
the manor born." One's character is very greatly inflnenced by the 
things upon which his thoughts are most centered. No inore noble or in- 
telligent animal has been furnished man. by a beneficient Creator, than 
the horse, and he who handles him most successfully must res])ond, in 
kind, to the attributes of character exhibited in such marked degree by 
that f.nimal. 

Mr. Waud had attained the age when bachelorhood was dangerously 
near to being a fixed state. l)efore he met Mrs. Nancy J. Myers, the lady 
who now handles the reins about his handsome rural residence. The 
marriage was an event of March 12. 1881. Mrs. Waud is a daughter of 
James and Irene (Greer) Gillespie, natives of Virginia and Ohio, respect- 
ively. Her birth occurred in Mercer county. Ohio. June 15, 1840. James 
Gillesjiie was killed by guerrillas in Mexico, while there on a business 
trip, in 1852, his wife dying in Indiana, in 1878. There were eight chil- 
dren in the family, the two still living Iteing: Mrs. \^■aud and James F. ; 
those deceased are: Jefferson, who was killed in the battle of Jackson, 
ilississippi, while gallantly defending the flag; Zerelda, Julia, Joseph, 
Melissa and one unnamed. 

Shortly after their marriage, Mr, and Mrs, Waud set their faces 
toward the "SunHower State" and found, in Montgomery county, condi- 
tions favorable for the building of a home. They have not been disap- 
jiointed. as in the case of others, though it has not been all plain sailing. 
Mr. X'^'aud has been generally successful with his horses, but has suffered 
two heavy losses, a fine animal worth .l!5,000, and another, whose market 
jirice was |3,000. For a time, he did much of his own training, on a 
track kept ui)on the farm, but has, of late years, allowed this adjunct to 
return to its original state. 

Ouring his residence in the county, Mr. Waud has made many 
friends, by his upright methods of business. He lends his influence to all 
jjood causes, votes with the Republican party, and, in fraternal matters, 
affiliates with the Knights of Honor, 



HISTORY OI- MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 569 

WILLIAM W. POST— Williiim W. I'ost was born in Snnimit coun- 
ty, Ohio. N()V(Mnl>pr 1, LS2'2. His futlicr, ITcnr.v Post, and his mother, 
Mary A. (riark) Post, were natives of ('onnecticut. In 1804, the family 
moved to Ohio and settled in a townshi|» where there were but five other 
white families, and where numei-ous (I'ihes of Indians were the only 
other residents. The father died July 4, ISfifi, at the age of eighty-two, 
and bis wife died October i!7, 1857. There were eiglit children, three of 
whom are living in Iowa, and \\'illiam W., our subject. 

William W. Post had only a common school education and lived at 
home until he was twenty-one years of age. He was married in 1846, to 
Sarah Jane Miller, who was born February 25. 1827. His wife was a 
daughter of Alien and lOlizabeth (Love) Miller, both natives of Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr. Millei- came to Ohio when a snuiU boy and died there at the 
age of seventy-four, his wife dying at the age of seventy years. There were 
nine children, of whom Mrs. Post is the sole survivor. 

:Mr. Post came, with his family, to Kansas in 1878, settling north of 
Coffeyville, where he n^nuiined seven years. The farm of one hundred 
and twenty acres, <»n whi<'h he now lives, was bought later, but, for the 
last few years, he has rented his farm, not being able to attend to it him- 
self. His family are all married and gone, except a widowed daughter, 
Mrs. Alice O. Murray, who is looking after their welfare. There were 
born to them, viz: Clark, of Fawn Creek township; Avery, deceased; Al- 
ice C, Mrs. (Jeorge Murray; Carrie, deceased wife of Geoi-ge Murray; 
W. O. Post, now a resident of Ottawa. Kansas; and Sarah, who died in 
infancy. Mr. Post held, in his home, in Ohio, many positions of trust; 
those of County Commissionei-, township trustee, constable and assessor 
of his townshi]!. In political matters, he was a Democrat until McKinley 
was nominated for the |)residency, when he voted for him. In business, 
he sustains an enviai)le reputation, and honor and integrity are synony- 
mous with his name. 

Mrs. Alice C. Murray, daughter of William W. and Mary Jane Post, 
was born in Summit county, Ohio, and was married there, to George 
Murray, in 187:>. In 1877. they moved, with their family, to Kansas, 
where Mr. Murry died, in 188?.. He was born in Summit county. Ohio. 
July 20. 1840. and. at his death, left two children: Myrtle, wife "of John 
Shaw; and Wesley, still with the home. He served, for some time, during 
the war, in Company "C," Third V. S. Cavalry, and was discharged on ac- 
count of sickness. 



C. W. C.\NNIX<; — In this re\ lew we are brought face to face with a 
pioneer whose connection with Montgomery county dates fi-om 1870, and 
whose career has marked a progressive movement from its early begin- 



570 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

ning, and it gives us satisfaction to present a few facts concerning his 
origin and the chief events of his life. 

Charles W. Canning was born a subject of the British Queen. War- 
wickshire, England, is his native place and his birth occurred May 30, 
1843. He was a son of a farmer and his parents. John and Martha Can- 
ning, both died in England, the former at the age of seventy eight and 
the latter at seventy-three years. Of their seven children, five ai-e yet 
in the "old country" and C W. is the youngest of them all. He acquired 
a liberal education and filled the position of druggist's clerk, before he 
was twenty-one. He left England, for the United States, in 1864, passing 
through Castle Garden and on to Montreal, Canada, where he remained 
three years. In 1867, he returned to the United States and stopped, 
temporarily, in Illinois, where he was employed, chiefly, at farm work. 
In 1870, he made his final journey toward the setting sun and established 
himself in Kansas. He entered a tract of land in Independence town- 
.ship, which he imjjroved and yet owns, and which served as the nucleus 
of his, now, valuable estate of three hundi-ed and sixty acres, within the 
proven gas and oil territory of the county. The captain gas well of the 
district was drilled on his farm, in the summer of 1902, and its product 
helps to supply the fuel which feeds the numerous industries of Inde- 
pendence. 

Mr. Canning has gone about the business of life without Hare of 
trumpets and in a quiet and unassuming manner. His success has come 
to him as a result of good judgment and shrewd business sense, and the 
public only knew of his accumulations as they came in sight and were 
officially labeled. He owns stock in both the T'onimercial and the Citi- 
zens' National I?anks and a comfortable and modest home in Independ- 
ence. He left the farm in 1895 and has, since, oc<-u](ied himself with a 
few personal affairs, in addition to the supervision of his farm. 

December 10, 1867, Mr. Canning married IMIina LaHarge, a Cana- 
dian lady and a daughter of Francis and Julia r>aliarge, people of French 
lineage. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Canning has been a happy one and 
without issue. They live in each other's society and have a strong tie of 
common interest. Their home is hospitable, alike, to friend and stran- 
ger, and their general demeanor is that of persons wishing to do good. 
Thej' have menibershiit in no religious society and have no enthusiasm 
over political matters. Mr. Canning holds a membership in the Elks and 
thus is his whole fraternity connection summed uj). 



SHERBURN L. HIBBARD— Sherburn Hibbard has served Mont- 
gomery county seventeen years, continuously, as County Surveyor and, 
during that period, has held residence in Cherryvale. Mr. Hibbard is a 
New England man, having been l)orn in New Hampshire, the date being 



HISTORY' OI' JIONTGOWERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 57 1 

December 5. 1850. His parents were A. H. and Maria (Lang) Hibbard, 
both passing tlieir entire lives in the same town. They were better-class 
farmers, ami the father was a man of iiitluence and position in the com- 
muniiy. havinj;- served frequently in the township offices and, in the old 
days of "mnsteriiif;," was a captain of the militia, llis death occurred 
in 1870, aged sixty years, that of his wife in 1802, at seventy-three. They 
were both devoutly relifjions and members of the Congregational church. 
Of their five children, four are living: Ijouise, a teacher of long and suc- 
cessful exiiericiice, now a resident of California; Ella, Mrs. William At- 
kinson: i^hcrliurn L. , and Harry, who still resides in Woodville, New 
Hampshire. 

Slierburn L. Ilibhard was reared to farm life, passing his boyhood on 
the old New England farm, until .seventeen. Opportunity then offering, 
to come west to Michigan, lie left home, and, for two years, clerked in the 
store of Fisk Bros., at Lawrence. Not satisfied with the ordinary educa- 
tion he had been enabled to acquiif' at home, he then entered the Uni- 
versity at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1872, taking a three years' course 
in civil engineering. He now returned to his New Hampshire home, 
where he was oft'ered a position in the scliools.^and, for five years, engaged 
in the noble profession of teaching. It is truly .said that no man, having 
had a taste of western life, is ever satisfied to go back east. However 
that may Ik-. Mr. Hibbard again came west, passing three yeara in Illi- 
nois, engaged in looking after the farming interests of his brother-in- 
law, and doing some surveying. 

In February of 1884, Mr. Hibbard became a citizen of Cherryvale. 
In the following year, he was elected to the position of County Survey- 
or, and such has l)een the character of his .services to the county, as to 
have resulted in his continuance, in that office, to the present date. 

Mr. Hibbai-d first entered the state of matrimony, in 1881, in his 
native state, Helen, daughter of J. J. Jind Mary Kiiid)all being the lady's 
name. Her children, Hazen K. and -lo.seph 1*. are now in the east, the 
eldest at Dartmouth College, taking a course in electrical engineering^, 
while Josejih is in the high school at Wells River, New Hampshire, in 
preparation for Dartmotitti. The mother of these boys died, in 1887, at 
the ei!rly age of twenty-six years. The lady who now presides over Mr. 
Hibbard's home, was Miss -lennie Dixon prior to 18f)4, a native of Illi- 
nois, and a daughter of Israel and Uosetta Dixon. Israel Dixon died, in 
1899, in his seventy-sixth year, his wife now being an honored resident of 
Cherryvale. Two children have come to the home of Mr. Hibbard, since 
his sei'ond marriage: Helen L. and fJenevieve. 

Mr. and .Mrs. Hibbard arc i»rominent members of the Presbyterian 
church, of which he is one of the ruling elders. He is an ardent Re- 
publican in polilics, antl is held in great esttH-m by all parties. 



572 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

WILLIAM N. SMITH — There came to Montgoinerj county, among 
the pioneers of the year 1870, one whose life has been interwoven with the 
interests of agruculture in the county and one who, although now inac- 
tive and a spectator of events herein, is still alive to whatever pertains 
to thp material or other worthy interests of the county. In this connec- 
tion, we refer to him whose name introduces this jiersonal notice. 

William N. Smith came to Kansas by "prairie express," as it were, 
driving all the way from the State of Missouri, and settling near Tyro, 
among a few neighbors who were, many of them, in as straightened cir- 
cumstances as himself. His few personal effects were packed away in 
his wagon and his family of wife and two children, constituted his chief 
center of interest. His permanent settlement, near Tyro, occurred some 
two years subsequent to his first settlement in the state, which settlement 
occurred near Lafontain, in Wilson county, about the first of the year, 
1871. Until 1884, he lived upon rented land, but, that year, purchased a, 
tract in Fawn Creek township, which he improved and cultivated till his 
removal to Chautauqua county, in 1890, and located near Brownsville. 
Eeturning to Montgomery county, in two years, he took up his residence 
in Independence, where he has since maintained his home. He yet owns 
the farm near Brownsville and another, of two hundred acres, on Rock 
creek, in Montgomery county, making a total of five hundred and twenty 
acres of land. 

Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was the native place of William N. 
Smith, and February 17, 1840, was the date of his birth. His father was 
John T. Smith and his granfather was an Irishman, who married an 
English lady and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and reared 
three sons and two daughters, and tliere died. The issue of this worthy 
couple were: James, who ran a canal boat in Pennsylvania in early life; 
John T., and Charlotte, who became the wife of Lewis Vandergrift and 
was a resident of Peoria, Illinois. 

John T. Smith, our subject's father, was born in Bucks county, the 
"Keystone State," and was married there, in 1830, to Ann Bates. His 
wife was a native of the same state and was born in 1816. Their chil- 
dren were: William N., Elwood, decaease<l; ('has. C, of ]\Iarshall county, 
Illinois; Angeline, deceased; Arabella, wife of John Cliff, of Fairbury, 
Illinois; Louis V., a grain merchant of Henry, Illinois; Brooks, who 
died at fourteen years; Lottie, who became the wife of Thomas Monier, 
of Henry, Illinois; and Jennie, who married Mr. (Jregory, of Marshall 
county. Illinois. 

William N. Smith was his father's oldest child. He was reared to 
industry and honesty, in his native state, and in Illinois, where his par- 
ents settled when he was a boy. His father's farm furnished scenes of 
his early activity and his life was somewhat monotonous and prosaic till 




WM N. SMITH. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 573 

the approach of manhood's estate, when, on December 5, 1858, he mar- 
ried Ellen G. Bradley, in Mercer county, Missouri. 

The father of Jlrs. William N. Smith was Joseph Bradley and her 
mother was Almira Thompson, the father a native of Connecticut and 
the mother of Illinois. The Bradley children were: Ellen G. (Mrs. 
Smith) ; William, of Oklahoma; Clara, widow of Jacob Smith, of Enid 
Oklahoma; Frances, widow of William McCloud, of Pueblo, Colorado; 
.Tose|)hine, wife of L. I). Boatman, of Mercer county, Missouri; Gideon L., 
deceased; Louise M., deceased wife of Homer Brand; Mrs. Emma Len- 
hart, decea.sed ; Almira, deceased, who married John Gaskill , and Jo- 
seph, of Oklahoma. The father of this family died in Montgomei'y 
county, Kansas, in 187G, at sixty-five years of age and his wife died here 
in 1880. 

The Bradleys of this family emanated from Connecticut, where Wil- 
liam, grandfather of Mrs. Smith, was born. His forefathers were Eng- 
lish and he married Eleanor Burr. Almira Thompson. Mrs. Smith's 
mother, was a daughter of Elias Thompson, a major in the Revolutionary 
war, afterward a noted Indian'fighter and a "forty-niner" to California, 
where he died and is buried. 

March 11, 1841. Ellen G. (Bradley) Smith was born in Marshall 
county, Illinois. Her children, by her union with Jlr. Smith, were: John, 
who was born in ISfiO, married Annie Wadsworth and was accidentally 
killed in ISS.'J, leaving one child: "William; Frank H. Smith, the second 
son, was born in 1862, February 2.5, and was married in 188.5, to Elzetla 
Davidson. The,y have two children : Frances and Orrin J. 

Mr. Smith's residence in Montgomery county has demonstrated his 
genuine citizenship. His loyalty and patriotism were demonstrated on 
the field of blood and carnage during the Civil war and his interest in 
civil affairs, by his connection with the politics of the county. As a sol- 
dier, lie served in the Third Missouri Cavalry, enlisting at Princeton and 
serving three years and twenty-five days. He fought against the armies 
of Price and Shelby, and in the states of Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas, 
he experienced service, under command of Col. King. His regiment met 
and defeated the Confederate Gen. Marmaduke, at Springfield, Missouri. 

\Vhen in active life, his connection with the politics of the county 
was somewhat spirited. As a Republican, he was elected justice of the 
l>eace and trustee of his township, and his party chose him as their can- 
didate for Commissioner of the southern district and elected him, in 
1888. While a meml)er of the board, the court-house grounds were im- 
proved and beautified and tlie purchase of the county farm, took place. 

He is a Mason and a prominent member of the local Grand Army 
■organization. 



574 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

t.'HAHLKS M. MliRRIMAN — A .young business man who has made 
niucli of opiiorl unity, tlie })ast di'f-ade, is Charles M. Meriinian. of Coffey- 
ville, wholesale dealer in inijiorted and domestic cigars, tobacco, mineral 
waters, etc., etc. 

Mr. Merriman is a native of Ohio, born in Wyandotte county, Octo 
berl 0,1 8.^2, the .son of Seth and Anna M. (Keer) Merriman, both of whom 
were natives of tlie same county. These parents were of the well-to-do. 
rhrifty. agricultural class, during life, first, in Ohio, thence in Logan 
county, Illinois, wherethey moved, in IS");!, and, in 1S72. to this, Montgom- 
ery county, where, in I'arker township, they lived two years on a farm. 
They then removed to Joplin, Missouri, where the fatlier passed the re- 
mainder of his life, dying in 1877, at fifty years. The mother ix'turned to 
Kansas, and died in ("otTeyville, in 1002. at seventy-three. The names of 
their seven children follow: Marilla. widow of William Viillett, of Cof- 
feyville; Charles M., John M., of I'leasanton, Kansas; Grace L., Mrs. 
James Rankin, of Clarinda, Iowa; Agnes, Caroline and Emily May are 
deceased. 

CharlesM. Merriman had all the advantages which come to the gentle 
bred boy and was not slow to make use of them. After being well 
grouniled in the district schools, he matriculated at the State Agricul- 
tural College of Illinois, at Champaign, where he spent several years. An 
experience which he had while in that institution, in connection with the 
great Chicago fire, nuide a deep impression on his young mind. The school 
was i>rovided with an army officer, as an instructor, and our subject be- 
longed to one of his companies. On account of the scarcity of guards, 
the 'rovernor recpiested them to act, and, for several days, they were sta- 
tioned in the Imrnt district, guarding projjerty and distributing supplies 
to the destitute sufferers. After leaving school, Charles was, for a time, 
in the employ of his father, who, at that time, was postmaster at Bond- 
ville, during which period, he also engaged in buying grain and operated 
a general mercantile business. He came, with the family, to Kansas and 
was with his father until the hitter's death. I'ntil the date of his start- 
ing the present business, he engaged in the various occupations of farm- 
ing, mail-carrier, harness-maker and clerk. In 18$)"), he began to deal in 
tobaccos, in a small way, and, by close attention to business, has built 
up a large and constantly increasing trade. 

During the years of his residence in Cotfeyville, Mr. Merriman has 
established a reputation for honest and ujjright dealing and holds the re- 
spect and esteem of the business public. In social life, he has taken a 
helpful interest, being a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias, 
in which lodge he has filled all the chairs, and is connected with the Red 
Men and the lOagles. He is an earnest and devoted supporter of Repub- 
lican i>rinciples and delights to aid his friends in their aspirations for 
office. 



UrSTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 575 

Miss Niuiiiie E. Williams became the wife of our subject, January 9, 
3885. She is a native of Indiana. 



JOHN W. BKOWN — One of the recent settlers among the ranks of 
the agriculturists of Montgomery county, is John W. Brown, who, since 
the spring of 1902, has lived on the Verdigris, four miles north of Cof- 
feyville. He owns one of the l)est small farms in the county and, while 
he is a new-comer to this county, he is an old settler of the state, having 
removed here, from Illinois, in 187(5, and settled in Cherokee county. 

Mr. Brown was born in Decatur county, Indiana, August 30, 1850. 
His father, Nehemiah Brown, was born and married in Indiana, his wife 
being Mary A. Mefford, who was also a native of Indiana. After their 
marriage, the parents removed to Illinois and settled in Iroquois county. 
They resided there, as farmers, from 1854 to 1876, when they came to 
Kansns, and settled in Cherokee county. Here they resided until 1884, 
when they removed to Cowley county, where the father died at the age 
of sixty-six, his wife still surviving, at the age of seventy years. The two 
children were: Jolin W. and Ezra; the latter now living in Oklahoma, 

John W. Brown was brought uj) to regard labor as most honorable 
and received a rather limited education in the country schools. He con- 
tinued to reside with his parents until after his majority, when he began 
his domestic life in Cherokee county, January 5, 1881, being then united 
in marriage with Hannah B., daughter of William and Emma (Easter- 
ling) Fortner. 

Mrs. Brown is a native of Hendricks county, Indiana, born Feb- 
ruary 27, 1859. Her parents were both natives of the "Hoosier State," 
whert* they married, and ,with a young family, came to Kansas in 1874, 
settling in Cherokee county, where the father died at the age of forty- 
eight, his wife still surviving him, in Oklahoma, being at the present 
time, of the age of sixty-nine. Of their eleven children, nine are living: 
William Herbert, Mary E., Mrs. Bobbins; Hannah B., Howard E. , Me- 
lissa J., Mrs. Herington; Florence A., Mrs. Sesher; Ora, Mrs. Lockwood; 
Minnie, Mrs. Menor; and May Fortner. 

After the marriage of our subject, he took up land in Cherokee 
county, but .soon sold out and went on a "wild goose" chase to Ken- 
tucky. He, however, was not pleased with the "Blue Grass State," and, 
after a ten months' stay, returned to Kansas and settled in Cowley 
county, on a farm, where he continued to reside until his coming to 
Montgomery county. 

To the marriage of Ml', and Mrs. Brown, seven children were born: 
Earl Augustus, born February 22, 1882; William E., bom October 17, 
188;} •, Harry E., born November 25, 1888; Ivan C, born September 17, 
1891; Lillie L., born October 25, 1893: Grace, born March 12. 1897; and 
Mary E., born July 4, 1900. 



576 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

ill. lliowii is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge. Ih politics, he 
•generally votes for the man, rather than the partv. His courteous con- 
duct and evident spirit of fairness has made for himself many friends, 
during;' the short lime of his sojourn in the county, and he anil his fam- 
ily are rcfjarded as a welcome addition to the society of the comhiunity 
in which they reside. 



EDWIN lU'SHNKLL— lOdwin liushnell is one of the oldest settlers 
of Fawn ("reek township. He is a native of Ohio, where he was born 
July 1, 184?.. His father, AVilliam Bushnell, was a native of Herkimer 
county, New York, while his mother, Emily Clough, was a native of Pell- 
ham, and was of English descent. Mr. Bushnell's jtarents moved to 
Ohio when he was a small boy and he was reared and married there. By 
occui)ation, his father wa.s a farmer, and the parents moved to Michigan, 
in 18ijl, and settled in Clinton county, his wife dying there at the age of 
forty-three years. Mr. Hushnell came to Kansas, in 1859, and settled 
in Franklin county, and, ten years later, he moved to Montgomery county, 
to mr.ke his home with his son, Edwin, and died here, in 1886, at the age 
of seventy-five years. Three of the seven children are living, viz: Welling- 
ton, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Edwin, our subject; Mary Hathaway, liv- 
ing in Ohio. Those deceased are: Susannah Thompson, Charles, Frank- 
lin E. and an infant. 

Edwin Bushnell was eight years old when his parents moved to Mich- 
igan. His opportunities for an education were limited, those of the com- 
mon district school being all that he could obtain. He lived with his 
parents till fifteen years of age, when, at the death of his mother, he went 
to live with the family of W. T. Davis and remained with them until 
twenty years of age. He enlisted, in 1863, in Company "I," Tenth Michi- 
gan Cavalry, and served till the close of the war. He never participated 
in anv hard-fought battle, but was kept on the move all the time, niarch- 
ing through Virginia, North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky 
and Tennes.see. He was captured at Strawberry Plains by Joe Wheeler, 
who. not having any place to keep them nor anything to feed them, pa- 
roled the prisoners in two days. At the close of the war, he returned to 
Michigan, and worked by the month, for some time, when he started for 
Kansas and located in Franklin county, about 1866. He afterward came 
to Montgomery county and bought one hundred and forty-one acres of 
land and erected, on it, a small house. After many years of hard work 
and privation, with plenty of drouths and grasshoppers, he has, now, a 
farm of two hundred and twenty acres, five miles southwest of Coffey- 
ville, all under the best cultivation. He has a nice home, all lighted and 
heated with natural gas, sui)plied from a gas well on his farm. His occu- 
pation is stock raising. He keeps all kind of stock-horses, cattle, hogs, 
sheep and fine wool goats. 



IIISTOUY OF MONTtiOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 577 

Mr. Bushnell is a self-made man an<] is of sterling worth and of 
high moral character. His business transactions have been attended 
with a degree of success, which may be ascribed to his close application 
and industry. His wife, Rosa Miller, to whom he was married, October 
5, 187(i, was born in Marshall county, Indiana. She is a daughter of 
Allen K. and Martha (McCoy) Miller, the former a native of Kentucky 
and tlie latter of Ohio. The mother was of S<otch descent and her people 
came from the South to Ohio. Mr. Miller came to Kansas, in 1871, and 
settled in Montgomery county. He and his wife are living in Coffeyville, 
at eighty-tive and seventy-three years, respectively. There were only two 
children: William and Mrs. IJnshnell ; William died in 1873. 

]\Ir. and Mrs. Bushnell have four children : Roy, resides near Holly, 
Colorado; Will and Earl, in South Dakota; and Irene, at home. 



S. A. SMITH — One of the pioneers of Montgomery county and a gen- 
tleiiK^ii who had a large share in the growth and ])rogress of the city of 
Independence, is S. A. Smith, stone and brick contractor, residing at 
401 East Myrtle street. Mr. Smith came to Independence in 1871, and 
has held continuous residence here since. This j)eriod of over three 
decades has been passed in honest labor, the returns of which, by thrifty 
and careful management, have placed him in easy circumstances. He 
has always taken an active and helpful interest in the city's welfare, 
serving a number of terms in the council and. as a member of the school 
board, where the practical character of his knowledge was of much ser- 
vice in the prosecution of the public enterprises necessary in his munici- 
palitv. ^Ir. Smith is a leading member of tlie I. O. O. F., in which organ- 
ization he lias passed through all the chairs, and, in the social and relig- 
ious life of the community, he and his family are j)iominent factors. In 
addition to his business in town, he owns and ojierates a farm of one 
hundi-ed and seventy-five acres, on Elk river, in the gas belt of this county. 

Briefly referring to the family history of our subject, we note that 
he is of English descent, his father. Dr. William B. Smith, having been 
born in Nottinghamshire, on the day of the birth of Queen Victoria, 
May 24, 1810. lie grew to manhood there, saw the (|ueen crowned, in 
1837, studied medicine, and came to this country in time to take part in 
the ?ile.\ican war. After the war, he settled in Louisa county. Iowa, 
married, and practiced his jirofession there until ISfiO, when he came to 
Kansas. He settled at LeaveTi worth and, for fourteen years, was one of 
the leading jiliysicians of that city. He served one year in the army, dur- 
ing the Civil war, going out as cajilain of a com|)aiiy, and, later, being 
commissioned surgeon of the regiment. He died, at Leavenworth, in 
April of 1875. Harriet Key, his wife, was a native of Louisa county, 
Iowa. She was the daughter of (ieorge Key, wliose family consisted of 



578 HISTOBV OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

seven sons and seven daughters, three of whom still survive. She died, 
in 18.5.5, at the age of twenty-seven. Dr. Smith's family consisted of but 
three children, viz : Emily, who married Charles Allen and is now de- 
ceased ; S. A., our subject, and Fannie, deceased wife of Mr. Edelblute. 

S A. Smith was born in Louisa county. Iowa, on the 22d of Febru- 
ary, 1848. His education was secured in the common schools, after which 
he served an api)renticeship at his present trade. Completing the required 
period, he went to St. Louis, where he worked for several years. In 1870, 
he came out to Allen county and thence, the following year, to Montgom- 
ery county, Kansas. He married, in April of 1872, Mary, a daughter of 
Henry Dalley, whose children are: Harry, a bricklayei", of San Francis- 
co, California ; and Effle, Ernest and Amy, young people at home. 



MARTIN ARMSTRONG— The subject of this review is one of the 
best known of the early settlers of Montgomery county, he having been 
a resident here since 1870. Thomas Armstrong, his father, was a native 
of Ohio, and the earlier members of the family are traceable back into 
the old "Keystone State." 

Thomas Armstrong married Maria Bussard and died, in his native 
state, at the age of forty-nine years. The wife survived him many years 
and died at the age of seventy-eight. They were the parents of nine chil- 
dren: Martin, Edward B., Salem, who was accidentally killed; William, 
George, also killed in an accident; Duma, John, and Mary Catherine and 
Margaret Ann, twins. 

Martin Armstrong was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, March 24, 
1838, and was reared with scant opportunity for an education and in- 
ured to the toil of the farm. For a wife, he chose Susanna A. Fox, born 
in Pickaway county, March 29, 1840. She was the daughter of John 
and Sarah A. (Bussard) Fox, natives of Pennsylvania. To this marriage 
were born: Luena, Zelda, Susanna, Henrv. Ezra, Eliza Jane, and 
Mary E. 

The first westward move of Mr. Armstrong was made in 1863, when 
he went to Illinois, where he remained seven years, engaged in agricultu- 
ral pursuits. He Ihen came to Kansas, stopping in Linn county some 
eighteen months, thence to Montgomery county. The year 1872, marks 
the date of his settlement on the farm on which he now resides, at which 
time it was a bare one Iiundred and sixty, without a single imiu'ovement. 
The first liouse on (he place wa.s made of poles, but, in time, gave way to 
the coinforfalile residence now occupied by the family, and, one by one, 
the subslanlial ini|)rovenicnts, now seen, were added. The farm has been 
the home of the family since its first settlement, exce])t, for a short pe- 
riod, from 1 !)()() to 1903, which was spent in the Indian Territory, chas- 
ing that Will o' the Wisp, the raising of stock, in which so many have 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 579 

sunk tlipir hard-earned dollars. There are four ihildreu of the Arm- 
strong family, viz: Noah, Ren, Amanda and Fiank. Noah married Dora 
Strolx']. while Ken found a wife in Mabel <"la.yl)anjj;h, and both have 
homes of their own. Frank and Amanda are wlill residing at home. Mr. 
Armstrong cares little for public life, preferring to enjoy the quiet of his 
own home. Politically, he is independent, sui)porting the best men and 
measures, regardless of party. 



W. .\. ('OKM.\CK — Next in importance to the physician of the soul 
is tiic i)hysician of the body. No one who has sat wi(h lense nerves and 
bated breath, as the physician diagnosed the case of a smitten loved one, 
but will agree that the man who holds the issues of life and death in his 
hand, should be sober and sincere, of absolute lionesty and thoroughly 
versed in his profession. Many times it is not so much a ease of medi- 
cine, as of implicit confidence in the dispenser of the medicine. Among 
the many physicians of high character in Montgomei'y county, none is 
more deserving of the truths uttered above, tlian the gentleman whose 
name precedes this review, a general practitioner of medicine in Cherry- 
vale for the past eighteen years. 

Dr. Oormack came to Cherry vale from Carthage, Missouri, where he 
had lived for five years, prior to which he had practiced some nine years 
in Illinois. He is a graduate of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincin- 
nati, and is a thorough student of his profession, keei)ing his knowledge of 
mediial tlierajieutics up to date, by a close reading of the best medical 
joui'nals of Ihe day, and by association with his fellow ju-actitioners in 
the different medical societies of the county and state. 

The nativity of Dr. Corniack dates in Macoupin county, Illinois, 
October 1, 1839. He is a son of John and Elizabeth Cormack, both now 
deceased. The father died at fifty-two, while the mother lived to the 
extreme old age of ninety-four years. They were both devout and life- 
long members of the Methodist Episcojjal church and much respected 
for rheir many noble cpialities. Of the family of (en children which 
they reared, five sons are still living. 

The domestic life of our subject was entered ui)on in 1876. Mrs. 
Cormack was a native of IlliiKiis, her maiden name was Miss L. E. Ran- 
dall. She was a daughter of Woodson H. and Cameron Randall. To 
Dr. and .Mrs. Corniack have been born tw(j children. The eldest, Zoe E., 
grew to lovely girlhood, but the flower faded eie it had reached its full 
beaufy; she died at thiiteen. Eva L., the second daughter, is yet a mem- 
ber of the home circle. 

The Doctor and his family are active mend)ers of the Methodist 
church, while he afliliafes with the Masonic fratei'nity, having passed 
through the Blue Lodge, Chapter and <."ommandery. Though taking lit- 



5^0 RrSTOBY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

tie interest in politics, the Doctor is always pleased to aid, by his vote, 
the interests of the party of Lincoln and Garfield. 



ALLISON C. DARROW— September 24, 1870, there settled In 
Fawn Creek township, Montfjomery county, one whose history has been 
prominently connected with the farming interests of that locality since. 
He began life there, as many others did at that time, by taking up a 
claim, and his beginning was about as primitive as the record of any 
pioneer settler will reveal. But time and the energy of man has worked 
wonders in this portion of the west, the past third of a century, and A. 
C. Darrow has reaped a bountiful portion, as a reward for his share in 
the work of transformation. 

Chautauqua county. New York, was the birthplace of Allison C. Dar- 
row. April IG, 1839, were his natal day and year and his parents were 
Cornelius and Lucinda (Tillotson) Darrow, both native New York peo- 
ple. The parents had seven children and the mother died in her native 
state. The father migrated to Minnesota, in later life, and near Lan- 
sing lies buried. Their children, surviving, are three: James E., Cather- 
ine Augusta and Allison C. 

The subject of this notice came to mature years on the farm and 
acquired a fair education in the country school. He went down into Vir- 
ginia in Re]>tember, 18(il, arid there, joined the Ninth New York Cavalry, 
Company "F," with which lie served till the end of the Civil war. He 
was in the second Bull Run tight, was captured on the retreat and held 
in parole camp, three months, when he was exchanged and at once re- 
joined his regiment. He participated in the battles of the Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Fisher's Hill, Winchester and many smaller 
ones, and was shot through the arm, at the battle of Trevilliou Station. 
He s'eteranized at the expiration of his first enlistment and Avas dis- 
charged at Buffalo, New York, July 17, 1865. He took up farming, on 
discarding his military uniform and remained in his native state till 
1867, when he went to Michigan, where, in Ionia county, he was married, 
September 7, of that year. Directly after his marriage, he came west to 
Newt(Ui county, Missomi, from which point the young soldier-veteran 
brought his liltle family to Kansas. 

"The Darrows in Montgomery county" would be an appropriate and 
interesting chai)ter of itself, if space permitted the details of their strug- 
gles, in their climb from financial obscurity to a high plain of financial 
indejiendcnce. Willi an aj)ology for its brevity, we otTer the simjde, but 
trite statement that "a lung and strong ]niir' is explanatory of their suc- 
cess. As the dimensions of their estate have increased and its area has 
apjiroached the acreage of a section of land, it has been kept well stocked 
with grades and the products of the farm, grains and cereals, have been 




A. C. DARROW AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 581 

converted into cash largely through the marketed animals of the same. 
From his original quarter, patented from the government, to an estate 
of six hundred and forty acres, shows the growth of Mr. Darrow. From 
simple cabin to splendid farm house, and from a "Kansas stable" to mod- 
ern and commodious barns, conveys the lesson of industry and presents 
an example 1o poslerity, worthy of emulation. 

Mr. Darrow married Elvira Woodin. 8he was a daughter of George 
and Sarah (Stewart) Woodin, native of New York and Maine, respect- 
ively. Mrs. Darrow was born in West Virginia, and is the mother of 
George N., agent of an Iowa railroad and doing station work; and Lu- 
cinda V., wife of C. L. Adams, of Wilson county, Kansas. After the 
death of his first wife, ]\Ir. Darrow was married. October 1.5, 1899, to 
Mary E. Bolte. widow of Louis Bolte. Her parents were Frederick Brock- 
elman and JIary Wineberg. Her father is dead, while the mother resides 
in Nebraska. 

Born in a modest home, with respectable antecedents, and reared 
to industry and without luxury, giving the very essence of his vigorous 
life 1o the service of his country and, in the end, achieving distinction 
in one of the great industrial vocations of an agricultural country, pre- 
sents a concise sumnuirv of events in the career of Allison C. Darrow. 



SARAH J. HECKERT— Sarah .J. Heckert, an old settler in Kansas, 
■was born in Butler county, rennsylvaiiia, on the 21st day of June, 1842. 
She was a daughter of John and Ruth Brandon, natives of the same 
Pennsylvania county. Her mother's maiden name was Ruth A. G. 
Beighle, a lady of Germau descent, two of her grandparents having come 
from the Fatherland. She is now eighty-three years old. and is living 
on the old homestead in Pennsylvania. .Tolin Brandon died at the age 
of seventy-two, having a family of ten children, seven of whom are liv- 
ing, as follows: Sarah J. Heckert, Martha E. Wriglit, Susan <". Bran- 
don, William ^^■., who served in Company "L," Ninth I'ennsylvania Cav- 
alry, for four years; Jacob C., a soldier in the One Hundred and Thirty- 
fourth Pennsylvania Infantry; AVasIiinglon 1). and .Tames E. 

Mrs. Heckert. the siilijccl of (liis sketch, was lunrried, .Tanuary 1, 
18()8, to I'eter II. Ilcikcrt, a native (if I'.ullcr county, Pennsylvania. Mr. 
Heckert was born April 11, IS:?"), and gi-ew up on a fai-m in his native 

county. The schools of that region afforded him tl piioiMunities of a 

common school education and, after he became of age, he went to Iowa 
to make his start in life. He had scarcely begun active participation 
In the affairs of the new state, when the war cloud burst over the coun- 
try, and, yielding to the jialriotic ini])ulses with which he had been im- 
bued in the old "Keystone Slate," he ]tlaced his name on the roll of he- 
roes who gave their lives to their counfrv. His enlistment was in the 



582 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

year 1861, in Company "B," Second Iowa Volunteer Infantrj', and ia 
which organization he served faithfully for over four years. He carried 
the flag, through many a hard-fought battle, from Ft. Donelson down the 
Mississippi, and through the center of the Confederacy. Such was his 
conduct, on the field of l)attle, that he was promoted, through the differ- 
ent grades, until he was made captain of his company, which he com- 
manded during the latter two years of his service. He escaped without 
wounds and, was not taken a prisoner, but returned, broken in health 
and finally died from the effects of his service. 

Upon his return from the war, he left the "Keystone State," in 1866, 
and purchased a farm in Atchison county, Kansas, upon which he lived 
two years, and A\iii(li he prepared for the reception of the bride he then 
brought from the home neighborhood in Pennsylvania, and who now sur- 
vives him. In 1869, he sold this farm and moved west to Washington 
county, where he homesteaded and improved one hundred and sixty 
acres, and, in 188.3, came to Montgomery county. Here he bought one 
hundred and sixty acres, five miles west, and two miles north of Coffey- 
ville, and adjoining the hamlet of Dearing. He here erected a handsome 
residence and made many substantial improvements and continued to 
reside until his death, October 3, 1897. 

Mr. Heckert was a gentleman of splendid capacities and of a kind, 
generous disposition, respected by all, and greatly loved by his family. 
The children of his household are: Mina F., who died at fifteen years of 
age; Matthew L., who, like his lamented father, entered the army and 
became a member of Comiiany -K," Ninth U. S. Infantry, in which com- 
pany he served three years in the I'hilipiiine Islands and in China, being 
promoted for gallant conduct, to quartermaster-sergeant; Washington L., 
the second son, was also a soldier of the Spanish-American war, enlisting 
in Company "E," Twelfth U. S. Infantry. These boys are "true chips off 
the old block," and do credit to their father's soldier nienioi'y; Letty 
Elmira, the eldest daughter, is at home; John ^^^, married Miss Fannie 
Bates, and has two children: .lohn T. and Henry Curtis; Clara S., mar- 
ried IT. F. Messersmith, and died July 27, 190:;, at the age of twenty-two 
years. 



Sli^ALY L. P.IJOWN — The above will be recognized as the name of 
one of Montgomery's most enterprising citizens, and whose success in the 
poultry business has called favorable attention to the county from all 
over the United States. He is also favorably known as a breeder of a 
fine strain of Poland-China hogs, and, in both of these lines, he holds 
prizes from many of the best stock shows in the west. 

Sealy L. Jirown is of I'Inglish descent and birth, that event occur- 
ring JIarch .30, 1862, in Devonshire, England. His father was Sealy L. 
Brown, his mother, Mary Lavis, he being their only child. The father 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 583 

died in England, Derenibcr 25, 1805, at the age of seventy-live j'ears. 
The mother, soon after, came to tliis country and settled in Chicago, 
where Sealy L. was reared until he had entered liis 'teens. He spent four 
years in Canada, then returned to the Lake City and remained until 1878. 
Circumstances combined, at this time, to turn his thoughts toward the 
Great West, and, at sixteen, he started out to test the stories which had 
so charmed his ear. He stopped in Montgomery, and finding employ- 
ment on a farm, resolved to here make his future home. Carefully hus- 
banding his resources, he, in time, had saved sufHeient to make the first 
payment on the present farm of one hundred and thirty acres. Home 
buiding has been a most jileasant and jirofltable pastime for Mr. Brown. 
He is one of those oi>timistic citizens who, like the great bard of his na- 
tive heath, sees "good in everytliing." He loves to help his friends, and 
they delight to return it in kind. In business, he is most diligent. As 
stated above, he has, for years, given careful attention to hogs and poul- 
try and has had most flattering success. At the Kansas ('ity Convention 
Hall stock show, in 1902, he entered a cockerel which scored 94 Vi; points, 
taking first prize -among three hundred birds. This bird sold for more 
money than was ever before \>a\(l for a single cockerel, ^^'ithin the past 
year, Mr. Brown has sold |1 ,107.50 worth of eggs fiom Iiis yards, ship- 
ping them to all points in the T'nited i>tates. 

Marriage, with Mr. Brown, was an event of January 30, 1884. Jo- 
hanna Ragan, his wife, was born in Jackson count y. Missouri, on the 
29th of August, 1804, the daughter of Joseph \^'. Kagaii, a native of Ken- 
tucky, and of INlary Edgington. of Towa. Soim after marriage, the Ra- 
gans settled in Kansas City, the father, in his earliei- life, being a teacher. 
In 1809. the family came down into the then •'wilds" of Mcuitgomerv 
county. Kansas, and filed on a claim, two and a half miles east of Coffey- 
ville, where, later, the town of Claymore was built, and where Mr. Ragan 
conducted tlie first hotel thrown oyicn to the ]uiblic in the county. He 
died at this ]ilace, in 1875. aged foity-five. His wife survived him sev- 
eral years, her age at death being fifty-one. Two of their six children are 
now living: ]Mrs. Brown and I'.inily (". 15ouilly. of < "ofl'eyville. Jlrs. 
Brown was at that age, when the family settled in the county, when 
events are deeply impressed on the mind, and she. yet. holds in distinct 
memory, many of the thrilling occurrences of that early day. The coun- 
try was full of thieving Indians and worse white men. who kejit her 
fathei- in a constani state of alertness, lest he should lose everything 
portable, in lli(> way of stock and pr()|ierty. The security aiul jienceful- 
ness of the ]ii-eseiit is in marked contrast to those days of lawlessness. 

T( the home of Mi', and Mrs. I'.rown lia\(> ((uiic iliree bright cliildren: 
ThoDias T.,., .Tosejili A. and Edwin McKinley. The latter name is an index 
of the political faith of our subject, this boy being named after that noble 
nuu'tyr jucsident, \\'illiani .McKinley. .Mr. Urown has no jtolitical as[)i- 



584 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

rations of his own, but delisht.s in furthering the interests of his friends. 
He Vias developed into a fine worker in the different conventions of his 
party, and is a member of the County Central Committee, and of the 
Congressional Committee, as well. 



JAMES C. SLAYBAUGH— In 1879, there landed on the town site of 
Indejiendence, a seventeen-year-old "Buckeye" boy, full of the hopes of 
young manhood and willing to dare and to do in the race of life. Without 
waiting for something to turn up, he immediately got his lever under that 
"something," turned it up and went to making clothes for the people. He 
did this with such success that, fifteen years ago, he was able to buy a 
nice farm and has since been living the independent life of a tiller of the 
soil. 

That boy was the gentleman whose honored name initiates this re- 
view. He will be recognized by a large number of the best citizens of the 
county as a man whose integrity is unsullied and whose citizenship is 
of that high order which lifts the general level to the exalted plane 
found in Montgomery Co. .Jas. C. Slaybaugh was born in Richland coun- 
ty, Ohio, in 1862; the son of -Tohu F. and Margaret (Rodgers) Slay- 
baugh. The father was a worker in iron and also a farmer. He passed 
the earlier part of his life in Richland county, in the ''Buckeye State," 
and moved, thence, to Hillsdale county, Michigan, where he died, Feb- 
ruary 1.5, 1902, his wife having passed away at an earlier date, at forty- 
three years of age. They were the parents of eight children, of whom 
five are now living: David lives in Michigan; Nettie married Eugene 
Dahlam and lives in -Jackson, Michigan; the third child was our subject; 
Isaac lives in Michigan; Frank enlisted in the Spanish war and has not 
since been heard from. 

James secured a fair education and early discovered an independ- 
ence of character which has b(>come his distinguishing feature. In 1879, 
he left home and set out for the far west, resolved to test what hard 
work would do for a man in Kansas. \Yhen he landed in the s:tate, he was 
without cajiilal save a stout heart and a willing mind, two elements, 
however, which Tnust necessarily ]>rcd(>minate, whether one has financial 
backiiig or not. He at once a]ij>!('ntic('d himself to a tailor in Independ- 
ence and thoroughly learned that trade. He still works at it, at times, 
though he has, for a number of years, occupied himself, in large part, 
with farming. In 1888, he purchased a farm, four miles east of Inde- 
pendence, where he has since continued to reside. He has here a fine 
farm of eighty acres, under a good state of cultivation. Its value is en- 
hanced by the fact that it is in the gas belt, and Mr. Slaybaugh has it 
leased for a number of years. 

The married life of our subject has been one of much felicity, begin- 




ISAAC LINDLEY AND ELIZABETH LINDLEY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^, KANSAS. 585 

ning in 1895, the lady now his wife having been Miss Rose Linton. She 
is the daughter of W. H. and Susan (Rickett) Liuton, a miller and 
stockman of Cherryvale, Kansas. The Lintons are also Ohio people. Mrs. 
Slaybaugh is one of a family of four living children: William J., Francis 
and lienry being the other members. 

In political belief, ^Ir. Slaybaugh affiliates with the Republican par- 
ty, though not given unuh to politics. 



REV. ISAAC LI^'DLEY— The history of Kansas, as well as that of 
the nation, may not be written without jironiineut mention of the sect 
known as Quakers, or Friends. From the days of their i)ublic whipping 
in the streets of Boston, for the sake of their religion, to these piping 
times of peace, is a long stretch in time, but not greater than the change 
which has taken jilace in the hearts of Christendom concerning this pure- 
minded, holy-living people. While opposed to war, the Quaker was in 
honorable evidence in the strenuous days of the fifties, in Kansas, and 
when freedom's debt was paid and the floodgates of the eastern tide of 
emigration were thrown open, he was found in goodly numbers, in the 
advancing throng. Montgomery county, early, became the center of a 
Quaker community, whose splendid influence on the county's moral de- 
velopment cannot be estimated, and is still felt in ever-widening circles. 
The pastor of this denomination in Independence is the gentleman whom 
the biographer will sketch below, and whose name precedes this review. 

Rev. Lindley was born in Parke county, Indiana, August 5, 1833, 
of southern Quaker stock; his father. David Lindley, being a native of 
North Carolina, and his mother, Nancy Stalcup, of Tennessee. The 
father was but sixteen years of age when his parents, actuated by a 
growing repugnance to the institution of slavery, removed to Orange 
county, Indiana. They, later, removed to Green county, where David and 
Nancy were married and resided until 1832, thence to Parke county, 
which remained their home to the time of their death. The wife died 
in 1852, at the age of forty-six, the husband in 1881, at seventy-six j'ears. 
David Lindley was a strong Abolitionist, and was active in furthering 
the effectiveness of the "underground railroad," a branch of which passed 
but a few miles from his home. Their family consisted of eight children, 
three of whom are still living : George, a farmer of this county ; Cather- 
ine, widow of Monroe Elmore and. later, widow of William Ray, the 
former a gallant soldier, who gave up his life at the battle of Peach Or- 
chard. 

Rev. Lindley was reared 'mid the refining influences of a good home, 
his primary education being carefully attended to in a Friends' school. 
Having advanced far enough to enter the school room as a teacher, he 
alternately taught and went to school, paying his own expenses at an 



586 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

academy at Bloomingdale, Indiana. In 1859, he was elected Surveyor 
of Parke county, beinji, subsequently, reelected twice and appointed once. 
He tben inherited a farm from his father and gave his attention to that 
until his coming to Kansas in 1881. Here he purchased a farm of one 
hundred and fifty-three acres, in Independence township, which he culti 
vated for several years, when he removed to Independence and assumed 
the jiastorate of the Friends' church, a work which he has continued 
since. 

Rev. Lindley is an earnest worker in the Master's vineyaid. and his 
labors have not been without fruitage. He has passed several years in 
the service, having begun in 1873, to speak for his Master. Mi's. Lindley 
has also beeti an excellent worker, and is superintendent of evangelistic 
and pastoral work of the Elk River Conference. Prior to March 1, 1860. 
the date of her marriage to Rev. Lindley, she was Elizabeth Woody, 
daugliter of .James and Margaret Woody, of Indiana. These parents were 
also southern Quakers from North Carolina, coming to Indiana in 1829, 
whei-e the father was a blacksmith and farmer. They continued to reside 
in the state until their demise, which occurred, father, November 30, 
1893, and the mother. September 2, 1897. They reared a family of ten 
children, as follows: Jehu H., of Kingman, Indiana; John W.. farmer 
of Montgomery county; Mary A., deceased wife of Thomas Hadley; 
Brice, who died in young manhood; Levi, of Kingman, Indiana; Eliza- 
belh, Sarah, Mrs. George M. Lindley, of Parke county, Indiana; Han- 
nah, Mrs. Hiram Lindley, of Parke county, Indiana; Lot L., of Berkley, 
California; and Jane, deceased in childhood. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Lindley have been born eleven children, as follows: 
Ruth J., Mrs. C. E. Morgan, whose children are mentioned herein; Pat- 
rick XL, referred to on another page in this volume; Hannah C, whose first 
husband was W. Adkinson and who is now Mrs. William Baker, has chil- 
dren : Laura, Nettie, Byron and Opha ; David J., married Flora Robert- 
son ai;d has children: Lessie E. and Fay J.; Mary S., Mrs. A. E. Harvey, 
with children : lola B.. Hazel, deceased, James A., Isaac L., Martha E. 
and Ruth G. ; Levi G.. who married Eva Necl, has a child, Ralph; Barna- 
bas Hobbs, married Ida Mason and has one child. Rex ; Elwood S., mar- 
ried Millie Parkhurst, with children: Carl and Osee B. ; Howard M., a 
base ball player, of I^avenworth, Kansas; William F., a teacher; and 
Hattie J., high school student. All of these children live within the con- 
fines of the county and are upright and useful citizens. Rev. and Mrs. 
Lindley are passing, serenely, along the latter pai-t of life's journey, hap- 
py in the esteem of a large circle of friends, and blessed by the love 
of their children and grandchildren. Their influence is as an ever widen- 
ing wavelet, whose onward journey shall not cease until it laps the 
shores of eternity. 



HISTORY OK MO.NTfiOSIEItY COUNTY, KANSAS. 587 

ALBERT J. BROAKDHHNT— It is fitliiiK imd iii.i)r()pi-iate to pre- 
sent in this article the (;ne<'r of one wlio lias been an active factor in the 
rural development of Jlontjioniery county and whose efforts. intellif;;ently 
directed, have been liberally and substantially nnvarded. one who has 
been twice an early settler in the same state and whose financial achieve- 
ments have come to him as a reward for persistent and determined etl'ort. 
In this connection, we refer to Albert J. Hroadbent, of Jefferson, the sub- 
ject of this review. 

Coming to the "Sunflower State" from' Wisconsin, in 1866, he settled 
with his parents, in Neosho county, where, three miles north of Erie, 
their homestead lies, still in possession of the Broadbent estate and oc 
cupied by tlie mother of our subject. For nine years he aided in the Im- 
provement of this homestead and then, when twenty years old, he sepa- 
rated from the old home, came to Montgomery county, and began liis use- 
ful and honorable career. 

Albert J. Broadbent was born in LaTross county, Wisconsin, Jan- 
nary 28, 1855. His parents, Andrew and Elizabeth (Turner) Broadbent, 
were English people, from near the city of Manchester, and both came 
to the I'nited States on the same vessel, in 1843, when yet children. 
Albert J. Broadbent's great-grandfather. Hilton, was apprenticed, in ear- 
ly life, to learn the machinist's trade. In those days apprentices were 
forced to carry out the terms of their contract and any one endeavoring 
to leave the country to evade it. was subject to arrest and punishment. 
Young Hilton became dissatisfied, decided to emigrate and went aboard 
a vessel in the harbor, bound for the I'nited States. Officers came aboard 
in search of him, but, in disguise, he eluded his pursuers, boarded anoth- 
er ship and made his way back to Ireland. In after years, he was par- 
doned of the offense, returned to England and there died. 

Andrew Broadbent was born in 1825. He married in the State of 
Wisconsin and wore himself out on his farm in Neosho countj', Kansas. 
He was one of the prominent men of the community, was a successful 
business man and left a good estate at his death, at the age of seventy- 
three. He was the father of ten children, as follows: John. J. Frank, 
Thomas A., Roderick, Albert J., Miranda, wife of George Wheeler; M. 
Elizabeth, wife of Richard, Pnrviance, of Neosho county; Clara, now 
Mrs. E. M. Wlieeler; Julia, who married John Hooker, and Fred I). 

Albert J. Broadbent was united in marriage, December 31, 1879, at 
nine o'clock p. m., with Cornelia L. Kinne, a daughter of Levi L. and 
Arvilla Kinne. Mrs. Broadbent was born in the State of Pennsylvania, 
in 1859, and. in 1867, her parents moved out to Iowa, where the father 
soon died. The mother enjoys the comforts of the home of her daughter, 
Mrs. Broadbent. From a small tract of eighty acres, Mr. Broadbent has 
added to his landed dominion, until he owns two hundred and twenty 
acres, beautified with handsome new residence, large roomy barn and at- 



588 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

tractive landscape and lawn. Everything is in perfect order around the 
premises and the convenience of natural gas, add to the domestic com- 
forts of the household. On his farm, Mr. Broadbent keeps a quantity 
of stock to consume his surplus grain and a few registered animals for 
the improvement of his grades. His farm adjoins the town site of the 
village of Jefferson, wliose name was taken in his honor — A. Jefferson 
Broadbent being his full name. 

Two children have come to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Broad- 
bent, namely : Arthur ('., a student in Baker University, and Milan W., 
still with the domestic cii'cle. Mr. Broadbent has filled the office of 
trustee of Fawn ("reek township and is now its justice of the peace. He 
is a Republican and a Workman, of the Independence Lodge. 



ANDREW H.VWKINS— Retired from the activities of a long and 
useful career and taking a well-earned rest from the harder labors of his 
youth and early manhood, is this worthy gentleman, Andrew Hawkins, 
who resides at 1204 Beach street, Coffeyville. 

Jt was March 2, 18.31, in Clark county, Ohio, that the birth of Mr. 
Hawkins occurred, he being the son of John and Jane (Pinneo) Haw- 
kins, (he father being a native of Yorkshire, England, the mother of Ver- 
mont. 

At thirty years of age, John Hawkins came to the United States, 
the year being 1817. He was a blacksmith and followed that trade, in 
connection with farming, in Clark county, Ohio. Here he became quite 
well-io-do, being the possessor of a valuable four hundred-acre farm, 
where he died, in May of 1869. His wife outlived him a number of 
years, dying at the age of seventy-five years, in October of 1881. The 
mother was a member of the Baptist church and was the parent of ten 
children, the two surviving being: our subject and Rachael J. Craig, a 
resident of Clark county, Ohio. 

Andrew Hawkins received a good education, having attended Wurt- 
emburg College of Springfield, Ohio, for a season. In 1883, he left home 
and made the trip overland to California, where he engaged in mining, 
for a period of five years. He afterward went over into Nevada, and, 
later, to Montana, where he succeeded quite well in the mining business. 
In 1869, he returned to the states and located in Iroquois county, Illi- 
nois, whicb was his home until he came to Labette county, Kansas, in 
1871. Here he purchased government land near the state line, and over 
the line in the Cherokee Strip, all of which he still owns, aggregating 
some four hundred and sixteen acres. Since his location in the county, 
he has operated extensively in stock. He resided in the lower part of the 
county until 1888 and then moved in to Coft'eyville, where he is exten- 
sively interested in real estate, owning some seventeen acres within the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 589 

corporate limits. Though not as actively engaged as formerly, Mr. 
Hawkins still looks after his farm property, resolved to "wear out" 
rather than "rust out." The years of his residence in this county have 
been marked by usefulness as a citizen. 

The home life of Mr. Hawkins was initiated on February 8, 1874, 
when he was joined in marriage with Mary L. Geyer. Mrs. Hawkins is 
a native of Iowa, a daughter of A. and Rebecca Jane (Tarr) Geyer, both 
parents natives of Ohio. They lived in Ohio for a time and then removed 
to Indiana, some time in the fifties, later to Iowa and, in 1870, located 
in Jloutgomery county, Kanws, The occupation of the father waS 
ianning nnd he passed his life in that peflOefUl evocation, his de^^th. oc- 
curring August 26, 1876, at the age of fifty years. He was a consistent 
member of the Methodist church, as is also his wife, who is now a resi- 
dent of Cofl'evville, and aged seventy-eight years. Mrs. Hawkins is a 
member of a family of six children : William R., Mrs. Martha A. Fuller, 
Elizabeth A. Shult'z, Isaac L. and Mrs. Ella Blackwell. To the marriage 
of Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins there have been born five children: Jennie S., 
who married Clair Wilson and resides on a farm in this county with her 
daughter, IMary Olive; Joe R. is a clerk in roffeyville; Andrew resides 
on the farm; Oliver and George are. school children. 

Mrs. Hawkins is a very active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. Mr. Hawkins has never joined any of the secret orders and in 
political belief, favors the Republican party. He is a most genial and 
companionable gentleman, and his observant nature has been such as to 
gain much valuable knowledge in the line of his travels throughout the 
western country. His mind is well stored with many interesting anec- 
dotes, scenes and incidents relating to his journey. Possessed of excel- 
lent judgment and untiring energy, he has prospered in his business af- 
fairs and has the good will and regard of all those with whom he has been 
associated. Mrs. Hawkins, though of late years an invalid, is of obvious 
gentleness and refinement, and both she and her husband are held in uni- 
form esteem in the best circles of Coffeyville. 



JOHN S. ORR — One of the leading citizens of Montgomery countV 
and a gentleman prominent in both civil and religious matters, is the 
honored bearer of the name which precedes this sketch, a man whom to 
know is to revere for his many noble attributes of character. Mv. Orr 
has been a resident of the county but a few years, but in that time he 
has become a permanent citizen. He lives iii a handscmie new cottage 
on his farm of one hundred and sixty acres, one mile east of the village 
of Ha\ana, where he is successfully engaged in stock raising and general 
farming. 

John S. Orr is a native of Missouri, where he was born, in Davis 



590 IIISTOKY 01' MONTGOMERY COINTY, KANSAS. 

country, March 20, IKCO, the son of John II. and Dorcas (Koger) Orr. the 
latter now an iniale of the sou's home, at the advanced age of sevent.v- 
eight veais. The father was a native of Kentucky, but who, early in life, 
went over into Indiana, wiiere he came to man's estate, being given a 
good education in Ihc schools of Terre Ihuite. He was a teacher in the 
schools of that iilac.c, fur a period, in his young manhood and then went 
to Di'vis I'ounty, Missouri, where, in 1858, he was married to the lady 
mentioned above. They continued their residence in that county until 
1866. To them were born elev(^n children, all of whom are living but one. 
Their names follow: MarHia A., wife of (lideou Gilreath; Hannah J.. 
Mrs. t-'. W. Pieweft; Mary !>., wife of James Koger; Margaret, now Mrs. 
I.iee Sharp; Catherine M., wife of \\'illiam (Jilreath; Lettie. wife of 
Charles A. Burke; Thomas, Koliert and Hiittie, wife of ^^'. H. Freeman. 

John S. Orr was the eldest of this large family. He was reared in 
Davis and Jackson counties, Missouri, and given a good common school 
education. At the age of eighteen, he left home and came to Moiitgomery 
county Kansas, securing work on a farm, near Inde]>endence. He re- 
mained a citizen of tlie county until after his marriage, February 7. 1889. 
when he removed to the Territory and spent the succeeding twelve years 
there, engaged in stock raising, making it a most profitable business. In 
1001, he came back to Montgomery county and has remained here since. 

The maiden name of Mrs. Orr was Alfa Brown. She was the 
daughter of Perry an<l lOlizabelh T.rown and was born in Jackson county. 
Missouri, on the 1st of January, 1870. Her parents came t<i Kansas in 
1872 and settled in Montgomery county. There were eight children in 
the family. 

To the nuirriage of Mr. and Mrs. Orr, \\as born, Elsie JIay. a beauti- 
ful liitle daughter, now five years old. 

Botli Mr. and Mrs. Orr are active in religious affairs, having been 
members of the Christian church many years, and given liberally in time 
and money to the sujtport of that organization. At different ])eriods. 
Mr. Orr has served in the offices of deacon and elder. In political affiil 
iation. he is a supporter of the party of Jefferson and takes an active in- 
terest in advancing its principles. He is now serving his second term 
as township clerk. Fraternally, he is an active member of the Modern 
Woodmen and the A. H. T. A. 



ADAM B. FEIL — Of the substantial farmers who have made a suc- 
cess of their occupat i<^)ji in Montgomery county, none is more worthy of 
special commendation than Adam Fell, a stockman residing on a foui' 
hundred and eighty a(;re tract, near the state line, five miles southeast 
of Cotfeyville. Mr. Feil.has been in the county since 1878 and has ac- 
scumulated a valuable property in that time, by hard work and careful 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 591 

management. He stands deservedly high in the estimation of his neigh- 
bors, and is a citizen whose presence within the county's bounds adds 
strength. 

Adam Feil is a German, born and bred. The date of his birth was 
the 2()th of December, 1839, the place Baden, Germany. He was reared 
on a farm in the Fatherland, receiving a fair education, and, like all 
Gerniiin youths, gave three of the best years of his life to the service of 
his country in the army. At the age of twenty-five he began to think 
of establishing himself in a home, and thus found his thoughts turned 
toward the great republic where homes were to be had for the asking. He 
lande<] in St. Louis iu 1864 and soon went to Moniteau county, Missouri, 
where he worked at farm labor and rented land until 1870. He spent 
the following eight years in Marshall county, Kansas, and in Texas, from 
which state he returned, in 1878, and located on one hundred and sixty 
acres of his present farm. Up to this period, Mr. Feil had not made 
much headway, for, although he had brought .f. ^00' with him from the old 
country, his losses had about equalled his gains. Fi'oni the date of his 
settlement in Montgomery, however, matters began to "pick up" with 
him, and he has steadily kept on the up-grade. His farm is considered 
one of the best stock farms in the county, he having placed many valua- 
ble improvements on it and brought it to a high state of cultivation. 

As intimated above, Mr. Feil's citizenshij) has been of a high order, 
the respect in which he is held being attested by the fact that he has 
served a number of terms on the school board and in various positions of 
trust. In matters of political moment, he acts with the Po|)ulist party, 
contenting himself with helping such of his friends as aspire to office. 

]\Ir. Feil was in no haste to enter the married state, being what 
might be regarded as a conflrnied bachelor when he met the lady whose 
presence in his home now makes life worth the living. The marriage was 
cousumnmted in 1880, in Montgomery county. Mrs. Feil was Miss Win- 
nie Morgan, who came to Kansas from her native State of Indiana, in 
1871. To the marriage have been born five children : John and Susie 
(twins) died in infancy; those living are: Bernhardt, Minnie and Gus- 
tavus. 

Rich in the qualities which go to make up a solid character, and 
well-to-do in the material things of this life, Mr. Feil ha.s every reason 
to congratulate himself on having achieved a success which is all the 
more gratifying since it is the result of his own unaided efforts. 



GEORGE BURGIIART— On a splendid farm of two hundred acres, 
four miles northeast of Coffeyville, lives George Burghart, who has, 
since 1S7.5, been prominently identified with the development of Mont- 
gomery county. He came to the county in straightened circumstances 



592 IIISTOnv OF MONTGOMERY rOtNTY, KANSAS. 

and bv (hiifl and pcon<»ni.v, lias heconie tlie owner of one of the best farm 
properties in his serf ion. 

A[r. Hiirniiarl is a native of (lie ''I'uckeye S(ate," boin near Cleve- 
land, on the -\st (if April, 184:'.. He was of (Jernian descent, the sou of 
Lawience and (';ithcriiie (Myers) r.nr};liiirl, bolii of whom were natives 
of (jernian.v. The parciils caine to America as children and were mar- 
ried, in Ohio, in IMlft. They moved out to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where 
the father abandoned his trade of jeweler and took up farming;. He died 
in that state, at the a^e of eighty-thrcH', his wife havinj; jiassed away 
many years ])revii>iiM. Only three of their eij:ht children are now living: 
Daniel. Henry and (leorge. 

Georjje l!urf;h;irt was but two years old when the family moved to 
Wisconsin. Heit^, lie was reared to farm life and received but an ordi- 
nary education. He was busily enf;ajrp(i on the home farm when the toc- 
sin of war resounded throufih the land. He was not of military a<;e until 
1862. in ^\■hil•ll yc:ir he enlisted as a private in <'omj)any "K," Twenty- 
fourth \\'isi uiisiii \'(diiiiteer Infantry. He served in this )e<riment for 
one year and was then discharged on account of disability. The period 
of his service was one of great activity and he saw some of the severest 
battles of the war; at I'erryville and Stone River, and in many smaller 
skirmishes in the middle west. 

After the wai-, Mr. ISurgharl continued farm life and, in IStiO, was 
marrietl to Mary K., daughler of Isaac .\. and I'^lizabeth I Richard I 
Simpson. Mrs. liurghart was born in Damille, Illinois, on tlie 18Th of 
May, ]S4y. Her father was a native of Chambersville, Indiana, and her 
mother of Jonesboro, Tennessee. They were married in Danville, where 
the father still resides, at the advanced age of eighty, his wife having 
died iiiany years before. Their eight children were: John S.. of Hoopes- 
ton, Illinois; Benjamin I., of Hot Sjirings. Arkansas; Airs. Jane Mc- 
Corkk, of ("hicago; Airs. Anna Walton, of Los Angeles, California; 
Lillie B. Simpson, of same place; and Mrs. Sue Stadler. of Nevada, 
Missouri. 

After six yeara-of hard, grinding labor, in an attemjit to get a home 
in Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. Burghart turned their faces toward the "Sun- 
flower State." The journey was made overland, in 1875. with an outfit 
which was composed of a horse, a mule and a wagon, all of "uncertian" 
age. The company consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Burghart and their three 
children. Mr. Burghart had traded for a "jiaper" farm while in Illi- 
nois, and when he arrived in Kansas, found it to be a worthless jiiece 
of land, thus losing what money he had advanced. T'ndiscouraged. bow- 
ever, they rented a fai-ni in Montgomery county, on which they resided 
for five years, a period attended with the greatest har<Ishi]is; but by 
persit'tent effort aiuLtlie exerci.se of strictest economy they, at last, sue- 
(ceeded in making the first payment on their jiresent farm. 



■HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 593 

This farm was virgin priarie and it was many yoai-s before the oom- 
fortable home in wliicli tiiey now reside was built. Every fence and tree 
:and building on it indicates the labor which they have e.xpeuded, and 
shows what persistent and consistent ett'ort will do in southern Kansas. 
To the original forty acres, another one hundred and sixty has been 
added and many substantial improvements have been placed on the 
farm. 

The past has Ix^en one of severe labor for ^Ir. Burghart and his 
family, l)ut they can rest secure in the possession of sufficient property 
to carry them comfortably through their declining years. His family 
consists of six children: Lula J., wife of Theodore Jordon, of Parsons; 
Gordon S., who lives in Oklahoma; Lillie, wife of Ed. Brown, of Coffey- 
ville; Gwynne, Loyal and Nina are children at home. 

While giving his undivided attention to the improvement of his 
farm, Mr. Burghart has taken a citizen's interest in the institutions of 
society about him, and has always given his influence to the betterment 
of loc;,l conditions, in matters of education and religion. He is a staunch 
Republican in politics, and both he and his family are among the conn- 
tv's best citizens. 



LUCIUS T. BARBOUH— :SIay the days never come when the glo- 
rious deeds of the boys in blue, during the sixties, shall l)e less potent 
in the teaching of patriotism to the youth of our country. Their fame 
is deathless — their honor should be lasting, and when the last one shall 
respond to "taps," a grateful nation should cherish their memory iu 
marble shaft and "storied urn." 

One of the most resjiected of the old soldier element, in Montgomery 
county, is the gentleman whose name precedes this pai'agraph. He is one 
of the oldest settlers of the county, and, during his residence here, has 
made for himself and family, a warm place in the hearts of a wide ac- 
quaintance. 

The family of which Mr. Barbour is a descendent, settled in Windsor, 
Connecticut, in the jierson of Thomas Barbour, early in the seventeenth 
century. Dr. Barbour, one of his posterity, settled in Limesburg, Con- 
necticut, and became the progenitor of the branch of the family of 
which our subject is a member. A distinguishing characteristic of the 
family, is its jiroductiveness and exti-eme longevity, a small family of 
childicii rarely InMng found in the list. 

Lucius T. Barboui- was born in Ft. Wayne, Allen county, Indiana. 
Weptenibci- 2, 1S41. lie is a son of Jlyram S. Barbour, a native of New 
York, and -lane Sutenfield, who was noted as being the first white child 
born in Ft. Wayne. ^lyram Barbour was a pioneer school teacher in 
that town, and taught sdiool for a inimber of y(>ai-s, following 1835, He 



594 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

was -a iii'ominent factor in the growth of that city, and went to Califor- 
nia, al the time of the gohl excitement of 1849, but returned and lived 
out hi^• last jears in Ft. Wayne, dying at the extreme age of ninety-three 
years. He was a strong supporter of the government during the days 
of the Civil war, and did much to encourage loyal sentiment in his com- 
munity. The Sutenflelds were also pioneers of that portion of Indiana. 
Mrs. I'.arhour's father liaving built the first house in Ft. Wayne. The 
latter was prominent in the military life of that section, and was com- 
mander of the Fort at that point, for a number of years, under General 
Wayne. 

Mr. Barbour was reared in Ft. Wayne, receiving a good primarj' 
education, and was in the midst of a collegiate course at Antioch College, 
Low Springs, Ohio, when the war cloud burst with such fury as to carry 
all p.'triotic young men into the service. The Barbour blood was not 
such as to witlistand the temptations of an army experience, especially 
when an undivided country was at stake. Our subject made several 
attempts to enlist, running away from school several times, but each 
time l)eing balked in his efforts, by his father. However, in 1862, he suc- 
ceeded in enlisting in Company "H," Twelfth Indiana Volunteer In- 
fantry. He had not long to wait for the smell of powder, for, in five 
hours after he took the oath, he was under fire, in the battle of Richmond, 
Kentucky. Here, he was severely wounded in the left leg, the wounding 
bullet being in his possession, as a memento of that incident. After a 
period in the hospital, he I'ejoined his regiment, and, during the years 
that followed, i)articipated in seventeen hard-fought battles of the war. 
He was wounded, again, at the battle of Missionary Ridge, receiving a 
ball through his jaw, losing the left side of the upper jaw, and five of 
his teeth. This wound was more serious than the former one, and he 
returned home, on an extended furlough. Besides being wounded twice, 
Mr. Barbour was captured by the enemy, on the 22d day of July, 1803. 
He was sent to Andersonville prison, later being transferred to Flor- 
ence, and, again, to Charleston, South Carolina, spending, in all, nine 
months and twenty days in the foul prison pens of the South. At the 
time of his exchange, he had become so emaciated, that he weighed but 
seventy-two pounds, and was so weak that he could not stand alone. 

Mr. Barbour was with the I'egiment in that greatest spectacle of the 
age, the Grand Review at Washington, D. C, where he received his dis- 
charge, in June of 1865. He had given four years of earnest and loyal 
service to secure the perpetuity of the Republic, founded by our fathers, 
and returned home with the consciousness of duty well and faithfully 
done. 

It was several years before Mr. Barbour was able to engage actively 
in the battle of life, but, after a time, he engaged in the drug business 
in Warsaw. In 1885, he came out to the "Soldier State," first settling 



HISTOUV or MONTfiOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 595 

In Liiwrenee, where he engaged in the grocery business. After a period, 
be accepted a position in the Santa Fe railway shops at Topeka, and. in 
1887, came to Montgomery county. Here, he purchased a farm of three 
hundred and sixty-tive acres, ui)on which lie has since resided. It is sit- 
luited seven miles northwest of Coft'eyville. in Fawn Creek township. 
From the comfortal)le farm house to the substantial buidings for his 
stock, and to the well-kept fields, there is that air of thrift and enter- 
prise, which bespeaks the master hand of the intelligent agriculturist. 
FTe makes a specialty of thoroughbred Hereford stock, and, also, gives 
much attention to the raising of registered trotting horses, some of 
which, in past years, have made very good records on the track. There 
is a good gas well on the farm, and his house and barns are all furnished 
with light and heat from this medium. Mr. Barbour takes an intelligent 
and patriotic interest in the affairs of local government, and has .served 
as trustee of Fawn Creek township. In politics, he is a staunch Repub- 
lican. 

Marriage was contracted by our subject on the 14th of October, 
1S81, his wife's maiden name having been Alice Hoover, by whom there 
were born four children : Edna, Harry, Jesse and McKinley. By a former 
marriage, to Peter Hoover, Mrs. Barbour had three children : Charles, 
Clara, and Myron, deceased. (Mr. Barbour passed away, April 22, lflO.3.) 



JOHN W. WALKER— One of the old-time settlers of the county 
and one who is honorably associated with its liistory. is the subject of 
this notice. He was born in Ohio, March 8, 1845, and is a sou of Wil- 
liam Walker, a native Scotchman, who left home when a boy and went 
aboard a ship, as a sailor. He remained in this capacity for ten years, 
durii:g which time he sailed all over the world, landing in America about 
1S35. Here, he was employed at steamboatiug on the Mississippi river, 
and was one of the crew on the boat sent up the Arkansas river, by the 
■Government, to pay off the Indians at Fort Gibson. 

AVilliam Walker married Martha Work and came to Missouri, in 
18(J8, and settled near Joplin, where he died, in 1891, at the age of eighty- 
one years, his wife dying, in 18SG, at sixty-four years old. They were 
the ])arents of eight children, four of whom are living. 

The subject of this sketch is the oldest of his father's family. He 
was I eared in Ohio, on a farm, and lived with his parents until he was 
tweniy one years of age. His education was received in the common 
schools and he graduated, in penmanshij) and bookkeejiing, from Duff's 
liusii.css College, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He came to Missouri, in 
18(58, and settled in Jasper county, where he remained two years. In 
18(58, he married Mary Rothanbargar, a native of Missouri, and, in the 
same year, moved to Kansas and located in Old Parker, where he spent 



59^ HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

a year in the grocery business. He tlien bought a claim, and furnished 
the money to prove up on the one where he now resides. Tliis he improved 
until it is one of the fine farms of his neighborhood, with substantial 
buildings, among which are a large barn with stone basement. There is 
also a large cellar, built by ^Ir. Walker himself. He is engaged in fruit 
farming and hog raising, for the market. He has one hundred and fifty 
acres on Onion creek, six miles west of Cofteyville, devoted largely to 
alfalfa and kindred products of the farm. 

Mr. ^Valker was a resident of this county before the treaty was made 
with the Indians and saw plenty of them in camj) on his farm. 

After the death of his wife, in 1884, he spent the time, till 1892, in 
Texas and Oklahoma. After four years more, spent in his old home in 
Missouri, whei'e he went to settle his father's estate, he returned, in 1896, 
to his Kansas home. There were five children in the family, viz: William,, 
who died in 1902, at thirty-two years of age; Laura, who died at six 
months old; .Vlbert and Clara, still at home; Benjamin, who was, upon 
the death of his mother, adopted and reared by J. R. Jones. 

In politics, Mr. Walker is a Democrat, but prefers to support the 
man, regardless of politics. He has served several terms in minor of- 
fices, having been clerk of the township for some time. He is an iu- 
dustl'ious and honored citizen. 



BRIDGET MEAGHER— For the past thirty yeai-s the lady whose 
name appears above, has been an honored resident of Montgomery 
county, together with her husband and children; his death having occur- 
red on the home farm, on the 15th of March, 1888. She is the widow of 
Thomas Meagher, a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, where he was 
born, in 1815. Mr. Meagher was a gentleman who possessed, in a happy 
degree, the sturdy characteristics of his race and was mourned by a 
large circle of friends, at his death. He was a devout communicant of 
the Roman Catholic church, and, in political belief, was a Democrat. 
At the breaking out of the Mexican war, he volunteered for service, and 
was a member of the body guai"d of Genei-al Taylor, during his campaign 
in Mexico. 

Mrs. Meagher was, also, of Irish extraction, having been born in 
County Tipperary, in the year 1824. She was a daughter of Patrick Mc- 
Corniick and removed, with her parents, to the United States, in 1841, 
and located in New Yoi-k City, where they lived for the succeeding four 
years. INIrs. Meagher was joined in marriage, February 2, 1852, with 
Thomas Meagher, in Iowa. They lived there until 1873, when they set- 
tled in Montgomery county. To Mrs. Meagher were born : Kate — Jan- 
uary 5, 1853 — who married William Mackle, hotel proprietor, in Caney, 
Kansas; she is the mother of eight children, five of whom are living 



• 








■H^ 








^P* / 


". 



JUDGE DANIEL CLINE. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMBBT COUNTT, KANSAS. 597 

as follows: Tlioiiias J.. .Tames W., Edwarcl, Lulu ami Annie. Elizabeth, 
the second, was born Oitober 24, lS7tj, and is the wife of Patrick Kel- 
ley, and lives near Caney. Her children are: -James, Annie, Agnes, 
Maggie, Katie, William, Frank and John. Frank, the third child, is a 
farmer of Rutland township and is married to Carry Garr and has 
three children: Dora, Nora and Olive. James is the fourth child, lives 
in Oklahoma, and his wife is Nelliie .Vshland. Thomas, the fifth child, 
resides in Los Angeles, ("alifornia. Daniel, the ^youngest son, resides 
with his mother on the home farm. These children were all born in 
Clinton county, Iowa, where the family resided, prior to their coming 
to Kansas. 



DANIEL CLINE — Daniel Cline is one of the old guard of pioneer 
farmers who came to Montgomery county in the early day, braved the 
hardships incident to life at that period, reared a large family, served his 
township and county in offices of both trust and profit, and now lives 
in a comfortable home in Independence, enjoying the fruits of his hard 
labor ;!nd careful management. 

He was born in Carroll county, Indiana, February 22, 1835, the son 
of Jacob and Mary (Shirar) Cline. The i>arents were both born in Ger- 
many, the father in 18(10, the mother in 1795. Jacob Cline came to this 
country, in early youth, and settled in Corroll county, Indiana, where 
he passed his life, engaged in the saw-mill business and in tilling the 
soil. He was of a family of si.x children : Michael, Leonard, George, 
Daniel, John and Phoebe. 

Daniel Cline was reared on the farm and remained at home until 
his marriage, in November of 18.57. The first event of importance, after 
this, was the breaking out of the Civil war, which found him ready to 
do a!-d die for his country. -June 18, 18fi2, he enlisted, as a private, in 
Company "A," of the Seventy-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry. This 
company formed a part of Svilder's Brigade of Mounted Infantry and 
went through the war in that position, participating in the battles and 
marches accredited to that celebrated corps. Mr. Cline served, faith- 
fully, during three years of the war and then retired to the walks of 
peace, conscious of having done his full duty. He continued to reside 
in Indiana, until 18(58, and then joined the tide of emigration, westward 
bound, for the new State of Kansas. He first located in Douglas county, 
but, the following year, came on to Montgomery, where he settled on a 
farm, seven miles southwest of Independence. This farm he continued 
to cultivate, with success, until his retirement and subsequent removal 
to the city, in ISOO. 

Mr. Cline always took a keen interest in public affairs and was se- 
lected, at ditferent times, to fill offices of public trust. In 1873 and 1874, 



598 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

he was elected township trustee; in 1875. treasurer; again, trustee, in 
1S7G, and treasurer, in 1877. He then continued to administer this of- 
flee, until his election, as justice of the jteace. in 18S2. which he held two 
years. In 1890, he was honored with elei-tion to the office of Probate 
Judge of the county, and, again, in 1S9U. serving four years in the ofifiee. 

rraternally, Mr. Cline is a member of the I. O. O. F. and. also, has 
a membership in the Grand .\rmy of the Re](ublic. 

The maiden name of the wife of Daniel Cline was Sarah .7. l^oyer. 
She was born. April. :?. 18l5(i. near Fredrick, ^laryland. In girlhood, she 
removed, with her family, to Burlington. Carroll county. Indiana, where 
she, later, married Mr. Cline. as stated above. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cline reared tlie following family: Kosanna. married 
AV. F. McConnell. blacksmith and farmer, of liolton. Aloiitgomery county; 
<'hildren : J. W.. I']dna. Taylor and Lessie ; Isaac Newton, deceased at 
eighteen months: lOIi/.abeth .1.. wife of Williani T. Hockett. She is now 
deceased, leaving three childien: 51ary. Clyde and \A'ardie. Mahala 
Margaret, married Henry Sanders; four children: I.,illie, Fred, Edgar 
and Ernie; .Mary Caroline, wife of S. H. Conner, a farmer, seven miles 
southwest of Independence; children: Olie, Nellie. lOsthei'. I>eslie and 
Daniel. IJebecca A., wife of Isaa<- D. Oberholtzcr. of Independence; 
childien; Edith. Kalph, Har.>ld and Taul; Ida Kelle. wife of Philip Near, 
a plumber of Erie. Kansas; one child: Elsie. By her first marriage, to 
A. W. P.etts, there were the following children: Roy, Carl, deceased, and 
Fern; Charles Thomas died at the age of sixteen years; Olive May, 
wife of M. L. Finley. an employee of the glass works in Independence, 
has one child, Cline. 



(iEOHdE H. DUCKWORTH— A gentlemaTi who has thoroughly 
identified himself with Coffeyville and has been responsible for much 
of the spirit of restless energy which characterizes the business element 
there, is George H. Duckworth, since 1888. engaged in the real estate 
business, at that point. 

Mr. Duckworth is of Kentucky birth. Bath county the place, and 
January 2, 1834, the time. He is a son of John and Catherine (Moore) 
Duckworth, who were well-to-do farmers in the "Blue Grass State," 
living unostentatious, but useful lives, and passing to their rest with 
the love and ies]iect of family and friends. They were deeply devout 
and active members of the Methodist church, and their home was always 
o])en to the men of (iod. who took upon themselves the hard life of the 
itinerant minister. The father lived to be sixty years of age, dying in 
1848, the mother suiviving him twelve years, her age, at death, being 
fifty-seven. Their three living children are: George H., James J., a re 
tired farmer, of North Salem. Indiana; and Juelda, widow of Jacob 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 599 

Buchannon, residing in Sharpesville, Indiana. Those deceased, are: 
Presley Sanford, Mrs. Ann Eliza Adair, Mrs. 8usan Claypool, Sarah 
and ^^'illianl \\'. The latter was a corijoral in the Fifty-first Indiana 
Infantry, and was killed, instantly, at the battle of Stone River, at 
twenty years of age. 

George Dnckworth received his early training in a Christian home 
and amid rural scones, securing a primary training in the district 
schools. A boy of independent spirit, he began life for himself, as a 
farm laborer, at the age of sixteen, and, later, took up carpentry. About 
the date of his majority, he engaged in the grocery business, in North 
Salem. Indiana. For this, in time, was substituted a general stock busi- 
ness, dealing largely in mules and horses. He came to Montgomery coun- 
ty, Kansas, in 1SS8, and has since been engaged, chiefly, in the real estate 
business. 

Mr. Duckworth married, December 24, 1864. His wife was Eudotia 
Page, a native of the "Hoosier State," and a daughter of Chesley and 
Martha H. Page. Mr. and Mrs. Duckworth have no children of their 
own, but have, as an inmate of their home. Miss Gloret Jones, whom 
they reared, an only datighter. She is a student of the high school and 
of great promise, showing unusual gifts in the line of vocal and instru- 
menl'il music 

The famil\- of Mrs. 1 )uckw<)i-th was from old Virginia, her father 
and motlier being natives of Lee county. They married, in that county, 
about the year 1824, and, soon after, went out to the, then, new State 
of Indiana. Here, they entered land, in Hendricks county, where they 
died. Mr. Page was born January 2, 18(H, and died December 22, 1862. 
The wife was l)orn Novend)er 7, 1804, and died Sei)tend)er 1, 1885. 
They were prominent and active members of the Methodist church and 
their lives were passed in accord with the teachings of the Master, whom 
they loved to serve. Their nine children were: Sarah R., Mrs. Riley 
Benefiel. now decaesed; Elizabeth, Mrs. Lynmn Herrington, of Coffey- 
ville;- Peter M.. deceased; David, who died in infancy; Eppie J., de- 
ceaspd wife of Samuel llyites; Mary M., wife of Andrew J. Page, of 
Hendricks county, Indiana; lOliza, deceased; Mrs. Duckworth and 
Emily A., Mrs. John Buchannon, deceased. 

Mr. and Mrs. Duckworth follow the early teaching and example of 
their parents, and are active and worthy members of the Methodist 
church. Indeed, the whole connection is devoiitly Methodistic and have 
been, since the rise of that noble sect. In a fraternal way, Mr. Duck- 
worth afliiliates with the I. O. O. F., and in politics, exercises his judg- 
ment in the selection of men and principles, regardless of party name. 



^'A^' r. HAMILTOX—It is gratifying to note the success of the 
young men of the county, who have resisted the wiles of city life and 



,'600 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

are giving their attention to the culiivjition nf tlie soil. No occupation, 
in life, is more honorable, and none other will so certainly bring finan- 
cial returns for intelligent and jiersistent effort. The success of V. C. 
Hanilton is all the more gratifying, because he lias his individual efforts 
to thank, having started at the very bottom of the financial ladder, and 
having ac(|uired one of the jirettiest rural homes in the south part of 
the county, two miles from the village of Tyro, and situated bai-k from 
the road, amid a beautiful native oak grove. 

I'.orn in Randolph county. Illinois. February 1. lS(i(). ^Ir. Hamilton 
was brought to ('r;iwford county. Kansas, by his parents. William Baker 
.and Eleanor (^'anSicklel Hamilton, at four years of age. His mother 
died in 187i), and Mr. Hamilton was. thenceforth, an inmate of the home 
of A. D. Nance. His father left Crawford and settled in Doniphan 
coiinty, Kansas. b\it died at Jo]ilin. Missouri. .Mar<h :\l. 1!)()1. at the age 
of sixty-seven years. 

William B. Hamilton was a man of tine imjiulses and of intense 
patriotism, having served four fiill years during the war of the Rebel- 
lion. His early service was as a ]>rivate soldier in an Illinois regiment, 
and comprised active woik in the field. He contracted a severe case of 
measles, however, which put an end to work of such a iharacter, but 
with sight badly impaired, he did duty in the hospitals during the re- 
mainder of the struggle. He was the father of nine children, those who 
grew up being: Nettie, Dora, George and Van (\ 

Our subject came to the state with his parents, in ISGO, and was 
reared to nmn's estate in Crawftu'd county, receiving but a limited edu- 
cation. In 1883, he came to Montgomery county and began life for him- 
self, as a farmer. I'pou his marriage, three years later, he removed to 
the Indian Territory, where he went into the stock business, which he 
followed, successfully, for the next thirteen years. Having laid by 
enough to buy a farm, he came back to Montgomery county and pur- 
chased his present location, two miles west of Tyro. He has. here, a 
fine body of four hundred and eighty acres, supplied with all the neces- 
sary paraphernalia for the conduct of a modern stock farm. Since his 
coming into possession, he has added a number of substantial improve 
ments and is rapidly bringing the farm up to a high state of cultivation. 
If one thing more than another is responsible for the success he is mak- 
ing, if is his penchant for work. He buys up and feeds stock, and no 
weather is too inclement for him to be in the saddle, if there is business 
in the air. He is a man of iron constitution and takes a delight in the 
active outdoor labor of the farm. He gives promise of becoming one of 
]\Iontgomery's most affluent citizens. 

On the 10th of November, 1880, Mr. Hamilton was joined in mar- 
riage with Mollie, a daughter of Robert and Margaret (Franklin) An 
.derson. Mrs. Hamilton was born in Crawford county, Kansas, Febru- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 6ot 

ary 10, 1807. Her jmrcMits t-ame to the state from Iowa, in I860, and 
died young, the father at forty-two, and the mother at twenty-eight years. 
The fjither served tlie full period of the war, as FirsI T.ieutenant of Com- 
pany "r," Fourteenth Kansas ^'oiunteor Infantry. There were four 
children horn to the parents, tliose now living being: Jennie, who mar- 
ried A. (". Ward; Williani, and Mrs. Hamilton. To Mrs. Hamilton has 
been born a son, Claude, his birth occurring September 24, 1887. 



BIONJAMIN F. KITTKK— Itenjamin F. Ritter was born in Stark 
count,"!. Ohio, on the 10th day of Se|)teniber, 1837. His father was Henry 
Ritter, a native of Adams county, I'ennsylvania, who went to Ohio in 
1812 and, in 18.~)2, went to Indiana, at which time Indians were plenti- 
ful in Ohio. He settled in Allen county, near Fort Wayne, Indiana, 
where he died, in 1871, at seventy-four years of age. His wife died at 
the age of sixty-six. There wei'e eight children in this family, of whom 
only two are living, viz: Benjamin F. and Adeline McDowell, the latter 
a resident of Texas. 

Mr. Ritter was only fifteen years old when his father moved to In- 
diana. Here, he received a common school education and remained with' 
his parents until he was twenty-one years old. On the 22d of August^ 
18G1, when twenty-four years old, he enlisted in Company "D," Thir- 
tieth Indiana Infanlry. He served till the itth of September, 1862, when 
he was disdiai-gcd on account of disability, caused by sunstroke. He was 
in the battle of Shiloh and several smaller engagements. After his dis- 
charge, he returned home and married, January 1, 1863, Mary E. Petty- 
john. Mv. Ritter lived in Allen county and followed the occupation of a 
farmer until 188."i, when he came to Kansas and bought the farm where 
he now resides. He owns one hundred and twenty acres, which he has 
improved and on which stands a substantial stone residence. Mrs. Mary 
E. Ritter died at the age of fifty-two years, on the twenty-eighth day of 
July, 1894. leaving eight children: John, Charles, George, Henry, Frank, 
Ella, Jessie J. and Deborah. Mr. Ritter was married, the second time, 
to AiM-e Parker, in 1809. 

Mr. Ritter has taken some intei-est in politics and has served as trus- 
tee of the townsliij). He is a mail of honesty, of great integrity, and has 
all tlif qualities that go to make him a desirable resident of the county. 



O. 10\'AXS — Well and widely known and respected, among the 
farmeis and stockraisers of Montgomery county, is O. Evans, the sub- 
ject of this article. 

-Mr. Ihans is a son of Samuel Kvans, a native of Virginia, but 
who moved to Indiana when a bov. After some years, lie met and mar- 



602 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

lied Miss Hannah Michael, also a Virginian, and who was. also, brought 
to Indiana, as a child. 

Samuel Evans was a farmer. He moved from Indiana to Mercer 
county, Missouri, in the fall of 1857, living there until his death, at 
sixty-five years of age. He was survived by his wife. Hannah (who died 
at the age of seventy-seven), and seven children, viz: John Evans, now 
in Idaho ;CatherineHuflf, deceased; William Evans, in Idaho; Dudley W., 
of Kirksville, Missouri; O. Evans, our subject; Mary Holt, living near 
Hermitage, South ISIissouri ; Daniel Evans, youngest child, now living 
in Kansas with his brother, the stockraiser. 

Our subject was born on April 1-5, 184:^. in Deiatur county. Indiana, 
■where he lived until he was fifteen years old. receiving very little edu- 
cation, save that which he got from the great book of nature. At this 
time, his parents moved into Missouri, taking their children with them. 
Our subject lived at home with his jiarents until he was twenty-six years 
old, when he was married, on xVpril 8. 18011, td Saritda Tickett, who was 
born in Mercer county, Missouri, in 1848. When Mr. Evans married, 
he went into debt for eighty acres of land, which he improved, and by 
hard work, thrift and the help of his young wife, cleared the same of 
debt, and on which they lived until 1881. He then sold out and moved 
to Idaho, thinking to do yet better for his increasing family. Idaho, not 
being to the liking of the man of the prairie, in one year, he, again, 
moved to Kansas, where they purchased four liundred acres of land in 
Fawn Creek township. This land Mr. Evans improved and lived upon 
for a number of years. In addititni to farming, he now raised fine stock. 
In 1895, he bought more land, three lumdied and thitry-six acres on 
Onion creek, three miles west of Coft'eyville. where h(> is now living. 

That perseverance and industry count for much, is readily seen in 
the life and accumulated wealth of Mr. lOvans, who, by these qualities, 
combined with a shrewd capacity for business, has made a very sub- 
stantial fortune, part of which consists of a valuable farm of eight hun- 
dred and ninety-six acres, in the gas and oil belt of Parker township, 
besides he owns one hundred and fifty-six a<-res in ("hautauqua county, 
Kansas. 

It is well known that his unswerving honesty and genial personality 
have contributed not a little toward making Mr. Evans' business life 
a success, but he, himself, attributes it to his strict attention to all busi- 
ness matters and never allowing trivialities to interfere with the more 
important affairs of life. 

]>uring his business career, Mr. Evans has handled very large num- 
bers of cattle, but he is now contenijihif ing a retirement from business, 
and so is, gradually, reducing the number of cattle until, now, he has 
only one hundred and fifty head. He has, also, retired from farming and 
now rents most of the numei-ous acres he owns. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 60J 

Mr. Evans' lot in life has been similar to tiiat of most fanners, much 
work and little i)la.v. hut still unlike many farmers, it lias vieUleil a grand 
profit and he can, now, take a well earned rest. 

Mr. and Mrs. Evans have had ten children born to them: Nathaniel 
P., a graduate of the State N(uinal at Emporia, but who died in 1902, 
aged thirty-two; Hannah Hatchen, of Tyro; Ida. a graduate of the Em- 
poria normal school and now teaching in the State of Washington; 
William O.. farmer, near Tyro; Sarah S. T>uubar, deceased; Nellie, now 
attending the State Normal (class of UMU) ; Abliie, Hirkley, Edna and Ol- 
iver still at Inune. 

Politically, Mr. lOvans is a Democrat, and takes an interest in the 
politics of the county, of which he is so prominent a resident, but, in his 
home jjolitics, it is the man, not the party, which rules his vote. 



FRANK (WUr. — In the spring (»f l.S(i!(, a young (Jerman boy found 
himself settled on the prairies, nine miles northeast of where Coffeyville 
is now located. This young man, Frank ('arl, was thousands of miles 
away from Ids native country and without friends or acquaintances. He 
was born in (Jermany, October 1.5, 1832. His parents died when he was 
a small child and lie was taken l)y his i-elatives, who brought him to years 
of maturity. When he was about twenty-four years of age, he learned 
of the country across the sea, and, gathering together his all, he set sail 
for America, where he landed, in 1850. 

For a short time, he worked in New Jersey, on a farm, and then 
went to Cincinnati, near where he followed the same work for five years. 
He was married, in 18.58, to Mary Eich, a native of Germany. In 1861, 
they n!oved to Illinois and settled in Woodford county. When the great 
war came on, he enlisted, in August of 18G1, in Company "K," Forty- 
fourth Illinois Infantry. He .served three years and was in many hard- 
fought battles, receiving "a painful wound at the battle of Chickamauga. 
In 18r>4. after three long years of hard .service, he was discharged and 
returned home to Illinois, where, for some time, he was engaged in the 
sawmill business. 

lu 18()!), .Mr. Carl moved iiis family to Kansas and settled on a claim, 
nine miles northeast of Cotleyville, where he has since remained. His' 
farm consists of fotir hundred and eighty acres of the best land in the 
county, and, on i(. has been erected a good residence, a large barn and 
good substantial out buiidiiig.s. The place is well shaded with native 
trees, which .Mr. Carl himself |>lanted. At the beginning of his residence 
in this slate, the place was wild, being over-run with Indians, and it was 
hard to get provisions and otiier needed articles from Humboldt, as all 
these had to l)e hauled by wagon. After overcoming all obstacles — 
grass-hoppers, chinch bugs, etc. — lie finally reached a position where he 



604 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

could rest, and turn the farm over to his sons. Until later years, Mr, 
Carl has handled large herds of stock, but droi)ped this industry, also, 
with his retirement from the farm. 

Mrs. Carl died, in 1888, at the age of fifty years, leaving six children: 
"William, Matthias, Joseph, <'lara. wife of Herbert Dixon; Annie, de- 
ceased ; and Ella, at home and the house-keeper for her father and broth- 
ers; Annie was the wife of Jacob Staats and lived in Coffey ville until she 
died, leaving one child, Carl Staats. 



J. C. PICKERING— Coffeyville is essentially a home town. Few 
lines of business but are represented and well patronized, within its 
limits. This is the secret of her prosperity and is worthy of emulation 
by other municipalities in the county. One of the lines which is of inter- 
est to all, is that engaged in by the gentleman whose name appears 
above, he being a member of the marble and granite tirm of Sellers & 
Pickering. This firm was organized in 1801. and lias established a large 
ti-ade in all kinds of marble and stone work. Both members of the firm 
are skilled workmen and turn out a product which is not surj)assed in 
style and finish. 

Pickering is an honored English name, Tlionnis, the father of our 
subject, having been born and reared in Northamjiton. England. He 
was educated for the nnnistry of the Church of England, but circum- 
stances changed the trend of his thought, and. with his young wife, who 
was Elizabeth Leek, he crossed the seas, to the gold fields of Australia. 
Here, he did (piite well, but was not willing to sacrifice the conveniences 
of civilization, though that sacrifice might, more ra])idly. liring wealth. 
He, therefore, embarked for the States and, about lS7(t, settled in Miami 
counts, Kansas, where he engaged in farming niilil the date of liis deatl\, 
in 1881. The mother survived him some eight years, dying on board the 
steamship Zelandia, while returning from a visit to her old home, in 
Australia. Her age was sixty-two, while that of Mr. Pickering was fifty- 
eight years. There were four children : Hari-y, a farmer of Fontana, 
Kansas; F. G., a banker at Jit. Vernon, Wasliiiiglon ; .1. ('. , and Lillie E., 
Mrs, Albert Folks, of Fontana, Kan!<as. 

J. C. Pickering was born in Englan<l. in 18(j.j, and came to the I'nited 
States, alone, at the age of fifteen years. He was reared and educated 
in England, and, on arriving at the age of eigliteen, took service with 
a maible-cutter in PaoJa, Kansas, D. O. Sellers, and. in ISlll. he went 
into business for himself, in Cofteyville, as above related. 

The home life of Mr. Pickering was initiated, on Christmas day of 
1890, when he was joined in marriage with Mattie E. Scothorne. Mrs. 
Pickering is an Ohio lady, a daughter of F. A. and Josephine Scothornej 
who removed to Paola, in 1880. To Mr. Pickering's home have come 



1^ 




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F. N. BENDER. 



ftlSTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 6o5 

three bright children: Benjamin E., Alene E. and Josephine E. Mrs. 
Pickering holds membership in the Congregational church, while he is 
a Mason, and a member of the Knights of Pythias, and of which he is 
Past Chancellor, having filled all the chairs subordinate to that one. 
Mr. Pickering, also, holds membership in the Elks, and, in political mat- 
ters, votes with the Republican party. 



F. N. BENDER— Well and most favorably known to the building 
trades of Independence and esteemed as a citizen, we present F. N. Ben- 
der's life work, in brief, as a factor in the internal development of the 
county seat. Comparatively young in years, but old and trained in ex- 
perience in the craft, his efforts have accomplished much, as a moro 
defiled account of his career would reveal. 

He was born in Fulton county, Illinois, of parents, Tobias and Eliz- 
abetli (Sinclair) Bender, the father a retired cabinet-maker, of Kansas 
City, and a leading member of the M. E. church. Tobias Bender was 
born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and began his wander- 
ings toward <he setting sun, before the era of railways, some lime in the 
40's. His tri]) carried him down the Ohio river, up the Mississippi and 
Illinois rivers, to Peoria, where he settled and resided till about 1856, 
when he moved to Fulton county, Illinois. In 1882, he came to Kansas 
and resided on a farm, near Independence, till 1897, when he removed to 
the city which is now his home. His wife was born in the State of Penn^ 
sylvauia, in 183(», and is a devoted mother and Christian lady. She is 
the mother of ten children, four of whom yet survive, as follows: Mary, 
wife of Robert Swartz. of Kansas City, Kansas; F. N., of this article j 
Jacob S., of Kansas City, a plate-glass worker and an inventor of some 
note; Edward, in Ihe same business with Jacob, in Kansas City. 

The birth of F. N. Bender occurred August 11, 1800. His education 
was acquired in the Illinois public schools and, at the youthful age of 
thirteen, began to learn his trade. He continued it, zealously, till he 
had iiC(|nired a wide knowledge of carpenter and cabinet work and then 
became a journeyman carpenter. lie took up planing-mill work, in 1886, 
in Kansas City, where he went that year, remaining some ten years. As 
a builder in Indejiendence, he has filled contracts on some of the good 
structures of the city, dwellings and business houses, and his work has 
shown him io be master of the trade he follows. 

July ;>, 1SS4. Mr. P.ender married lOmiiia Belle Mills, a daughter of 
Elislia and Margaret (Burns) Mills, native, resj)ectively. of New York 
and Pennsylvania. Mr. ^lills was a hotel man in Davenport and Buffalo, 
Iowa, and, from 1873 to 1883, in Indei)end('nce, Kansas. He was born 
October 124, 1818, and died Decenil)er 4, 1001, in Independence. His first 
wife was Miss Pai-ker, who bore him si.x children, of which number three 



6o6 HISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

yet live, viz: Mark, of Colorado; George, of Beuwick, Iowa; and Charles, 
of Ida Falls, Idaho. Tliree of the seven children, born of his second mar- 
riage, snrvive Mr. Mills, namely: Mrs. Bender, Lyle L., of Salt Lake, 
Utah, and Ernest, of Independence, Kansas. Mrs. Bender's mother was 
tirst married to Thomas Walker and has fonr children living by that 
nnion, as follows: Thomas, of Joplin, Missionri ; David, of Coffeyville, 
Kansas; Josephine, widow of John S. James, of Davenport, Iowa; and 
Laura, widow of C. W. Middleton, resides in Indei)endence. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bender's children are Clyde M., deceased at ten years; Hazel Urma, 
Lila Marie, Oscar N. and Harry. 

Mr. Bender has passed all the chairs in local OddtVllowship. He 
is a member of the Woodmen, Red Men and Elks. He was elected a mem- 
ber of the Board of Education of Independence, in 1902. and is a Repub- 
lican in politics. 

Mr. Bender is a musician of some note and is a member of the Inde- 
pendence Concert Band, of which he is president, and is an alto player. 



JOSEPH R. JONES— Josei.h R. Jones was born in Tippecanoe 
counvy, Indiana, October 5, 1838, and is a son of Joseph Jones, born in 
Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1802. His mother's maiden name was Mary 
Cass, a native of Kentucky, but who moved to Indiana, at an early day, 
and, in 1839, moved to Illinois and settled in Vermillion county, where 
her husband died, in 1808, at the age of sixty-six years. Slie died in 1876, 
at the age of sixty-five years. There were nine children in this Jones 
family, as follows: James W. and Eliza Jane, deceased; Robert A., living 
in Chicago; Caroline, who died at fifty-four years of age; Marinemna, 
who died in 18(i3; Joseph R., our subject; Mary, wife of W. H. Harris, 
of r»erver; Sarah and Lewis C, deceased. 

Joseph R. Jones was reared in Vermillion county, Illinois, where 
he w,?s educated in the district schools. In 1872, he came to Kansas and 
bought three hundred and twenty acres of land, one and one half miles 
west of Cofleyville. At first, he occupied a small house on the farm, 
until he could build a home. He soon launched into the cattle business, 
in connection with farming, continuing each year to increase his stock, 
always feeding a large number through the winter. The farm, lying on 
Onion creek, furnishes plenty of good bottom land for cultivation. To 
the perseverance of its owner, is due the high state of cultivation which 
this land has reached, and the many improvements which make it so de- 
sirable a home. 

In 1880, Mr. Jones was married, in the month of May, to Emma M. 
Davis. His wife is a native of Boone county, Kentucky, where she was 
born on the 4th day of September, 1855. Her farther, John E, Davis, 
was a native of Kentucky, and married, in Indiana, Martha O. Paul, a 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 6o^ 

native of that state. They came to Kansas in 1809, and settled in Cof- 
fe.vville, where Mr. Davis's death occurred, March 21, 1902, at the age 
of sixty-nine. His wife still survives him, and is a resident of Coffey- 
ville. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born nine children: Emma M., Laura 
E., Amanda M., deceased; Charles J., of Coffeyville; Myrtle L., of Wich- 
ita; John H., of Coffeyville; Mattie O., deceased; Maud O. and Holden 
P., of Coffeyville. 

Mr. Jones came to Kansas with only a small sum of money, but by 
hard work and close ajiplication to business, he has acquired a compe- 
tency sufficient to enable him to live a retired life. His home is a large 
and commodious one, located in the best part of the city of Coffeyville. 
He ard his wife, after many years of hard work, left the farm and 
moved to this home, October 18, 1893. He owns a number of valuable 
residences in the cily, which he rents, besides several lots still vacant, 
in good locations, in the city. 

Mr. Jones is, politically, a Democrat, but he has never given much 
time to politics. 



RORERT N. SELBY— One of the live and progressive men of Cof- 
feyville is Robert N. Selby, vice-president of the Coffeyville Mercantile 
Company, and treasurer and manager of the Coffeyville Implement and 
Manufacturing Company. 

Mr. Selby came to the city with bis parents, in 1871, a nine-jear-old 
boy, i.nd has passed the greater portion of his life within its bounds. He 
is a son of George W. and Esther (Kandall) Selby, and was born in 
Knox county, Illinois, October 19, 1805. George \V. Selby was a native 
of Kentucky, which state he left in the early 40's and located in Illinois. 
Here, he nuirried and continued to I'eside, until 1871, when he reniovec] 
his fi.mily to Kansas, taking up a claim in Montgomery county. lu 
1874, he came to Coffeyville and, for a number of years, was one of her 
well-known and cnleritrising citizens. He was, for a time, connected 
with the mercantile interests of the city, and, later, became "mine host" 
of the I^ldridge hotel, where he died, October 10, 1889, aged fifty years. 
He was a man of substantial qualities and, at several different times dur- 
ing his residence here, was honored by election to such ottices as justice 
of the peace and mayor of the city. The wife and nuitlier survived him 
some years, passing away, March 29, 190;{. Tliey were' devout meiiiberfi 
of the I'resliyterian church. Their family consisted of but three chil- 
dren- Dora 1., who married Jacob (luthrie and resides in Coffeyville; 
Rotert N., and Ressie, who married Frank M. Stillwell, and died in Sel- 
ma, Alabama, in October of 1888. 

Robert N. Selby is a product of the Coffeyville schools, in education. 



6o8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

After he left school, he entered the employ of Reed Bros., as a clerk, and,- 
subse(;iiently, went on the road, as travelinj]; salesman, for the T. Green 
Grocery Company, of Kansas City. After fourteen years of service with 
this firm, he became connected with a Chicago brokerage house. Reed, 
Murdock & Co., with whom he continued until the date of his return to 
Coffpy\ille, in 1S!)8, he being one of the organizers of the Coffeyville Mer- 
cantile Company, wholesale grocers. He was active in building \ip this 
institution, for five years, and is still connected with it, though the 
greater portion of his time is given to a new venture, organized March 1, 
1903 — the Cotfeyville Implement and Manufacturing Company. This 
company was organized for the purpose of placing on the market, a plow, 
invented by E. 15. Winters. The officers of the company are: H. A. Brew- 
ster, president; W. 1*. Brown, vice-president; E. E. Wilson, secretary; 
B. N. Selby, treasurer and manager; and E. B. Winters, superintendent 
of the factory. The concern employs some twelve or fifteen operatives 
and has purchased five acres, near town, on which it will, in the near fu- 
ture, erect a large plant. 

Mr. Selby is also largely interested in the grain and hay business, 
in the Territory, owning five elevators and warehouses, on different lines 
of railroad, and it will thus be seen that Coffeyville has, in him, a live, 
energetic and helpful citizen, and one whose influence is wide-spread for 
good. He and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian church, 
and are prominent in the different movements, set on foot for the ame- 
liorat!(ui of the ills of the body politic, both local and general. The I. O. 
O. F. meets the views of Mr. Selby, as to the fraternal principle, whil« 
the Repul)lican j)latform suits him in matters of politics. 

Marriage was an event of April 2, 1897, with Mr. Selby. Miss 
Eleanor McCliutock, whom he led to the altar, is a native Kansas girlj 
born in 1873, a daughter of John and Annette McClintock, both now de- 
ceaseii. To their home have come two daughters: Bessie A. and Esther. 



HENRY \V. DCCKETT— Henry W. Duckett, a contractor and 
buih^ev of Coffeyville, and one of the worthy and enterprising citizens of 
that live town, is a native of Butler county, Ohio. His birth occurred 
December 15. 1839, his parents being Caleb M. and Ruth (Stull) Duckett. 
The Dui'kett family came up into Ohio from Kentucky and are of Irish 
extraclion: the Stalls are of Pennsylvania-Dutch lineage. 

( ak'b Duckett was a carpenter, by occupation, and a good and loyal 
citizen. After he had given two of his sons to his country he, in 1863, 
himself, enlisted in the Eleventh Indiana Cavalry. At the battle of Nash- 
ville, he was taken prisoner and was never again seen by friends. The 
family made every effort to trace his whereabouts, and our subject was 
especially active in the search, but no infornmtion could be obtained, 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 609 

howevei', more than that he had been an inmate of a Oonfedeiale ])iison 
at C'ahaba, Alabama, and it is believed, he died at that jdace. \\ lieiever 
his laiiial place, the gratitude of a i-eiiniled idimtiy ^^athers, as a halo, 
over his unknown jirave. His wife survived hiin many years, dying in 
June of 1887, at the age of sixty-eight years. Tlie eliildren born to her 
were: Mrs. Mary Hole, of Montgomery eounty, Indiana; Henry W. , Mrs. 
Martha Wilson, Mrs. Mahala J. Hntzler; Amos L.. of Portland, Indiana, 
who enlisted in 1S(>2. in Company "H," One Hundredth Indiana Volun- 
teer Infantry, and seived three years; Mrs. Naney Horner, of day coun- 
ty, Indiana, is the youngest and is deceased. The husbands of Martha 
and Nancy were, also, gallant defenders of Hie Hag. 

The education of our subject was secured in the dislriclt schools 
of Indiana, where the family had removed, in his early boyhood. He 
learned the trade of his father and was engaged at it when the tocsin of 
war mounded its dread alarm. He lia<l l)een nnrluied in a jiatriotic home 
and, \\ hen the second call was made, enlisted in <'Omi)any "H,"' Thirty^ 
fourth Ki'giment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. A good deal of his ser- 
vice was rendered in the use of tools. His first enlistment expired in 
December of 1863, and he immediately reen listed and served to the 
close of the war. His service was, for the inost ]part. in the southwest. 
He was ])resent at the siege of Vicksburg. Port Cibson. <'liaiui»ion Hills, 
and in numerous actions west of the rivei-. and was in one of the very 
last brushes of the enemy, at Brownsville, Texas, neither side being 
aware of Lee's surrender. Mr. Duckett eame out of tlie service nnscath- 
ed, and was sick, during the four years, but a short jierittd. He was sent 
to the Louisville hospital and, after i)artially recovering, asked release, 
that lie might rejoin his regiment. Heing refused, he wrote out his own 
pass, blutted the steamboat jieople. and reached his regiment at Helena, 
Arkansas, an incident which shows the patriotism which actuated hirn^ 
in the discharge of his niilitarv dutv. He was discliarged in Februarv of 
1866. 

On the :{l»tli of June, IStlt;. Mr. Duckett was ha))iiily joined in mar- 
riage with Priscilla A. lOvilsi/.er. Mrs. Dinkett is a native of Chamiiaign 
county, Ohio, and a daughter of Leonar<l and Frances (Dye) Evilsizer. 
Leonard Evilsizer came u\> into Ohio from North <'arolina, wlien a boy 
of thirteen, became a fai'uier and, after mai'riage, moved to .lay county, 
Indiana, where he died, in 1884. His wife outlived him two yeai-s. They 
were devout members of the .Methodist church. Their childi-en were: 
Minor, deceased, served three years in Tompany "K." lOighly-ninth In- 
diana; Priscilla, Margaret A., deceased wife of .Jolm Mason; Lewis M.) 
of Portland, Indiana; .Mrs. Mary Holmes, of lienepah, Indian Territory; 
Albert W., of Chicago; Kipher, who died at foui' years; .Lunes, and two 
unnamed, died in infancy; Sarah .VL, the youngest child living, is the 
wife ot D. <". Mncent, of IJrazil. Indiana. 



6lO HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

^U•. Duokett followed his trade in Indiana, until the spring of 1887, 
when he came to Coffeyville. Here, he has figured prominently, as a 
builder, monuments of his handiwork being seen in many residences, and 
several public buildings. He has taken an active interest in atfairs, hav- 
ing served as a member of the school board several terms. He is an hon- 
ored member of the Grand Army and a staunch friend of organized labor, 
being a member of the Carpenter's Union. His interest in politics ia 
simpl\ that of the good citizen, voting, on election day, the Republican 
ticket. Both he and his good wife are much esteemed in the city of their 
adoption, and where they expect to pass the remainder of their days. 



JOHN GASKILL— In the year 1871, a date which marks the year 
of liis majority, John Gaskill, one of the leading farmers of Caney town- 
ship, came to Montgomery county, in conii)any with his parents. Mr. 
Gaskill immediately filed on a claim, and he has, since, been one of the 
sturdy yeoman of the country, ile now resides on a farm of three hundred 
and thirty acres, two utiles from the town of Tyro, whei'e be engages in 
stock i-aising, giving some attention to raising the Wilkes stock of horses. 
Of these animals, Mr. Gaskill is a great lover and delights in driving 
the finest horse in his stable. 

-Mr. Gaskill came to the county, from the Atlantic coast, the family 
having been residents of the far eastern State of New Jersey, where he 
was born, in Burlington county, on the 20th of March, 1850. When he 
was five years old, the family moved to Michigan, spent five years, and 
then spent one year in Missouri, when they went to Iowa. They resided 
there, until the date of unr subject's settlement in Montgomery county^ 
He received an elementaiy education in the country schools. For the 
first few years, he found it clo.se figuring to meet his payments on his 
claim, and, at the same time, extend needed help to the support of his 
father and his family, ft was through such trials and tribulations that 
Mr. Gaskill ])assed, dui'ing the earlier periods of his existence in the 
county, but it had the etl'ccl of leaching him the value of money, and the 
necessity of making the dollar go as far as ijossible. He, however, 
emerged from this extreme and has, for a number of years, been looked 
upon as one of the successful farmers of the county. His farm is one 
of the most highly improved in the township, its improvements being of a 
most s\ilislantial character. His barn is a model of size and excellent 
arrangement for stock, being built against the bhitf, and in such a man- 
ner as to thorouglily protect his aninuils from the cold, sweej)ing winds 
of winter. Besides this barn, there are well-built granaries, and other 
outbuildings for stock,- while his residence is of the most commodious 
and comfortable character. 

In choosing a partner for his life's journey, Mr. Gaskill selected 




D. M. ADDINGTON, WIFE AND DAUGHTER. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 6ll 

Miss Myra Bradley, a native of Missouri. The inairiage was an event 
of New Yeai''s day, 1882. Mrs. Gaskill came to Kansas, with her parents, 
Joseph and Myra Bradley, in 1870. Mrs. iiaskill died at the early age 
of thirty, February !), 1889, leavin}j; three children, viz: Charles W., 
Perry L. and Bertha. In ISSM), Mr. (iaskill married Mrs. .lane Overjieck, 
a native of Kockville, Parke county, Indiana, where she was horn, .June 
10, 185!). 8he was the widow of Charles A. Overpeck, who died March 
30, 1881, leaving a son, Harvey. The following year, she came to Kan- 
sas, and resided near Tyro, until the dale of lier marriage, liy their last 
niai'i'iage, Mr. and Mrs. (iaskill have two children: Lytle and Carl. 

The years which have passed since Mr. (iaskill came to .Montgomery 
c(iun(.\-. have been years of busy toil, but however busy with his own 
att'aiis, lie has never refused to devote wliat time seemed necessary to the 
advancement of the welfare of his particular comnninity. Much of the 
splendid re]iutation which C!aney township has in the county, as to 
school ami educational facilities, is due to the constant and earnest 
etforts of our subject in this line. He has served as clerk of his town- 
shii) and is a member of the Odd Fellow's Lodge of Tyro. In matters of 
politics, he takes but a voting interest, the Populist ticket receiving his 
suffrage. He and his wife are consistent mend)ers of the ("hristian 
church, he having been a valuable memtier of Ihe church board since 1895. 

.\r' he looks out upon his l)road acres, and tine thorougbred stock, 
Mr. (iaskill does so with tlie knowledge that it is all the result of his 
individual effort and his determination, his close a|ii)lication to the busi- 
ness in hand, that of building a home. He is highly regarded by his 
acquaintances, and is most worthy of representation in a volume devoted 
to the best citizens of the countv. 



I). M. ADDlNfiTOX — The biographer presents here one of the sub- 
stantial citizens of Independence, jirojirietor of the north side planing 
mill, :uid general contract(U' in wood. Mi-. Addington lias bc^n identified 
with the interests of Montgomery county since 1879, though not contin- 
uously, having left the county, at different pei-iods. for short intervals. 

The .Vddington family is of lOnglish (.Quaker extraction, c<iming to 
South Caiolina in eai'ly Colonial days, where they were thiifty planters 
and large slaveholders, as was the custom of that section and time. 
Grandfather William A. Addington be<-ame dis.satistied with the condi- 
tions in South Carolina and, freeing all the slaves the law would jiermit, 
came up to Indiana, bringing with him the remaining sixteen. This was 
in the yeai- 1804. He settled in a new country, between Kiclimond and 
Newport, and there carved out a farm from the virgin forest. He was a 
man ftf fine character and did much to initiate correct living in that 
earlv da v. in that section. 



6l2 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Our subject's father, Joshua, was a young man of twenty, when the 
family came to Indiana. He learned the trade of miller, an occupation 
which he followed much of his life. He married Rebecca Morgan, a na- 
tive of Virginia, and settled two miles north of Richmond. Remaining 
here until 1840, he, with his father and several others, laid out the town 
of Ridgeville, where he continued to live until his death, engaged in the 
milling business. 

In many respects, he was a renuirkable man. His energy was some- 
thing phenomenal, though it was of the kind needed in those pioneer 
days. He was an ardent believer in the Quaker faith and gave, liberally, 
of his means and time, to establish it in Indiana, building the first 
Friends church in the state, at the point where he first settled, known 
for long years, as "('hester Friends Ohurch." In political faith, he was a 
Whig. He died, in 1848, at the rather early age of fifty-six, his father 
dying but two years before, but having lived to the age of seventy. His 
wife was a woman of like mould of character, and was a fitting help- 
meet, in those formative days of .society, when sternness of morals was 
an absolute necessity. She died, in 1851, at the age of fifty-six years. 
They were the parents of the following children: William, who died at 
two years; Jonathan, who died in 18G4; Elizabeth, Mrs. J. R. West, of 
Davis county, Iowa; Maria. Mrs. Charles Wilniot, who died in 1880; 
Nancy, widow of Henjamiii Anderson, living at Eureka, Kansas; Minerva 
J., widow of William Alexander, of \\'incliester, Indiana; E). M., our sub- 
ject; Lorena, deceased, was the wife of the late Milton Caty. 

D. M. Addington was born in Wayne county, Indiana, July 9, 1835. 
The crude state of society in that early day and section, prevented him 
from receiving much in the way of book education, but, with the advan- 
tages of an excellent ('hristian home, he came to years of responsibility 
with training sufficient to light the battles of- life. His brother, -Jon-a- 
than, being a blai'ksmitli, he took up that trade and followed it, in 
Lagro and on the W'iibash <'anal, until 18.51, when his eyes became af- 
fected, by reason of so much night work. He did outdoor work, for a 
time, until he recovered the u.se of his sight, and then learned the trade 
of mill-wright, which he followed, for seven years. Again, he changed 
his otcui)ation, this time learning the trade of cariK'nter. He now re- 
moved to Kichniond and did conlract work, during the jjcriod of the war, 
his eyes pre\enting his being acce[)ted in the service', although he volun- 
teered three different times. He, however, did splendid service at home, 
in holding in check the Copperhead element of that section, which was 
quite strong in localities. He became the leader of a band of loyal spir- 
its who made it their especial business to ferret out the Rebel sympa- 
thizers and either mnke them take the oath, or move on to some more 
congeiiiiil clime. 

After the war, our subject removed to a farm, near Bunker Hill, 



HISTORY 01'' MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 613 

Indiana, where he contiuued to reside, until the date of his loniing to 
Kansas. In 1879, he had the misfortune to lose all his farm buildiugs, 
by fire, together with much valuable stock. 

8oon after his arrival in Montgomery county, llr. Addington settled 
on a farm in Kutland township, where he remained until 1882. lie then 
moved into Indcjiendence and, for four years,, followed contracting. In 
1886, he went to Wichita, but, on the bursting of the boom, a year later, 
went to Kansas City. For a period of nine years, he did an extensive 
contract business there, and. in 1S!)7. relumed to Independence, where 
he has since been a resident. 

With his characteristic energy. Mr. Addington has forged to the 
front in Independence, and, for several years, has been the leading con- 
tracting carpenter in the city. His handiwork is seen on all sides, in 
the many artistic storefronts, and in many of the better class residences 
and public buildings, whose stately j)roportions reflect credit, alike, on 
builder and city. 

The family life of our subject began in Kichmond, Indiana, on the 
26th of June, 1859, the date of his nuirriage, to Miss Eliza J. Thompson, 
a native of that city. She became the mother of: William, now in his 
father's employ, married Ella Hosmer, and had six children : Edith, Wal- 
ter, Jlabel, David, Martha, deceased; and Minerva, died in infancy. The 
mother of ^\'illiam died in December, 18(i3, at twenty-one years 
of age, and, two years later, on the '.id of September, our subject was 
joined in nuirriage to Martha McUroom. This lady proved a faithful 
helpmeet to our subject, for thirty-six years, her death occurring Feb- 
ruary 20, ]!)0]. She was a woman of many beautiful traits of character^ 
a home-maker and a home-lover, whose children rise n]i to call her 
blessed. Their names are: .James A., stone-cutter of the city, married 
Elizabeth I>ison, and their children are: Theodore and (iertie; Oliver, 
a painter, of Kansas City; Francis M.. foreman of his father's mill, mar- 
ried Nellie Powers; Elmer E., a well-driller, of Bartlesville, liulian Ter- 
ritor^ ; Miiry P., Mrs. W. A. Logan, of Kansas City. 

]\Ir. Addington is a firiri sup]K>rtei- of the jirimiples of the party of 
Lincoln and Koosevell. In fraternal afiiliation, he, very early, chose one 
of the l)est, the I. O. O. F., and has been prominent in the work of that 
order for many years. He has filled all the chairs of the order and its 
highei adjunct, the l'>ncampnient, and has served, as delegate, in the 
Grand ].,<)dge, a number of times. 



GEOKtJE P. I )ALP.Y— George P. Dalby, ailliougli a young man, 
is an old settler of Montgomery county, and of Caney township. He was 
born in Edwards counly, Illinois, on the 14th of Sei)tember. 18159. He is 
the youngest child of tiie late David and Lucy Dalby, and lived in Illi- 



6 14 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

nois, till eleven years of af>e, and attended the district school. In Aug- 
ust. 1870, his father removed, with his faiiiilv, to Kansas, stopping at 
Independence until they could liud a location. After looking around 
for some time, Mr. Dalby, Sr., bought a claim, on which was a small 
store, twenty-two miles southwest of Independence, which was owned 
by ^lyres & Coloo, and called Havana. This store was located in a beau- 
tiful valley, with rirh land, and Mr. Dalby was infatuated with the 
country and, esjiecially. this particular spot. He, then, brought his 
family, and occupied the rough native lumber store building, and made 
his farm one of the finest in the county. 

The old store building still stands, in the same spot where it was 
built, and does duty as a cow stable. From this store, Havana derived 
its njime; the town being laid out, one and one-half miles southeast of 
where Havana now stands. 

George P. Dalby was reared on the farm he is now living on, and has 
only been absent from the old homestead for a short time, which was 
directly after his marriage, when he lived on three hundred and forty 
acres of his own. I'lKin the death of his mother, he returned to the old 
home, to take care of his father, and look after the farm. 

His marriage, to Miss Lucy Betts, occurred March 30, 1890. Mrs. 
Dalby is a native of Ohio, and was born March 4, 1872. Her parents, 
Thomas and Ann Belts, are also natives of Ohio, where the mother died, 
in 1874, leaving Mrs. Dalby, an only child. Mr. Belts came to Kansas, 
in 1874, and settled in Kicc county, where he now resides. He was mar- 
ried, second, to Matlie Ilutlnian. To this union were born two children: 
Clarence and Clara. 

Mr. Dalby has contracted with the Dalby heirs for the old home- 
stead, one of the finest tracts of land in the county. Two hundred acres 
are cultivated, and he kee])S from si.xty to eighty head of stock on the 
farm. He is noted for neatness and tidiness, as a farmer, everything 
being kept in order — hedges trinuiu'd along the high-way, fences up, and 
the gicmnds cleared uj) and well tilled. :Mr. Dalby's start in life was 
small, but his ca])ital has now. owing to his own personal eflfort, and 
strict attention to Imsiness, run up into the four-figure column. Two 
children constitute (lie issue of Mr. and Mrs. Dalby, viz: Fannie, elevei\, 
and Floy, four yeais of age. Mr. Dalby is a member of the Odd Fellow 
Lodge of Havana, No. :!4:>. and, ])olilically, he is a ]>emocrat. 



KOBIORT B. KXOCK — A leading resident of Caney township and a 
man who has had a ])rominent ]>art in the develo])ment of the northern 
portion thereof, is Kobert B. Knock, farmer and stock man, living one 
an a half miles northeast of Havana. His residence in the town.ship 
covers a period of thirty-three years, and he has, here, reared a large 



HISTORY OF MONTfiOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 615 

and respected faniil.v. wliose individual nieinbei-s occupy responsible and 
honored places in different walks of life, while he and his jjood wife have 
exerted a most healthfnl inlhiencc in estahlisliiM<;- llie hi<;'h nioi'al tone 
which pervades their ininiediate coninmnit.v. 

The grandjiarents of Mr. Knock were Delaware i)eoj)le. They 
reared a larj;e family and jjassed their lives in tlieir native state. One of 
the sons, Daniel V. Knock, born in 1810, left home at the age of sixteen, 
and came out to the, then, far western State of Ohio, where, in 1831. he 
took unto himself a wife, in the ])erson of I'hoebe l-^asley. This lady 
was a native of tlie "Ruckeye State," born on the 20th of June, 1811. The 
year following their marriage, they came out to Illinois, where they 
were pioneer settlers of Fulton county, and where they continued to 
reside, on the same farm, for flfty-flve years. They were better-class 
farmers, most highly resjtected, and lived to see their large family of 
children, esteemed members fif society. Tn this family, there were thir- 
teen ciiildren. as follows: Jolui F., who died at thirty-three; William A., 
of Eocky I'^ord. Colorado; Sarah A., who died in infancy; Mary J., de- 
ceased wife of Joseph Trice; Daniel E.. of Peoria, Illinois; Elizabeth, 
Mrs. John Russell; Rachel E., wife of William Branson, of Fulton 
county. Illinois; Robert li.. the subject of this review; .Tasfjei' N., of In- 
dependence; Edith 10.. Mrs. Dilworth; Knssell. of W^anoka. Oklahoma; 
Juan v.. of Iowa; I'hoebe J., wife of J. A. Iloojier. of Fulton county, 
Illinois. The father of this family lived to the ri]ie old age of seventy- 
five years, dying in 1885, and the mother outlived him many years, death 
claiming her, August 14. 1900, being the jirogenitoi- of two hundred and 
sevenly-nine children, giandchildren and greatgrandchildren. 

Robert R. Knock, the gentleman whose honored name initiates this 
reviev'.', was born in FuJlon county. Illinois, December 22, 1814. A mere 
boy. at the breaking out of the Civil war. he. yet. manfully shouldered 
a musket and went forth to do battle for the honor of the flag. Company 
"G." Fiftieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, enrolled him. on the 1st day of 
October, 18(il. as a jirivate. lie served his full enlisi nieut of three years, 
returning home almosi a jihysical wreck, resulting fnini a severe attack 
of measles. He was with (IraJil at Foi-ts Henry and Dcinelson, thence 
to Shiloh and Coiinth. He followed Kragg to Chattanooga and, later, 
to Atlanta, participating in most of the hard battles of that memorable 
campaign. His time expii-ing liefore that cam]iaign had been fought to 
a finish, lie was coiapelled to return iiome. being totally blind and badly 
broken in health. He recovered the use of one eye, after nearly four 
years, but has. ever since, been, peiiodically. troubled with lf)ss of sight. 

Mr. Knock has always followed a farmer's life. In August of 1870, 
he and his newlywedch'd wife settled on a <-laim in the vicinity of where 
they now reside, and. in 187S. sold out and bought their i)resent farm. 
Here, they are s])endiug the evening of life in comparative ]ilenty, sur- 



6l6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

roundod l).v loviiiji cliililrcii and loyal friends, wlio are ju-ond to do them 
honor. Mr. Knofk lias held all the 1o\\-nsliii) oflices. and has I)een justice 
of the jieaee, for a nnnilier of years. He is at present Noble Grand of 
the Odd Fellows lodge at Havana. 

Mr. and Jlrs. Knock were married on the 14th of June, 1867. She 
was a daufihter of J. H. and Elizabeth (Swaney) Hussey. both Dela- 
"wai'e jj^'oplc. (This is the same family of Hnsseys which were distin- 
guished, as the inventors of the Hussey reaping machine.) The date 
of Mrs. Knock's birth was Janiuiry 11, 1850. Her children are. as fol- 
lows: Marian L., Mrs. Charles Haas, of Danville, Hlinois; John F., of 
Eureka Springs; Phoebe J., died at sixteen years; Minnie E.. wife of 
Charles Campbell, of Havana; Virginia K., Mrs. F. L. Rickey, of Caney, 
Kansas; Olive (i.. :\Irs. Perry :\I. White, of Havana; Franklin E., of 
Farrv. Oklahoma; Jrwin 15., Daniel E.. Ethel and Julia D.. all at home. 



JOSHUA llOLLIDAY— Joshua Holliday has been the efficient 
weigh master of the city of Coffeyville since the Dalton raid, and a citi- 
zen of the city for the i)ast three decades. He was born in Yoikshire, Eng- 
land, Fcbrmiry '2'2. 1S:!:!. one of sixteen children of Josejih and Alice Hol- 
liday. The parents died in lOngland, the father at eighty-six, the mother 
at seventy-eight years. 

At the tender age of seven years, Ifr. Holliday was employed in one 
of the neighboring coal mines, and remained there, engaged in various 
branches of the work, until his twenty-fourth year. He then studied civil 
engineering under his brother, Josiah, and, in May of 1867, he boarded 
a ve.-isel bound for America, and, after a tempestuous voyage of forty- 
five days — during which the vessel lost her sails — landed at (Quebec. Af- 
ter a short stay in this city, he visited various of the lake towns in the 
employ of the Orand Trunk railroad. About the time of President Lin- 
coln's election. Jlr. Holliday went to St. Louis, where he was foreman, 
for a time, of what are tiow known as the Frisco shops. He then worked 
in several ditt'erent towns in .Missouri and. about 18()4, crossed the 
"plains" to the Rocky mountains, where he spent a year in the employ of 
mining com])anies as an engineer. 

Returning lo .Missonri, .Mr. llnlliday began Ills tirst experience in 
farniing for liiiiiself, in Saline county, \\liere lie rented a (juarter section 
and put in a cioji. After a visit home to old lOngland. he continued his 
farming ojierations near Maisliall, and, in 1872, .sold out and came to 
Cofteyville. Thus it appears that he has seen much of the world in travel 
and has added much to his store-house of general information, which has 
induced the cosmopolitan character of manner, which adds charm to his 
conversation. The Collcyxille of today has little resemblance to that 
which greeted Mr. Holliday on that lirst visit, and he is proud of the fact 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 617 

that ho has beeu "part and ])ai-c('l" of llip s|)lpn(li<l dovchipiiu'iit wiiicli 
has since been made. Mr. tlollida.v superintended Ihe placing of tlie first 
steam engine in tlie town, in tiie flouring mill of Itlainc, I'.nrns & McDon- 
nell lirollicrs. He worked in various <apa(iti('s milil 1S7."). when lie took 
charge of a swilcli engine for the L. ].. & (i. railroad, a ]iositioii which ho 
held continuously for sixteen years and si.x months. He was running 
this engine at the time of the noted Dalton raid and wiis the first man to 
enter the town after the destruction of the "gang." In 1802, Mr. Holli- 
day was appointed weighniaster of tlie city, a position which he has since 
administered. 

.Marriage was contracted by nur suliject. SeiHember IT, 1^.")(>, when 
he was joined to Harriet Ingham, a native of Kngland. IClizalM'th .V.. the 
only child of this marriage, became Mrs. Watson, and died soon after 
Iier marriage. Her mother, and our subject's wife, died in 18G4, at the 
age of thirty-three years. The second mairiage of ilr. llolliday occurred 
in 1877, on the 24th of March, the lady's name having been Sarah Stub 
ley, now liresiding over his home. Mrs. llolliday is a native of York- 
shire, England, and is the mother of six children, as follows: Mary A., 
wife of William 1'. (Traham, a contractor in Wyoming; Willie and John- 
nie, who died in boyhood; Esther, Mrs, Amos Hutson, of (I'offeyville; 
Rufus, married Lottie I^. Bryan, and now lives in Independence, a phar- 
macist, and Charlie, who died in infancy. The mother of this family is 
the daughter of William and Mary Stubley, both now deceased. After 
the death of his first wife. Mrs. Stubley again married, and moved to 
America, and settled in Xewberg, N. Y., where he died about lS9o. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Holliday are active members of the Christian 
church, of which 5Ir. Holliday has been in official connection, in former 
years. He is a worthy meml)er of the Sons and Daughters of Justice. 
They have passed a long and honorable life, and are now secure in thii 
love and affection of their children and the many staunch friends they 
have gathered about them. 



FRANK B. SEWELI There came to the county, in 1869, a gen- 
tleman and his family who have had much to do with its marvelous de- 
velopment and whose connection with its official and non-official life has 
at all limes Ix-en most circumspect and honorable. The name preceed- 
ing this sketch repi-eseiits the youngest member of the family at that 
time, he having been but six months of age. The parents were Jo. H. and 
Margaret (Hall) Sewell, still honored residents of the county. 

Mr. and Mis. Sewell are both from old and prominent southern 
families. Mr. Sewell was born in Mobile, Alabama, and at eight years oj 
age removed with his parents to Tennessee. Here he grew to manhood 
and married. Mrs. Sewell's maiden name was Margart Hall. She was 



6l8 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

born in 1835, in Lewisburg, Tenn., and was the daughter of a prominent 
jihysuian of that town. Dr. Hugh A. Hall, a native of North Carolina, 
and a graduate in medicine of Louisville Medical College. Late in life 
he removed to Eagleville, of the same state, where he died in 1854. A 
brother of Mrs. Sewell's, H. C. Hall, was a member of the town company 
which laid out Independence. 

At the breaking out of the war, the training and education of Mr. 
Sewell having been received amid the iiiHnences of southern institutions, 
the path of duty led ()hiinly into the army of the Confederacy. He be- 
came a volunteer in the First Tennessee, enlisting at Nashville, in 1861, 
and serving to the close of the war. He partiripated in a number of the 
sanguinary conflicts of the middle west, notably, Perryville, Chicka- 
mauga and ^Missionary Ridge. At Perryville, he was wounded in the 
left i'rm, and, at Chickaniauga, received a grievous wound in the lower 
jaw. Prior to his entering the army, Mr. Sewell had been engaged in the 
newsjiaper business, as editor of the Lewisburg Gazette. At present, he 
is employed in the Tribune oflSce, at Independence. He published the 
first paper in Montgomery county, Kansas — "The Westralia Vidette." 

Frank Sewell was born in Tennessee, in 18(50, and, in October of that 
year, was brought to this county. His education was secured in the dis- 
trict scho()ls and his life, so far, has been devoted to farming. In 1888, 
he Wtis joined in marriage to Phoebe, daughter of P. V. Hockett, presi- 
dent of the Commercial National Bank of Independence. Mrs. Sewell 
is a native of Parke county, Indiana, where she was born, in 1871. She 
came to the county, with her parents, when a girl of eleven. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sewell are the parents of live children: Fern Lucile, aged thir- 
teen; Jo H., Jr., eleven; Gilbert F., nine; Margaret, five; and Delia Ma- 
rie, two years. 

The farm which Mr. Sewell cultivates, is located three miles east of 
Independence. It consists of seventy acres and he has owned it since 
1892, putting on all the substantial improvements. 

In the social life of the community, Mr. and Mrs. Sewell are impor- 
tant and helpful factors. They are staunch members and supporters of 
the Presbyterian church and are always found in the front, when any 
good cause is being advocated. Mr. Sewell votes the Democratic ticket, 
but is too much absorl>ed in the work of his farm to care for political 
oflBce. 



HARRY JIENCKE — Thegenflemanwhose name initiates this record 
is widely known as a conmiercial man, and as a broker and manufactur- 
er's agent, has made his headquarters in Indejiendence since 1879, and 
his residence here, since 1888. He was born in the northern part of Ger 
many, May 27, 1858, and, at the age of eighteen, and with a liberal edu 




HARRY JIENCKE. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 619 

fiitioii. he sailed fr<mi Ilaiiilnivj;-. for New York. He passed tlirough 
("astle (lardeii, with otlier Oiiteiinial einigraiits, in April, 1870, and 
eanie west, to Chicafto, where he was employed, for some time, in various 
mills of the city. He became identified with tlie confectionery business 
there, and, later on. went on the road, as a salesman, with a line of con- 
fectionei-y «>oods. In lS7!t. he came to Kansas ("ity and, there, engaged 
with a firm, in the same business, and traveled foi- it, till 1802, when he 
formed the business connection which he now sustains. 

Til addition to his regular business, ;Mr. .Jiencke has, recently, be- 
come identified with promoting the interests of the Montgomery county 
mineral belt, by actively encouraging eastern ca])ital to begin develop- 
ment work for gas and oil in the <-ounty. Other sections of the mineral 
belt liave. by his aid. felt the touch of the developer's hand. and. in this, 
he has jtrofited the state, as well as contributed to liis own welfare. His 
faith in his county is strong, his industry unflagging, and his energy 
unbounded. It requires the excitement, incident to the road, to awaken 
all his enthusiasm and bring out all his strong (pialities. and the results 
&f his efforts, in whatever direction, will be disceinilile in southeastern 
Kansas in after years. 

June 30. 1880. Mr. Jien<ke married Miss Dick Kaschner, of Neo 
desha. She is a daughter of Adolph and Charlotte Kaschner, formerly 
from Illinois, and among the early settlers of Neodesha, Kansas. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jiencke have no children. He is Colonel of the Second Regi 
ment I'uiform Kank Knights of Pythias of Kansas, and holds a member- 
ship in the Commercial Travelers' Association of Independence. He has 
one of the attractive homes of the city on North Pennsylvania avenue, 
and the popularity of his household is universally acknowledged. 



I.EWIS H. VORE— One of the oldest settlers of Caney township, 
and the founder of the thrifty village of Havana, is the gentleman whose' 
name is here presented, Lewis H. Vore, for thirty-two years one of the 
solid yeomanry of this county. He has, for a number of years, done 
much of the sale-crying of his section, and is, also, an undertaker. 

Tvewis H. Yore is a son of Jesse Yore, a native of the ''KeystouQ 
State," where he was bf)rn. in 1803. Catherine Musser, his wife, was, 
also, n native of that state, and was born in 1810. His occupation was 
that of a merchant tailor, in his younger days, but. later, he moved to 
Ohio, and took up farming. Here, he lived from 1850 to 1889, the date 
of his death, at eighty-four years of age. his wife having died at the age 
«f seventy six. Of their eleven children, .seven survive, viz: Rebecca, 
Mrs. D. Hoterman ; Matilda, wife of D. Musser; Absalom, a re.sident of 
Ohio ; Lewis H., our subject ; Catherine, Mrs. F. AY. Fealick, of Havana ; 



620 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mary E., Mrs. T. R. rittiiian, of Havana ; and Alice, wife of Joseph 
Moore, of Havana. 

The birth of Mr. Vore occurred, in Center connt.y, Tennsylvania, 
on the 2nth of March, 1843. He was a sixteen-year-old boy when the fam- 
ily removed to Ohio, where he was, at once, apprenticed at the carpen- 
ter's trade. This trade has been his support, for the most part, during 
his career, though he added farming and the duties of an auctioneer, 
later. 

When the war broke out, Mr. Yore enlisted in the service of the con- 
struction department of the army, and, thus, showed his patriotism, dur- 
ing the trying years of that great ordeal. He helped construct some of 
the ])()ntoon bridges for the army, and was, frequently, placed in most 
dangerous positions. After the war, he continued working at the 
carjjeiiter's trade, in Ohio, until 1871, when he came to Kansas, 
renuiining, the first summer, in Fort Scott. In the fall of the 
following year, he bought the claim upon which he now resides, 
adjoining the village of Havana, and on eighty acres of which the 
village was, later, planted. Here, he has continued to reside and 
has IrH'u instrumental in much of the growth, which has come to 
this j)art of the county. His connection with the undertaking and auc- 
tioneering business, came about in a way that illustrates that "neces- 
sity knows no law." He was the only carpenter in the vicinity, when the 
first death occurred, and was asked to furnish the coffin, which 
he, at first, refused to do, but. later, consented, and hcas, since, served 
the comniunify in an undertaker's capacity. In the matter of aiictioneer- 
ing, in an early day. he was appointed administrator of an estate, and, 
for the sale of the property, he was unable to secure an auctioneer. He 
sold Ihe property, himself, and, thus initiated himself into the mysteries 
of a business which he has followed, with great success, since. 

Mr. Vore owns a nice farm of one hundred and seven acres, which 
is what remains of (he first claim he bought. When he settled in the 
county, nature was in its wildest mood, and the country was full of In- 
dians. The next year after he came, on the 11th of June, he was joined 
in marriage with Mary F., a daughter of James and Catherine Moore. 
Mrs. Vore was born in the "Buckeye State," in the year 1849, and has 
borne children, as follows: Catherine and Irwin, deceased at six months; 
Cora, Mrs. L. M. Pra'ther; Amanda, who died at two years; Delia B. and 
Esther B., both residing at home. 

The citizenship of Mr. Vore has been of the best character. He has 
held the office of trustee of the township, at different times, and has al- 
ways given his cordial support to secure the best educational and relig- 
ious facilities for the community. He is a member of the U. B. church. 
Politically, he affiliates with the Democratic party, and, socially, has 
been a member, for the past twenty years, of the I. O. O. F., and is ,also, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 621 

a member of the A. H. T.A. He and his family are esteemed residents 
of the township, and are most worthy of representation in a volume 
which is devoted to mention of the prominent residents of the county. 



S.\MUEL H. WADE — Samuel H. Wade, a prominent farmer and 
resident of Cherokee township, was born in Somerset, England, on the 
28th of January, 1857. His father, Samuel Wade, and mother, Sarah 
(Butcher) Wade, emigrated to America in 1857, and settled in Michigan, 
where they resided till 1861, and, then, moved to Illinois, and located at 
Clinton, where the mother died, at the age of forty-nine, the father yet 
living in Clinton, aged eighty years. 

There were six children in this family, viz: Edward, Ellen, Samuel 
H., John, Annie and Mattie. Samuel H. Wade, our subject, was the third 
child of the family, and was but eight months old when his parents came 
over the sea. He was reared on a farm in Illinois, where he acquired 
only a common school education. When Mr. Wade's mother died, he 
went to live with his uncle, William Haberfield, where he remained until 
he was married. The uncle and aunt having grown old, Mr. Wade has 
built a neat little cottage on his own land, and sent for them, that they 
may remain with him, the rest of their days, where proper attention can 
be bes-towed. On March 1, 1883, he came to Kansas and located on the 
farm on which he now lives. He was married, December 19, 1883, to 
Rosa Potter, a native of Illinois, who came to Kansas in 1882. Mrs. 
Wade is the daughter of Sylvanus and Nancy Potter, who live on a 
neighboring farm. 

When Mr. Wade came to Kansas, he had only a small amount of 
money with which to buy land, and he invested it in a farm, six miles 
northwest of Cofl'eyville, where he now resides. His farm now comjn-ises 
foui' hundred acres of land, on which he has built a twostory residence, 
and good comfortable farm buildings. The farm is well improved and 
well cultivated. All his property has been acquired, by his own efforts, 
since coming to Kansas. 

Politically, Mr. Wade is a Populist. He has, ably, filled the office 
of township clerk, three times, is treasurer of the township, and has 
served thirteen years on the school board. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wade have four children : Grace K.. Stephen S.. Bes- 
sie, deceased, and Emery Paul. Mr. Wade is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America, Coffeyville Camp, and a member of No. 86, 
A. H. T. A. 



WILLIAM C. SEWELL^An old settler and a man honorably asso- 
ciated with Ihe history of this county, is \\'illiani (". Sewell, a native of 



622 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Tennessee, born Jiiiie 11, 1854. His father, Joseph G. Sewell, a bh\ck- 
smith and farmer, married Catherine Mayljerry, a Tennessee lady, and 
came to Kansas in 1871, and settled onOnion creek. Independence town- 
siii]). wlieie ii(> bought an<! improved a claim to a well-cnJtivated farm. 
In December. 1882, at (Ik- a};c of fifty-three years, the father died, bnt 
the mothei- still snrvives, ;uid is now sixty-eif'lit years old. Of Ihis mar- 
riaije. Ihere were fonr chidreu, three of whom are livin<i. namely: .Tohn 
]?.. Andrew C and NA'illiam V. 

\A'ii]iani ('. Sewell came to Kan.sas, with his parents, in 1S71. wlien 
he was seventeen years (dd. His ednciition was re<'ei\('d in the common 
schools of his nati\(' stale, and his marriage occnrred in May. 187(j. his 
wife Ix'inji lOlizabeth -lames, a native (»f Ohio comity. Kentncky. and a 
danyliter of Joseph li. James, mentioned, liberally, in this work. 

.Mr. Sewell liefjan life, as a farmer, on rented land. bnt. after two 
years, he bonjtht an nnlamed farm of eighty acres and lived on that, for 
a short time, when he sold it and became a renter, again, for five years. 
He Ixinght anothei- eighty acre tract, the farm where he now resides, five 
miles northeast of Tyro. This farm he has improved and made one of the 
finest homes in his township, adding more land, at varions times, until 
he now o\\ ns four hundred acres. On this farm, is a handsome residence, 
built on a high elevation, from which a good view of Imlependence, fif- 
teen miles away, and all the country rt)und, can be had. He, also, has 
good out-buildings and a huge barn, lighted with natural gas. Gas is 
used in the hon.se for fuel and lights and for a torch in the front yaid. 

It was by resistless energy and unity of purpose, that Mr. Sewell lias 
attained this gratifying prosj^ierity. He is township treasurer and has 
served, as smb. several terms, at various times. In politics, he is a Popu- 
list. 

In Mr. and 5Irs. Seweli's family are nine children: Gentry L.. Anna 
B., Walter xV., Stella, Hariy, Paul and James. Three of the children are 
dead: Adolplius, who died at eleven years; Lydia at nine years, and 
Franklin at ten months. Genti'y, the eldest, married Eunice Ellings- 
worth, bnt the other childi-en are single and at home. 



JOHN C. FIELDS — One id' the self-made men of the county is John 
C Fields, an extensive stock raiser, residing on a farm of six hundred 
and fifty acres, one mile south of the rural village of Tyro. He belongs 
to that i-espected band of men who settled in the county at an early day, 
and Vi hose individual character is stami)ed n[)on the society of the coun- 
ty. He settled n|>on liis present farm, in 1870, having come to the county 
a year prior to that dale. 

Noting a few f4icts in the career of Mr. Fields, it ajtpears that he is 
a native of the "Keystone Slate," where he was born on the llfh day of 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 623 

October, 1848. His parents were John and .lolianna (Wallace) Fields, 
well-to-do and respected farmers of Uiaf stale, wlierc (lie father died, at 
forty-three years of age, his wife living nntil 18r>;:i, and dying at the age 
of fifty-four. There was but one child born of their marriage, the father 
havins died when our subject was but one month old. 

.Idliii C. Fields received a common school education and, at the age 
of twenty-one, came to Kansas, stopping, first, in Urown county, from 
where, in the fall of that same year, 18G1), he came to Montgomery county,. 
Here, he camped about, in different portions of the county, during the 
winter, seeking the right place to locate a claim. He, finally, settled on 
the location he now owns and filed upon it in 1870. Here, he has held a 
contiiuous residence to this date, and has added a great number of fine 
improvements and, at different times, added to its area, until he owns 
a bod\ of six hundred and fifty acres. 

Jlr. Fields landed in the county, a very [)Oor man, having little mon- 
ey and less property. His splendid success is due to his energy and intel- 
ligent grasp of the subject of agriculture, he being, in its various 
branches, a master workman. He is one of the best judges of fine stock 
in southern Kansas, and has engaged, for a luimber of years, most exten- 
sively, in their raising. He is a lover of good horses, and, while he never 
trains for the track, has raised, on his farm, some speedy animals which 
he de'ights to drive to his own turn-out, and is never happier than when 
"drawing the ribbons" over a pair of his best horses. 

In 187.5, Mr. Fields took to himself a wife, iu the person of -Rachel 
Ellis, a daughter of Christopher T. Ellis, of Montgomery county, Tenn- 
essee, where the father was born on the 2(5th day of January, 1828. 
The latter married Mary Uttley, whose birth occurred October 21, 1835. 
These parents came to Kansas the same year in which Mr. Fields settled 
on his farm, and took a claim, one half mile south of Tyro, where they 
now reside. Of the family, Rachel D. is the wife of Mr. Fields; Lucinda 
F. is Mrs. Albert May, of Nowata, Indian Territory; Lydia V. married 
Thomas E. Dunbar and lives in Fawn Creek townsliip; Mary W. is Mrs. 
John Messersmilh and resides in Fawn ('reek; James A. is the youngest 
child and lives in Oklahoma. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Fields have been born five children, as follows : 
Theodore C., Perry A., Elfa, John and Frankie, all of whom are yet at 
home. Hoth Mr. and Mrs. Fields know what it is to endure the hardships 
of i)ioiieer life, and it was only by frugality and industry, in those early 
days, tliat they have come to a positioji of comfort in their latter days. 

Mr. Fields has always been foremost in any attempt made by his 
community to better conditions, in the matter of educational facilities, 
and iu securing the best local govei-ninent. He has, at times, served in 
the (lillcrent unjiaid offices of the township, and has always evinced a 
personal interest in those about him. In niatler.s of political concern, 



624 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

he is favorable t<> I K'niocratic jn-iiicijilcs, and siipports that ticket by his 
vote. Tn social life, lie is known as a nieniher of the 0(hl Fellows' Lodge, 
and gives his influence to the furtherance and .sj)rea<l of the principles 
of frateriiitv. 



JOSKl'H KKUlAlMi HALL— The pioneer tailor and early settler 
of ( 'otfeyville. mentioned in the inti-odui'tion to this review, has jiassed 
thirty-one years within the limits of the county'.s nietro])olis and has 
niaintainetl himself in active business here, almost continuously since. 
His life has been modest and una.ssuming and the simple details of liis 
everv-day business have niaikedi largely, the events of his career. 

Hewasbornnear Fruisbnrg, ('hautau(iua county. New York, January 
14, 1S41. and was reared in C'alarraugus county, till ISol, when his 
father immigrated to the State of Iowa, in Iviun county, in which state 
our subject reached mature years. His father was Jose]ih Ifall and his 
mother, Elsie Akin, a daughter of Phoebe (Kronkite) Akin. .Iose]ih Hall 
was one of five .sons, viz: Kavid and Solomon, who died at Rochester 
and Newcastle, I'enn.sylvania, resi»ectively ; John, who died at Rochester, 
Penni-ylvaiiia ; Richard, who died near New Brighton, I'ennsylvania ; and 
Josejth, who i>assed away at Oiutville, New York, in ISC.."?, at tifty-si.K 
years of age. 

Joseph Hall, father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, and 
became a carpenter and mill-vvright and ])lied his trade in both the east 
and west. His wife, wlio died in 1848, left him : James A., of I'alo. Iowa ; 
Josepli Richard, of ( 'otl'eyville, Kansas; John A, of Miami, Floii(hi. 
Elsie and Jose])h 1>. died in infancy. For his second wife, he married 
Betsy Palmer, who pas.sed away the mother of: Mary, wife of William 
Aldridge. of Cleveland, Ohio; I'rusia, who married Benj.lmin l'>rown, 
of Onaville, New York, and Frank A., of Jamestown. New York. 

At the age of twelve years, Joseph R. Hall had the misfortune to 
lose his left leg, having it mashed between a tree and a log. while work- 
ing in the timber. This accident did not sa]( liim of his energy or his 
courage and he went about hi.s work of their Catarraugus county farm 
with remarkable conveuietice to himself. He was about thirteen years 
old when he was taken to lowsi and, in Marion, that state, he was put 
to the tailor's trade. He worked witli ^Villiam Kingon three yeais and 
for John B. West, for a time. He was employed with William Dumoiit, 
in Cedar Rajiids, and, in Lyons, lie hired to a government contractoi-. 
From this point, he went to Chicago and, soon after, to Newcastle. Penn- 
sylvania. Here and at Wari-en, Ohio, he spent some months. At Sharon, 
Pennsylvania, he was in the service of Goldstein & Bohaws for three 
years. Returning towiwd the west, he worked in Chicago, for his old 
employer, for a time, and, thence, to Marion, Iowa, where he first en- 




JOS. R. HALL. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 625 

paged in businoss on his own account. In the month of Decenilier, 1872, 
he came to Coflevville and located his first shoji at the norlhwest corner 
of tlii^ plaza, foi- wiiich jii-ound he paid fl{2.~). He pnri'hased what was 
known as the VAty coiiiei-, jiaviuj;' .fT(MI for il, and. snhs<Mpientl.v. erected 
upon the site, a threestorv brick buildin;;'. This bnildiiij; burned in .lan- 
uarv. 1S95, and he became the owner of the lot on the south and erected 
a twe story brick over both lots, a part of the upper floor of which he 
occupies as a ]dace of business. He, also, Imilt a modern and conimodi- 
OHs residence at L'll \\'est Hh'venth street, in wliirii iiis liappv family 
is iustalled. 

On the 2Sth ot .March. ISTli, Mr. Hail married, at Marshalltown, 
Iowa, Mattie E. Compton, a daughter, and only child, of S. R. Compton. 
Mr. Compton married Sarah Inks, who resides and makes her home with 
her daughter in Coft'eyville. Mr. Com]iton was a native of Ohio, was 
once a niei-cjiant iu Indiana, and served in Sherman's army in liie Civil 
war. Compton K. Hall is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Josej)!! H. Hall. 
He was born near Cotteyville, was educated in the Coffeyville high school, 
and Im a graduate of a Kansas City school of typewriting and stenogra- 
])hy. (Jabrielle, wife of Harry J. Bomar. completes the family of Mr. 
Hall. Kichard -T. (Iladstone Bomar is the only grandchild. 

In polilics. Mr. Hall is ii Republican, with Prohibition ju-oclivities. 
He is an active mendier of the Jlethodist chur<-h and is class leader, 
trustee and one of the stewards of the conaregation. 



JOHN E. WA(tXER— As an illustration of what the American 
youth of energy and resolute jturjiose can do. John E. Wagner, farmer 
and stockraiser of Fawn Creek to\\nshi]i. furnishi's an excellent example. 
Beginning life at the tender age of thii-teen. with his natural powers as 
liis capital, he is now one of the solid and full-handed men of his town- 
shi]t, and a strong moral force in the community. There is uo secret 
to his success. Every American boy can do the same thing, iu the 
course of a short life, if he so wills. But it takes stick to-itiveness and 
consistent and persistent etfoi-t. 

Henry Wagner and Hannah Martin were man and maid, in theii- 
native State of I'ennsylvania, in the early part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. They ])lighted troth, and. a few years later, with their STuall fam- 
ily, jrined the iTicreasiiig stream of emigration toward the northwest. 
The year 1S4.") found them pioneers of Louisa county, Iowa, where they 
built tliem a home and |)assed th(> remainder of their days. Theii- si.v 
children wci'c : Jesse, now of Fredonia. Iowa; Solomon, of Jo]diii, Mis 
souri : John E.. the subject of this article, and tliree who are deceased. 

The ])arents of this family possessed all the sterling ([ualities of the 
liionecT" class, and reared llicir family to regaid labor as iKUiiU'able and 



626 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

honesly as a virtue. Their years numbered eighty and seventy, respect- 
ively. 

John E. Wagner was born in Dauphin county. Pennsylvania, on the 
31st of March, 1840. Amid the harsh conditions of life, found in the 
homes of the agricultural class of limited means, he was, early, taught 
the value and dignity of labor and the need of economy. With a very 
])riniitive education, he, at thirteen, left home and apprenticed himself 
to the carpenter's trade. After a five-year jieriod, he began journey work, 
and continued, for a number of years, with success, working at his trade, 
in Hancock county, Illinois. lie remained in Illinois until 1870, when, 
having, by thrift, accumulated some -fSOO, he c;inie, with his family, to 
Montgomery county. He purchased the claim on which he now resides, 
and lias put in tliree decades in improving and beautifying it. The board 
sliacU, after \\hile, gave way to a substantial residence, which he had the 
ill-luck to lose by fire, but which was replaced by the present commodious 
modern house. Pole stables, in like manner, were supplanted by com- 
fortable barns for his stock; orchard and shade trees, planted by his 
hand, soon yielded their fruit and spread their generous branches for 
shade. And now, in the evening of a life spent in honest toil, this yeo- 
man and his loved Iielitmeet sit under their own vine and fig tree, as it 
Avere, and enjoy what is theirs, by the only right which ought to govern 
— that of honest labor and an honest recompense. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wagner were married, in 1861, in Hancock county, 
Illinois. Mary E. P>rent was her maiden name, and she was the daughter 
of John J. and Mary E. (Avis) P.rent, natives of Maryland and New 
Jersey, respectively. Mvs. Wagner's birth occurred in Hancock county, 
Illinois, April 25, 1848. Her father died at forty-two. the mother reacli- 
ing the good old age of seventy-three. Their three living children are: 
Albert, of Galesburg; Maria, Mrs. Allen, of Missouri, and Mrs. Wagner. 
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wagner were born: Albert J., Jay F., 
Mollie, Mrs. Ira Moore; Minnie, wife of James Myres; William H., Coun- 
ty Allorney of Russell county; Goldie, wife of Arthur Smith, of Parker 
township, this county. 



JOHN E. McCLOUD— John E. McCloud, an old soldier and farmer 
of Montgomery county, was born in Hendricks county, Indiana, Octo- 
ber 4. 1844. His father, George ]\IcCloud, a native of Virginia, married 
Miss Eunice Bray, a native of Pennsylvania, and moved to Indiana, in 
an early day. He died in Hendricks county, by accidental drowning, at 
the age of ninety-two. His wife died many years before, when only 
thirty-five years of age. Their family consisted of nine children: Rob- 
ert, Eashaljee, William, Henry, John A. and Nancy, all living. Those 
dead are: Elizabeth, Sally and George. 



IIISTOUY Ol- MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 627 

Oui' sultjcct wiis born and reared on a farm in his nativo slate, where 
lie attended tiie country school, until the o])ening of the Civil war. At 
the afie of sixteen, he answered the call of his country for volunteers, 
and enlisted, in July, 18G1, in Conijiany ''A," Thirty-thijd Indiana Vol- 
unteer Infantry. He was in many hard-fought battles, among them be- 
ing Ft. Donclson, I'erryville, ^^'lld(■at, Kesaca. I'eachtree Creek and Ken- 
nesaw ilounlaiu. He marched with Sherman to the sea, and participated 
in the last battle, at Columbus, South Carolina. He was one of the sol- 
diers who were left to pass in the (Jrand Review, at Washington, D. C, 
afterv.ard being sent to Ijouisville, Kentucky, where he was discharged, 
August 2."). 1S().'>. after four years of hard service. 

Mr. McCloud was married, Decendu'r 2.">, 18ti.~), to lOlizabeth Barker, 
a native of Hendricks county, Indiana. She was born J\ine 1(5, 1845. 
Her father, Samuel Barker, was a native of North Cai'olina, and her 
mother, Dorothy Kushton, a native of Indiana. 

Samuel Barker came to Kansas in 1880, and settled in Phillips 
county, where he died, his wife having died in Indiana. The family con- 
■sisted of nine children: Jesse C., Elizabeth, ^^■illiam, I^llcn, Ellsworth, 
I']nima, John AV., James, and one who died in infancy. Mr. McClond 
came to Kansas in 1874, and located in Osborn county, where he lived 
one year. In ISOI, after twenty years' residence in JIarshall county, he 
came to Montgomery county, locating east of Coffeyville. One year later, 
he came to his |)resent farm of fifty acres. Here, he made a nice home 
ft>r himself and f.iinily. all tlie improvenunits on the farm being due to his 
untiring ett'orts. 

To Mr. and Mrs. McChmd have been born sixteen children, fourteen 
of whom are living: Eunice Moore, Ada McKelip and Ida Hartley, twins; 
:Martlia Keedy , Rosa White, Lulu Fransue. Mary Noble, William, 
^faggie, (irant, who died in the Philipiiines, a mendier of the Fortieth 
T'. S. Regulais in the Spanish-American war: Adelia Noble. (Jeorge, 
Addie, Sally, lOdith, deceased, and John. Mr. McCloud is a Republican 
in |M(litics. 



rREXTK'E S.MVTH— The leading merchant of the rural village 
of JetVeison. was born in Butler county. J'ennsylvaiiia, December 10, 
18.")1. His father, Henry Smyth, was born, of Irish parentage, in tho 
"Keystone State," Sejjtember 20, 1822. He married Margaret J. Wimer, 
also a native of rennsylvania, born August 4, 1831. They lived in the 
'■Keystone State" until 18(;(;, when they came out to Crawford county. 
.Mi.sscuri. In 1881, they settle<l in Fawn Creek towiishi](. Montgomery 
(luinly, Kansas, where the father now resides, at the age of eighty-one 
years, the mother having died, Deceml>er 11, 18f).5, at the age of sixty- 
fcMir. They reart'd nine children, all of whom are now living, viz: Pren- 



628 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

tice, the subject of this sketch; Zillah A., Mrs. Ringeisen; Elzena, John 
H., Sf.iah, Mrs. Demaree; Hannah, Mrs. Cory; William S., Gilbert, and 
Mrs. Ida Fisher. 

Prentice Smyth, whose honored name heads this review, was the 
eldest son of this family. He was a lad of fourteen years when they re- 
moved to Missouri, and he had received a fair education in the schools of 
liis native state. After coming to Jlissouri, he added sufficient knowl- 
edge to enable him to enter the school room, as a teacher, which consti- 
tuted the first work he engaged in for himself. He taught two years, siic- 
cessfiilly, and, in 1882, came to Kansas and engaged in farming. He 
first rented land, but, by careful economy, was enabled, in a few years, 
to accumulate sufficient to purchase a farm of eighty acres, near the 
town of Jefferson. He continued, actively, in the work of the farm, until 
September of 189(5, when he started a general mercantile business in the 
village. By close attention to business and judicious management, he 
has succeeded, adnnrably, he having, at this time, a fine country trade. 
In connection with his mercantile business, he is, also, the owner of i\ 
nice hotel property in the village, and has other property interests. 

Afarriage was solelmnized by Mr. Smyth, as an event quite late in 
life, he having lived in bachelorhood until the 17th of April, 1901. The 
lady who became his wife was Laura B. Lashley, daughter of Henry and 
Tabitha Lashley, all of whom ai-e natives of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Smyth 
having been born in Bedford county, November 3, 1866. 

Jlr. Smyth is a man of intelligence and good judgment, and is re- 
garded as one of the solid men of his part of the county. He has, for 
a number of years, been active in participation in political affairs, being 
a strong supporter of Republican principles. He was one of the original 
McKinley men in the state, and was greatly pleased when the conven- 
tion, at St. Louis, named him as the head of the Republican ticket. 
Under his administration, Mr. Smyth served, as postmaster, in the village 
of .Jett'erson. The death of IMcKinley was deeply felt by our subject, who 
regarded it as a distinct public calamity, scarcely to be retrieved. The 
esteem in which Mr. Smyth and his good wife are held in the community 
of Jefferson, is most uniform and just. 



JAMES F. PATTERSON— There is no county in Kansas whose ag- 
ricultural population is of a higher character than that of Montgomery 
county. The county became the Mecca, immediately after the war, of a 
large number of the "Boys in Blue," who had given four years of their 
life to the perpetuation of the iustilutions formed by our fathers. Their 
experience in the war had made them excellent judges of human nature, 
and bad impressed them with the value of republican institutions. To 
be a good citizen, it is necessary to love one's counti'y and be ready to 



HISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 629 

"do and die" for it, and, for that reason, the soldier boys of 1801-65 
made excellent material out of which to form a state. Montgonierv 
county was peculiarly fortunate in securing a large body of these soldier- 
citizens. 

In 1870, there came to the county, the gentleman mentioned in the 
introduclion to this sketch. He was born in Marshall counly, West 
Virginia, in 1847, and was a son of .James Patterson, who was the son 
of John. They settled in Marshall county, from Maryland, at a very 
early date, and have many descendants there. Our subject's mother was 
Sarah, daughter of Michael Crow. James Patterson was born on Wheel- 
ing creek, in I'ennsylvania. and was a noted Indian fighter of that sec- 
tion, and an intimate friend of Lewis Wetzel, famed in history as one of 
the most courageous frontiersmen in that section of the state. 

Michael Crow was an avowed enemy of the Ked Man. This enmity 
resulted from the cruel massacre of two beautiful daughters by them, 
during his temporary absence from home, and he was, ever afterward, 
bitter and uns])aring in his efforts to avenge the death of his daughters. 
A portion of tlie land which he preemiited from the government, is still 
in the possession of the (?'row family. 

James F. Patterson was reared at Moundville, West Virginia, where 
he received his primary education, and, later, attended school in Guernsey 
county, Ohio. His father died when he was about fifteen years of age, 
upon which event he returned to his home and, for a number of years, 
worked on the home farm. In the year 1860, he came west, to Kansas, 
and spent a short i)eriod at Topeka. In JIarch of 1870, he came to Mont- 
gomery county, where he located on the quarter section which now con- 
stitutes his farm and which he paid a squatter .f60 to quitclaim. He has 
re.selded here all the intervening years and is regarded with high favor 
by all of the early residents of the county, as well as a large circle of 
friends and neighbors of later years. 

In the year 1882, Mr. Patterson was, hajiiiily, joined in marriage with 
Matilda, daughter of Jonas and Martha (Phillips) Groves, of Noble coun- 
ty, Ohio, where her parents were leading citizens and farmers. Mr. and 
Mrs. Patterson have reared a family of nine children, seven of whom are 
now living, as follows: Lewis, Elizabeth May, Isabclle, Frank, Raymond, 
George E., and Charles. Mr. Patterson is a man of sterling worth and 
high character and he and his family are i-egarded with great favor by 
those who are fortunate with their acquaintance. In political matters, 
he favors the Populist party, but previous to its birth, he affiliated with 
the Democratic party. In matters of religion, he is a member of the 
Lutheran church. 



THO.MAS A. STEVENS, M. D.— Materia mcdica is a field which 
has attracted some of the brightest minds in the history of the race. And 



630 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

well it iiiiiy. The problem of "life and death'' is one whose solution is 
of vast importance. The "snapping; of the silver thread" is fraught with 
sufh ti-emend(tus conseciueiices to th(> individual, that he is feign to draw 
baek from taking the final ste]i, as long as jiossihle. And second only 
in importance, is the boon of health, to secure which, once lost, forttines 
are as feathers in the balance. The physician tlius has a Held of endeavor 
boundless as life itself, and whose grave resj)onsibilities challenge his 
most thoughlful consideration. To this ju-ofession. belongs the gentle- 
man menli(Uied above, and wluise success, in his chosen field, has been 
of the highest order. 

Dr. Stevens is a native of Indiana, having Ik'cu born in the village of 
Corydon, on the 14th of March, 18.jC. He conies of a family which is 
distinguished in the medical world, his father, Dr. Joseph D. Stevens, 
having been a successful piactit loner for the )>ast forty-five years, located 
at the |)resent lime, at Peru. Kansas. He, also, is a native of the "Hoos- 
i(>r Stale," where he manied .Margaret A. Johnson, of ^'icennes. He 
located in that classic old town, for the practice of his ]irofession, and 
remained there till 1875. In that year, he came to Kansas, and, select- 
ing I'ern as an available jioint, has been prominently and helpfully 
identified with its numicijial life since that time. Tlie jiai-ents reared 
a family of seven children, the mother dying inlSTli. at the age of thirty- 
se\('n years. Of this family, Josejih ('. aads educated to the medical pro- 
fession and now practices in the Cherokee Nation. ICdward .M., another 
son. lives in Peru, with his father and f(mr sisters. 

Thomas A. Stevens was the eldest son of this fanjily. His education 
was that of an ordinary village boy. to which was added the refining 
influence of a cultured home, and >\ithin whose sacred precincts the 
entile period of adtdesence was jtassed. He preceded the family lemoval 
to Kansas, by, a year, arriving at lnde]iendence in 1S74. He soon went 
to Sedan, where he taught school, the following three years. JJeciding 
on the medical juofession. for his life work, he took courses at the St. 
Louis medical school and. also, at the Kansas <''ity Jledical College. He 
received his degree from this latter institution, in 18112. and began the 
practice, immediately, at Caney. where he has since resided. 

Dr. Stevens is a num of varied activities and has been a powerful 
factor in the development of Caney and the surrounding territory. He 
has been connected with many of its Itest enterprises, his latest venture 
being the establishment of the Caney Sanitarium and Hospital, an insti- 
tution which bids fair to eclipse anything, in its line, in southern Kansas. 

Dr. Stevens has honored himself and the city, by serving two terms 
— 180!)-1900 — in the office of mayor, and, for the last seven years, has 
been on the board of education. In political belief, he supports the 
Diemocratic party, and is, at present, the clerk of the township, in which 
lie resides. 




T. A. STEVENS, M. D 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 63I 

In nipdical circles, Dr. Stevens liolds liigh rank. He keeps in close 
touch with his profession, in his own locality, and is u deep student of 
medical jurisprudence, in its constantly advancing progress. In 1899, 
lie took jiost-graduate work at the New York Polyclinic, giving especial 
attention to sui-gery. He is a valued member of all the dirt'erent associa- 
tions of the fraternity, in the stale and county, is vice president of tlie 
Caney Valley Medical Society, and holds appointments from the follow- 
ing old line life-insurance companies: New York Life, Mutual of New 
York, Home Life of New York, \^'ashington Life of New York, Bankers" 
Life of Lincoln, I'haMiix, Mutual Life of Hartford, Ecjuitable Life, North- 
Avestern Life of Milwaukee. Dr. Stevens is, also, secretary and was one 
of the organizers of the American Association of Life Insurance Examin- 
ing Surgeons, a mendter of the International Association of Railway Sur- 
geons, and holds local appointments as surgeon of the A. T. & S. Fe R. R. 
and K. O. C & Sw, Ry. As a delegate to the American Medical Associa- 
tion at St. Paul, in 1901, and at Saratoga, in 1902, he efficiently repre- 
sent-^d the great west in those bodies. 

In May, of 1880, Miss laiella Sams came to preside over the home 
of Dr. Stevens. Mrs. Stevens is a native of Illinois, the daughter of 
Wylie and Lucy Sams, and came to Kansas, with her i)arents, in girlhood. 
A family of seven children make the h<inie circle one of cheer and con- 
tentment. Orto V. is manager of the Truskett Lumber Company of 
Caney. The otlier children are: Nora K., Mabel C, Maud A., Frances, 
Lita and Thonuis A. 

J'ossessing the uolile attributes of a noble manhood, in a high de- 
gree, cultured and broadminded, jealous of the good name of his city 
and its progress, contributing liberally t)f his time and means to every 
movement which looks to the uplift of society. Dr. Thomas Stevens has 
an assured place in the hearts of the people to whom he is giving the best 
years of his life. 



CHARLES SCHAKE — On an elevation, over-looking the country 
west of Coffeyville, stands the beautiful rural home of Charles Schake. 
This is one of the finest i-esidence properties within the precincts of 
Fawn Creek townshij), and its existence is due to the thrift and enter- 
prise; of the gentleman here named, a self-made man, in the best and 
truest sense of that term. 

In looking for the birthplace of Mr. Schake, one needs to cross the 
ocean, to Hessen Cassel, Germany, where, on April 7, 1837, he was born. 
He is a son of Jacob and Mary Schake, who lived out tlieir lives in the 
Fatherland, both dying at the age of seventy-two years. 

At the early age of fourteen. Charles Schake was thrown upon his 
own resources, and, being a boy of resolute [)urpose and independent 



632 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

s|)iril. lie iiiiiiicdiafelv resolved to eiiiii;i;i(e I0 tlie jjveat Kepublic, across 
the sea. He landed at New Yoik. in 1S.J2. and from thence, went to 
IMttslmig, Pennsylvania, wlieie. in the next tluee .veais, he learned the 
shoemaker's trade. In IS,")?, he came out to Leavenworth, Kansas, and 
tnjiaiied in jiovernment work. A'jain. he made a westein move, this time, 
to Colorado, where he s])en1 a year, in a vain searcli for jjold. He prose- 
cuted the search in .Montana, hut. in 1S((4. returned to civilization. He 
stopj/cd in Nebraska ("ity. where he was jirojirielor of a <irocery store, 
for a jieriod, and where lie married Pauline S<-limolil. Tliis lady was a 
nativ(> of (Jermauy and came to Nebraska, in <jiirllu)od. with lier parents. 
The date of the nuirriage was March 21, IStJti. Soon after this event, Mr. 
and :Mrs. Scliake sold their store ;iud came to Montiromery county, where 
they tiled on a claim. eif;ht miles west and one mile north of Coft'eyville. 
This claim was vir<;in prairie, and the splendid farm which now j;reets 
the eye of the traveler, is due entirely to the patient. iM'rsisteiit and in- 
telli.^ient labor of this worthy couple. It is not too niucli to say that no 
more hands(une farm ])roperty can be found in tlie county, the hi<ih eleva- 
tion iiiakiTij; it one of tlie most desirable resident points in all the country 
round. 

On the 2d (hiy of .March. 1S!)1. death entered Mr. Scliake's family 
and carried off the wife and mother. Mrs. Schake was tifty-si.x years of 
age, at her death, and was the motlier of eij>ht children, namely: Louise, 
wife of James McCowan ; Edith, Mrs. Speck; Otto, Polly, ilrs. Burns; 
Alfred. Walter. Freda, P.ohle and lOthel. 

ilr. Scliake has taken an active interest in matters jiertaining to the 
welfare of his community, having been, at different times, a member of 
the school board, and has been helpful in many other ways, in securing 
to the township, the best educati(mal and religious surroundings. In 
]iolitical belief, he cleaves to the principles of Democracy. 



I'lllLLlP 11. (".VSS — One of the young attorneys of the Montgomery 
founty bar, is Phillip H. Cass, a graduate of the law department of the 
University of Oecugetown, I), ('. He has been practicing before the 
courts of southern Kansas and the Territory, since 1809, and has met 
with deserved success. 

I'hilli]) II. Cass comes frcmi an olil pioneer family of Sangamon 
coullt.^•. Illinois, having been born there. June 124, ISUO. His grandfather, 
\. P.. Cass, settled in that county, in 1S28, from Kentucky, and took part 
in the IJlack Hawk Indian war. He was personally acquainted with sev- 
eral men in this cam])aigu, who rose to national prominence, in after 
years — Lincoln, JeH'. I>a\is. Dr. Heaumont and Alexis St. Martin. He 
passed a long and useful life in that state, dying in 1897, at the advanced 
tige of eighty-six years. He was a man of wide knowledge and jjossessed, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 633: 

in a marked de};;rpe, the characteristics of those noble pioneers who re- 
claimed the great middle west from its savage state. ITe was the father 
of eleven cliildrcii, nine of whom rea<'hcd malnrity, as follows: Lewis, of 
Bnfl'alo; Elizahefh, Mrs. Finfrock, of Waynesville. Illinois; Mrs. Lncv 
Gilletl. of r.eatricc, Nebraska; .Mrs. Mary Edwards, now deceased; Mrs. 
Pauline Slireve, deceased; ITardin, deceased; W. Scott, of Hnrt'alo ITeart, 
Illinois; Marion and ITarry. of (he .same place. Of this family, Hardin 
was born in Sangamon connty, Sei)tend)er Ifi, 1846, and died, in Ooffey- 
ville. Kansas, March 21, 1895. He mai-ried Harriet \. Landis. a native 
of Indiana, and now an honored resident of Decatnr, Illinois. To them 
were born: l'liilli]i H., Louis I*.., of St. Louis, Missouri, and Mabel, wife 
of Frank Skinner, of Cotleyville. 

Hardin Cass was a prominent fruit farmer of Sangamon count3-, 
Illinois, and was a man of correct and industrious habits, though a rather 
shoi't life. lie w;is loo young to take j)art in the Civil war, save for a brief 
period at the close, when he served, as a private, in Coiiiiiany "T," of the 
One Hundred and Thiity third Infantry. 

Pliilli]) H. ("ass grew to manhoocL surrounded with the elevating in- 
fluences of a Christian country home. The foundation of his later educa- 
tion was laid in the excellent common schools of Illinois and Kansas. 
He added a literary and business conr.se at P.eatrice. Normal College and, 
in 18!):^. entered the \\'ar l)e|)artment at Washington, as record clerk. 
He remained in this service some six years, during which he employed 
his spare time in studying law in the (leorgetown Cniversity. and from 
which he was graduated in 181)(>. In 1891), at the close of the Spanish- 
American war, he came to Cotl'eyville and oj)ened a law office. The suc- 
cess which has attended his ellorts, thus far, augurs well for his future. 
The efforts of Mr. ("ass have shown liini to be a capable, safe and con- 
servative counsellor at law. 

Mr. Ca.ss married, October 4, 189!). at Washingtcm, I). C., Miss Flor- 
ence P. Chase, a native of New .Jersey, and a daughter of Mrs. Adele 
Chase, of the ('ai)it(>l ("it\. One child has come to bless their home^ 
Phillip H.. Jr. 

.Mr. Cass has id(>iititied himself with the life of Coffeyville in a help- 
ful way. He is a mcmbei- of the Haptist church, while his wife holds 
membf-rshi|) with the Cnitarians. In fraternal life, >[r. (."ass is an honor. 
ed member of the Masonic Lodge, and his political views are embodied 
in the platforms of the I'ejinblican party. 



ANI>Hi:\V .L UlCKFRSON— .Vndrew -L Dickerson was born in 
Boone county. Indiami, N()vend)er 14, 1842. His father. Fleming Dicker- 
son, was a native of Virginia, and is still living in Indiana, at the mature 
age of ninety-three years. He married .lane K. Gwin, a native of Indi- 



634 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTYj KANSAS. 

ana, and of Irish descent; both of her parents having emigrated from 
Ireland. She died, in 1849, at the age of forty-six. To them were born 
seven children, all of whom are living, as follows : Elijah, Henry J., 
Andrew J., Susan Woods. Mary Sinitli. Jane IMcCorniick. and Sarah Rey- 
nolds. For his second wife, Fleming Dickerson married Polly Clark. 
To this marriage were born five children : Charles, Virginia, .Tohn, Ella 
and William. 

Andrew Dickerson sjjent his boyhood days in Indiana on a farm, 
where he received a common school education. In the fall of 1863, he 
enlisted in Company "G," Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He 
was in many skirmishes and battles, including those fif Pulaski, Colum- 
bia, Franklin and Nashville, and he passed through these without being 
captured or wounded. At the close of the war, lie was mustered out, at 
Camp Stanley, Texas, and returned home. 

On the 11th day of January, 1SC2, Mr. Dickerson was married to 
Sarah Acton, a native of Indiana, where she was boin, on August 7, 184fi. 
She was a daughter of James and Sarepta Acton. Her father, at the age 
of eighty-six years, is now living in Indiana, while the mother died at 
seventy-five years of age. Their children number ten, the seven living 
being: Mahala Acton, JIargaret Dickerson, Bazil, Parton, Simon, Jamea 
and Thomas. 

Andrew J. Dickerson came to Kansas in 188.5 and settled near Cof- 
feyville. lie lived here until 1897. when he bought a faim of one hundred 
and twenty acres, six miles west of the city, where he resides at present. 
They have five children : Dora Abstine, Olive Harbison, Flora Arm- 
strong, Simon and Otis. Mr. Dickerson is a member of the G. A. R. and 
has always had a citizen's interest in Demociatic jiolitics. 



BE ALE A. ROBINSON—, V. S.— A worthy citizen of Independence 
whose professional career has been of vast good to the animal industry 
of the surrounding country, is the veterinary surgeon, Dr. B. A. Robin- 
son. His residence in the county has been comparatively brief, but the 
efficiency of his work has guaranteed his permanence, as a citizen, and 
it is mete to note, brieHy, a few facts connected with his origin and his 
life work. 

May 29, 1877, Beale A. Robinson was born in I'liion county, Ohio, 
of parents, Guido and Laura (Andrews) Robinson. The father was born 
in Delaware county, Ohio, and was a son of John and Elizabeth (Tay- 
lor) Robinson, of London, England. The grandfather was an artist, 
painter and geologist, and had children: Edwin, Alfred, Reuben, Mary, 
Ferris, Arthur. Edward and Guido. The wife of the last named was a 
daughter of William and Effie Andrews, of New England. 

Dr. Robinson is one of five chilrden, as follows: Gerard, of Ohio; 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 635 

Beale. oni- sulyccl ; lOllis, of Ostniiido, Ohio; flraop, wife of Mackan, 

of Oslraiitlo, Oliio, and Inez. ])iirin>> iiis boviiood and youth, Beale A. 
worked on the farm and contributed, in lii.s natural way, to the domestic 
establishment. lie atttMnied country sciiooi and tiie Dover hi<;li scliool. 
and when nineteen years old. took nji teachinjf school. For two years, 
he was a country teacher, in Union county, Ohio, and, at twenty-one 
years of age, eanie to Kansas, oti a bicycle, in company with his brothers. 
He stopped at Parsons, several months, and, decidino- to study veterinary 
surgery, entered the well-known college of that ])i-ofession. in Ontario, 
Canada, from which he graduated, in the spring of 1000. Me returned 
to Parsons, Kansas, and was in the jii'actice there and at Beloit, Kansas, 
until his advent to Independence, in Septendjer of 1001. Here, he is asso- 
ciated with Dr. \l. K. Sruve, a student of the same college with himself, 
and the firm constitutes one of the strcmg ones in veterinary surgery 
and pi'actice in the state. 



JOHN K. I'.L.MK — John K. Blair, who was. until early in 100.3, a 
merchant of Havana, and a .M)ung man of sjilendid executive talents, but 
now a resident of on<' of the 'I'ei ritoi-ies of the southwest, came to Kan- 
sas with his parents in IStiti. and, three years later, to .Montgomery 
county, where his lesidence was maintained 'till his removal west. His 
birth occurred in Wappelo county. Iowa, on the 3rd of March, 1862, he 
being a son of .John (). and Damaris I. ( P.riggs) Blair. His parents 
were of the sturdy yeomanry of the country ami both natives of Fountain 
eount\. Indiana, .\ftei- their marriage, they resided in Indiana until 
the date of their removal to the birthplace of John R., in 185G. They 
moved down into Kansas on the date stated above, and settled east of 
Galesburg, Neosho count.y, and, in 1869, filed on a claim near Havana. 
They were thrifty and industrious citizens, the right kind of pioneer 
inaterial, and used their influence at all times in building well the foun 
datioiis of .Montgomery society. The mother i)assed away in 1886, aged 
fifty-live years, the father reaching the ri]ie old age of tliiee score and 
ten, (lying November '27. 1001. Foui- of their seven <hil(iren are living: 
James M'.. John U., Loui.sa M.. now .Mrs. Jones, and Daniel W. G. Blair. 

The training of our subject was that of the Kansas pioneer farm, 
with somewhat limited school facilities. But such as tliey were, .John 
R. made the most of them and managed to have sutlicient education at 
eiglitcen years to (pialify him for work in the school-room. He taught 
successfully for two years, an<l then coming to Havana began his career 
as a business man. as a clerk in the general store of Lockwood & Son. 
Four years of faithful service here, and he and his father went into the 
real estate business. After two years our subject started in the grocery 



636 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

business, in connection with which he served Uncle Sam as postmaster 
under the administration of President Harrison. 

Mr. Blair had always been an active worker for the success of the Re- 
publican ticket, and this fact, together with his excellent standing with 
the business men of the county, was instrumental in his being selected 
as a candidate for county treasurer. He took the oath of office in 1895, 
and two years later his conduct of the office was endorsed by re-election. 
His incumbency of four years in the county's treasure-house was marked 
by efficiency and faithfulness, and he returned to private life with the 
best wishes of his constituents. 

Under the flrni name of the Havana Mercantile Company, Mr. Blair 
— his wife also being interested — now began business again, on a much 
larger scale than formerly. His success was most marked, the firm 
occupying a large two-story brick, filled with a splendid stock of general 
merchandise, and did the greater part of the business in their line in this 
part of the county. Mr. Blair owns two residence properties, one in In- 
depei-'dence and the other in Havana. 

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Blair was consummated on the 13th 
of October, 1889, her maiden name having been Lou M. Pettet. She is a 
daughter of George and Nancy (Greer) Pettet, of Independence, and 
both she and her parents are natives of the "Hoosier State," coming to 
Kansas in 1868. To Mrs. Blair have been born two children : Treva G., 
born July 14, 1890, and Lua E., born August 5, 1892. 

Secure in the possession of the good wishes of a large portion of the 
population of the county, with an honorable public record and a success- 
ful business career, with conjugal liapjiiness, a fair portion of this 
world's goods, and above all, a splendid o])timistic disposition, always 
seeing the bright side of life, the career of John R. Blair in his new home 
is not hard to prognosticate. 



CYRUS il. BURTON — Prominent among the worthy agiiculturists 
i)f Montgomery county is C. M- Burton, one of I he very earliest settlers of 
the county, where he located on a quarter section, in Louisburg township, 
in the year 1869. Later, he was away from the county for a time but after 
a short absence returned to the same township, where he has since re- 
sided. 

Mr. Burton is one of (he old soldier element attracted hither by the 
smiling prairies of Kansas after the hardships of the struggle of the 60's. 
His nativity dates in the "Buckeye State," where, in Harrison county, 
he was born in the year 1834. His parents were Lee S. and Hanna 
(Stone) Burton. Lee S. Burton was a son of Thomas Burton, who emi- 
grated from England to Maryland in the early jtart of the last century, 
^nd settled near Ellicott's Mills, and, in 1815, removed to Jefferson 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 63? 

county. Ohio. On the mother's side, (iramlfather Stoue caiiie from Penu- 
sylvania and became a pioneer of Ohio. Grandfather Burton, later in 
life, located in Harrison county, Ohio, where he reared five children, two, 
only, of whom are living: Samuel and Hannah, who reside in Boone 
count.^, Iowa. Grandfather Burton died on the old homestead, at the 
age of seventy-five years, his wife having died during the Civil war. 

Our subject was the eldest of the family, the second child being 
Caroline; Thomas, John and Israel served in the Civil war; Benjamin 
B., Lura Jane, ICIizabeth and Neal. Cyrus M. Burton was reared in Har- 
rison county, Ohio, and resided on his father's farm, until his enlist- 
ment, in 18G4, as a private iu Company ''A," One Hundred and Sev- 
entieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His regiment became a part of the 
Army of the Potomac and he was engaged in the following battles : 
Cedar Creek, Quaker Gap and Winchester, and he was mustered out, in 
October of 18C4. After his return home, he cultivated his father's farm 
for a year and, in ISO!), came to Montgomery county, Kansas, where he 
settled a claim in West Cherry township. He cultivated this claim until 
1883, when he sold it and removed to Chautauqua county, where he pur- 
chased a two hundred and eighty acre farm, in comj)any with his brother, 
and engaged in the cattle business. They continued this business for sev- 
eral ^ears and then sold out and returned to Montgomery county, where 
our subject purcliased his present farm, in Louisburg township. It con- 
sists of one hundred and sixty acres and is devoted to general farming 
purposes. 

Mr. Burton was happily married to Mary J., a daughter of Samuel 
and Jane (Harmon) Handler, all residents of Harrison county, Ohio. 
Mrs. Burton's father was a farmer of that county and reared a family of 
nine children, of which she was the eldest. The names of the other mem- 
bers were: Nancy, John A., Phoebe, Samuel (deceased). Patience, Reason 
(deceased), Albert and Marshall. The father died in November of 1864, 
in his forty-flfth year, the mother living to the age of sixty-six, and pas- 
sing away, in Kansas, April 3, 1888. The father of the family was a 
gallaui soldier of the Civil war. second lieutenant in Company ''G." of 
the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 

Mr. and Mrs. Burton are the parents of eleven cliildren : Alice, born 
Januarv 5, 18«2, married William McCabe and resides at Coffeyville, 
with their four children: Ida, Amy, Owen L. and Claud; Minnie, born 
January 4, 1803, is the wife of Harrison Truilt and lives in Chautauqua, 
county, Kansas, with three children: May, Leona and Benjamin IL; 
Sanmel Lee, born December 12, 18(!4, died in November of ISG.5; Carrie, 
born September 13, 186G, is Mrs. William A. Meadows, of Chautauqua 
countv. Kansas, with seven children: ^Mattie, Guy, Siras, Alice, Viras, 
Ethel' and Alvis; William A., born August 23, 1808, is a Chautauqua 
countv farmer, married Lettie Cunningham, and has three children: 



638 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Avis, Alvin and (iladys; Jessie Luella, born April 24, 1873, resides at 
home; Tlionias B., boni July 28, 1875, lives at Costello. is a farmer and 
married Bessie Frizell, and has one child: Goldie; Nannie M., born Jan- 
uary 20, 1878. resides in Elk City; Cornelia, born February 8, and died 
April 20, 1870; Cyrus, born November 25, 1880. married Maud Harrison, 
and resides on the home farm ; and Joseph P., born November 10, ISSi}, 
resides at home. 

ilr. Burton lias always been a leading member of tlie community 
in which he I'esides and has evinced interest in the institutions which go 
to make up this law-abiding community. He is an ardent Republican, 
in politics, and he and his family are active members of the Christian 
church. 



JOHN W. BARLOW — For a number of years, the iron work, inci- 
dent to the commercial life of Caney. has been done almost exclusively 
by this ''hardy son of toil," and whose merry anvil has rung out a cheery 
song of prosi)erity, since he first tapped its flinty face, within the city 
limits. Nor has this prosperity been the result of brawn, entirely; brain 
has counted in the story ; intelligent management, and painstaking effort 
to plea.se, has united, with a skilled hand, to make its owner one of the 
leading citizens of his city. 

John W. Barlow was born in Neosho. ^Missouri. 071 the 28th of Aug- 
ust, 1857. His father's name was JIatlhew J. Barlow, a native of the 
State of Tennessee. He settled in Missouri, when a young man, where 
he learned the blacksmithing trade, a vocation which lie followed during 
his entire life. In Missouri, he met and married Elizabeth Alexander, 
also p native of Tennessee, and. after a number of years' residence there^ 
removed to Kansas, in the spring of 1803. He settled in Neosho Falls, 
but, in June of the same yenr, answered the call of his country and went 
to the front, as a member of Company "M," Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cav- 
alry. He served, in this I'eginient, to the close of the war, his discharge 
dating July 11. 1805. He resumed work at the forge and lived, for sev- 
eral years, at Neosho Falls. He then ])assed short jieriods in Altoona, 
Fredonia and New .Vlbany. where he died in 1885. at the age of fifty-six 
years. The wife still survives him and now resides in Oklahoma Terri- 
tory, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. The family of these par- 
ents consisted of three children, two daughlers besides our subject, Mary 
and Laura, both living. 

John ^A'. jiassed his childhood, for the most part, in Woodson county, 
Kansas, and was inured lo (lie hardships and privations of the early set- 
tlers in that time. He learned the blacksmith trade, in his father's shop, 
and early became one of his most expert hands. He remained with his 
father until his death, and, after a short trial of conducting the shop 




JOHN W. BARLOW. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 639 

alone, sold out ami went to Fredonia, where he worked, as a journeyman, 
for the following two years. In 189], lie came to Caney and, beginning at 
the v(ry bottom of tlie ladder, has gradually forged to the front, until 
he owns a large shop and nice residence property, all the result of his 
own efforts. , Mr. Barlow takes a keen interest in the welfare of his 
adopted city, and his executive ability, so successful in the management 
of his own affairs, has won for hiin the honor of representation in the 
city council, where his woik has been of the greatest praclical value. He 
has served a unniber of terms and has occupied the honored position of 
chairman, and is now, mayor of Ihe city. He is. also, the present eiH- 
cient township treasurer. He affiliates with the Odd Fellows, New Al- 
bany Lodge, and is also a popular member of the M. W. of A. 

In the year 1882. Mr. Barlow was happily joined in marriage with 
Mary J. Lee, daughter of Randoljdi and Jlary Lee. This was an Indiana 
family, who came to Kansas in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Barlow are the par- 
ents of eight children, as follows: Olaud, Luhi, Grover, Burl, Elizabeth, 
Furn, Pauline and Nellie. Mr. and Mrs. Barlow are members of the 
M. E. church. 



HERMAN J. SCHIEKLMAN— Among the younger men who have, 
by their industry and economy, placed themselvs in the front rank of the 
agriculturists of the county, is this Tuetonic citizen, who embodies the 
solid virtues of that old and honoi'ed peoi)le. His parents brought him 
to Kansas when he was four years of age. so that he is a jiroduct of Mont- 
gomery's institutions. 

In the year 1873, in the Fatherland, there was born to Theodore and 
Kate (Keiser) Schierlman. a son, Herman J. In 1877, the parents, moved 
by the reports that came back to them, of the fertility and cheapness 
of the land in the great republic, across the sea. left the land of their na- 
tivity, came to tlie United States, and settled, for a short period, in Chi- 
cago, thence to Iowa, and, in 1881. purchased a farm, one mile south and 
east of Liberty, in Montgomery county, Kansas. Here, Herman was 
reared to farm life, receiving a fair education in the district schools, and 
developing the sturdiiiess and inde])endence of character, which are his 
chief chara<terisliis. He purcha.sed the farm on which he now resides, 
a splendid tract of one hundred and sixty acres, eight miles from the 
countvseat town of Independence, and devotes it to genera! farming and 
stock raising. Tlie intelligent methods used by our subject, and the per- 
sistence with which he "sliiks to it." bid fair to make him, in the near 
future, one of the well-to-do men of the county. He leaves to others the 
admistration of the ditTci'eiit local offices, contenting himself in helping 
to elect tlie best men, regardless of party, tlumgh. in state and national 



640 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

affairs, lie generally sui)ports the Demoeratic ticket. In religious mat- 
ters, he is a devout counuunicant of the Catholic church. 

The maiden name of the wife of our subject was Mary Ann Mahar. 
She is a daughter of -T. and Mary (Fanning) Mahar. Ir^he was, first, 
joined in marriage to Thomas McKinim, who died May 1, 189(i. and her 
marriage to Mr. Schierlnuin took place, later, and she has borne him two 
sturdy sons: Herman and James. 

Mrs. Schierlmau came of a large family, she being one of fifteen chil- 
dren, seven living, as follows: William, who lives in Ireland; John, re- 
siding in Kansas; Patrick, in New Zealand; Bridget, in Ireland; James, 
in yt. Louis; Mrs. Schierlman was the sixth child; and Maggie, who mar- 
ried John Haiuia, living in Drum Creek township. 

This union of the Teutonic and Celtic races, is a most happy one, 
and their nuiny friends delight to jjartake of their open-handed hospital- 
ity in the comfortable home where thev reside. 



JOHN HYSUNti — The gentleman whom the biographer is here per- 
mitted to review, has cultivated a farm just outside the cori)oration of 
Coffcyville, since 1880, having previously been one of the "Hoosier 
State's" honest yeomanry. Mr. Hysung's farm of thirty acres, lying 
against the city, is a remnant of the once-large farm and will, no 
doubt, at no distant date, become a part of the city itself. In addition 
to this tract, Mr. Hysung owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
in Labette county, which fact still entitles him to consideration in agri- 
cultural circles. 

The jiai'ents of our subject, Frederick and Mary (Mann) Hysung, 
were natives of the "Keystone State,'" and passed their lives in the culti- 
vation of a Bedford county farm. They were well to do, owning several 
good farms, on one of which was a grist-mill, which the father operated. 
In addition to these two occupations, he was a blacksmith of no mean 
order, showing that he led a very busy life. Both the j)arents were worthy 
and devout members of the (Jerman Reform church. The father died 
of heart failure, in 1855, aged sixty-five, the mother's demise taking place 
ten years later, at the age of seventy-four. There were four children: 
John, Hannah, who died single, aged fifty years; Mary, of Poland, In- 
diana, and Jacob. The latter was a lieutenant in Company "C," Eighth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and, with the Army of the Potomac, took part 
in twenty-lliree engagements, be receiving a serious wound, at the battle 
of Seven I'ines. He now resides at Santa Cross, California. 

John Hysung was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, .March 
1), 18l'9. His occupation has been that of a farmer, though he sj)ent some 
twelve years in his father's mill. He had married, previous to the break- 
ing out of the war. and. with a wife and familv, together with a widowed 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 64I 

motlipr, dependent upon liini. lie felt it hif< dnty to remain at home, dur- 
ing' lliat slnifiijlc. Hut .lacoli. liowcvei-, went to the fitmt. while ,Tohn 
assisted in raisinj; a conipanv in liis home township, and. d\iring the cou- 
tinnance of the war, failed not in givinj; the {jovernment proper and loyal 
supi)ort. Ill 18(53, lie moved ont to Vigo county, Indiana, where he 
farmed, until the date of his settlement in Montgomery eounty, in 1880. 
Here, lie has lived the life of a good and tpiiet I'ilizcn. unruffled by any 
exciting event. 

Mr. Hysung buried the wife iif his youth, in 18!);{. Her name was 
Elizabeth Hevore, a native of rennsylvania, and a daughter of Cornelius 
and I'^lizabeth i Dunlaj)) Devore. She was a woman of sujierior niakeujj 
and a kind mother to her two sons: Cornelius F., who resides in Kansas 
City, in the eni]>loy of the ilissouri Pacific Ry. Co., and James S., a clerk 
in liakerstield. California. The present wife of our subject was the wid- 
ow of Charles Urown, one of the victims of the Dalton raid. She is an 
Ohioan, and a daughter of Alfred and Urania (Conant) Morley, her 
Christian name being l']niily 1j. Her ])arent8 were natives of ilassachu- 
setts, where they married, and then came to Ohio, where, at Kirtland, 
they jiassed the remainder of their lives. The father was a carriage 
maker, his age, at death, having been seventy-seven years. The wife died 
many years earlier, at fortyfoui'. The children were: Watson, of Day- 
ton (Ohio) Soldiers' Home; (ieorge H., deceased; Charles T., of Paines- 
ville, Ohio; Kmily L. , Lewis A., of Onoway. Iowa ; Howard C.. of Youngs- 
town, Ohio; Elizabeth Whiting, of Whiting, Iowa. All the sons of this 
family enlisted in defense of "Old Glory," their service aggregating a 
period of seventeen years. Mrs. Hysung was. prioi' to her first marriage, 
a suc( essful teacher, having taught, some ten years, in the Slates of Ohio, 
Iowa, Michigan and Indiana. 

^Ir. Hysung and his wife are of excellent standing in the community 
where they have residence, and enjoy the esteem of a large circle of 
friends and acquaintances. 



MATT, (iRlFFIN— One of the leading fanners of Parker township, 
and none more prominently and honorably associated with the history 
of his county, is Matf. Ciiillin. who was born in Adair county. .Missouri, 
on the I'Ttli of .lanuary. ]S.")7. His father. Lafayette (iiifliii. was a native 
of South Carolina, wliei'c he was mariied (o Catherine (Jiiltin, a native of 
the same state. They moved to Adair connfy, in an early day, where they 
engaged in farming. The father was, accidenlally, drowned there, in 
18<n, when only forty-seven years of age. His wife survives him, a resi- 
dent of Iiide]ieiidence, Kansas, with her daughter. She came to Mont- 
gomeiy county, in ISt;!), and is one of the old settlers of the county, hav- 
ing gone thiough all the hardshijis of a new coiintiy, with the burden of 
a large family to rear. Her family consistH of six children: Keturah, 



642 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Frank, Matt, Mary, William and Jefferson. 

Matt. Griflfin was the third child, and second son. He was only 
twelve years of age when his mother moved to Kansas, and he and his 
older brother had to do the work of the farm. The children made the 
most of the opportunities offered by the district school and some educa- 
tion was acquired. 

]\Ir. Griffin lived with his mother, till his marriage, 1879, to Cordelia 
Addie. a native of Ohio. His wife's father and mother, William and 
Elizabeth Addie, were both natives of Ohio. They came to Kansas in 
1868, and located two miles north of Humboldt, where Mr. Addie died, 
in 1869, at thirty-eight years of age. In 1870, the family moved to Mont- 
gomery county, where they lived for a number of years. ]\Irs. Addie died 
in Denver, Colorado, in 1900, at the age of sixty-four. There were only 
three children in the family: Callie, Delila and Mary. 

Matt. Griffin chose for his occupation, the trade of a baker, and 
worked at the business, for a number of years, at Independence, Kansas. 
After acquiring a sufficient sum of money, he sold out his business and 
rented a farm on the river, where he lived till 1901, when he bought and 
improved one hundred and sixty acres of land, five miles north and one 
mile west of Coffeyville. Four years passed before he moved to this farm 
and built a handsome residence and large barn. Many improvements 
are being made, and the farm is being fenced with tight-wire fencing, 
and the place is approaching one of the best farms in the township. It 
is adapted for both the raising of hogs and cattle, but he gives the most 
of his attention to the former. There are about one hundred acres of 
tine \\heat and corn land, and to the north of his house, is a large oak 
grove, wliich makes a fine windbreak for the house and barns, so that the 
stock is well j)rotected in winter. 

Mr. Griffin started in life with very little capital, but his business 
transactions have Iieen attended with much success, which may be as- 
cribed not only to his cUise ajiplication and untiring industry, but, also, 
to the lieljiful and untiring co-ojieration of his wife. To them prosperity 
has come in llie last foiu-leen or fifteen years, and they feel, now, that 
they have reached the place where they can enjoy, without so much hard 
labor, the fruits of (heir industry. Only one child has come to them, 
Maudie, now a young lady in her 'teens. 



WILLIAM C. IXICKIOY— KSeven miles west ;ind a half mile north 
of the city of ('offeyvillc, is the beautiful rTiral home of the gentleman 
whose name a])iiears above. He is one of the oldest settlers in ]\Iontgom- 
ery county, liis resilience dating from the year 18(!9. lie fli-st .settled 
in Liberty townsliiii, but Fawn Creek township has been his home for 
man\- \(>ars. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 643 

The place of birth of "Mr. Dickey was in Wuyiic coniity, Pennsylva- 
iiiii, tlic time beinj; tlie 11th of 8ei)tenibei', 1S41. He in a son of William 
and lOliza (Smith) Dickey, the former a iialive of Coiinecticnt. the latter 
of New York. After their marriajje, they emif^raled. in 18.~)G, to Lee coun- 
ty, Iowa, where they lived live year.s, then moved to Liun county, 
Kansas, and, there, farmed, during the period of the war. Then, in 1866, 
they moved over into Bates county, Missouri, and. in 1869, settled with 
their family, in Montgomery county, Kansas. The father purchased a 
farm near liideiieiidence and continued to I'cside at that point, until his 
death, in 1871. at the advanced age of eighty yciii's. The wife died, near 
Mound City, Kansas, at the age of fifty-six years. To them were born 
seven children, the four now living, being: Sarah, Mrs. Urown, of Penn- 
sylvania; Harriet, Mrs. Root, of Linn county, Kansas; Adaline, Mrs. 
Smith, of this county, and William C, the esteemed subject of this re- 
view. 

^^'illiam ('. Dickey was reared to the liard manual labor of the farm, 
his education being secured in the country schools, duiing the few short 
winter months. He remained an inmate of the home and participated 
in th' different moves of the family, until their arrival in this county. 
He had already entered upon his first business venture, while the family 
lived in ISatcs county, operating a grocery store, ,'icioss the line, in Ver- 
non county, during the three years of their residence in that place. After 
his arrival in Montgomery county, he took up a claim near Independence, 
for which he secured a deed, and then sold out and purchased another 
farm, one mile west, where he lived three years. He then went to Rut- 
land townshii), where he bought a farm, near Havana, aiid. there, contin- 
ued ;o resiiie for the ensuing eleven years. Again, lie dispctsed of his 
farm, and, after a short period in Independence. )>urchased the present 
farm of eighty acres, in Fawn Creek township. Here, he is engaged in 
generi',1 faiining and has one of the best pieces of land in the county, 
furnished with everything in the line of buildings and machinery, neces- 
sary to the handling of stock an<l the caring for the pioducts of the farm. 

In the matter of citizenship. Mr. Dickey stands deservedly high, hav- 
ing always sustained a s|>l('ndid reiiulation for honest.\ and integrity 
of chai-acter. Pie lias given much attention to the securing of the best 
educati(Uial facilities for his nighborhood, and is found ready, at all 
times, to engage in any movement which looks to the advancement of the 
peo]il<-. 

On the ITth (lay of August, in ]S(!2, Mr. Dickey heeded the <all of 
his country and went forth to do battle foi' the tlag. His enlisteinent was 
in Coniytany "K," Twelfth Kansas Volunteer Infantry. In this regiment 
he served a period of three years, partici))ating in a number of the hard- 
fought battles of the west and nianv of the smallei- skirmishes. He was 



644 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

fortunate in returning with good health and without wounds. His dis- 
charge dated on I he 301 h of .June, 186.5. 

The dome.stic life of Mr. Dickey began on the .3d of December, 1872, 
when he married, in Montgomery countj', Agnes Chamberlain. Mrs. 
Dickey was born near fJalena, Illinois, March 30, 1847. Her father, Wil- 
liam Chamberlain, was a native of Vermont, and married Clymena 
Owe.i, a native of Pennsylvania. They came, with their family, to Mont- 
gomery county, in 1869, and settled near Independence, where they pass- 
ed the remainder of their days. His age was seventy, at death, the wife 
living to the age of seventy-six. Five of their nine children still survive: 
Agnos. ^Irs. Dickey; William. Emily, ISIrs. P.olton ; George and Oscar, 
all of whom live in this county. To the marriage of our subject and his 
wife, seven children have been born: Charles and William H. reside in 
St. Josejjh, Missouri; Fi'anklin lives at home; Emma, who married Guy 
T. Brown ; Leonard, who lives at home; Nellie and George are deceased. 

In matters of political moment, Mr. Dickey votes for the man or the 
principle, i-ather than for a particular party. Socially, he is a valued 
member of the Grand Army of the Kei)ublic. Both he and his family are 
much esteemed in the communitv in which thev reside. 



D. W. tWTHEK.S— D. W. Gathers, a retired cigar manufacturer of 
Cherryvale, Kansas, was born in Fulton county, Illinois, .lanuary 17, 1861. 
His father, George W. Gathers, now retired, followed the trade of cooper, 
and was a soldier, for three years and three months, in the Civil war. 
The f::tlier was born in April, 18.33, came to Kansas from Illinois in the 
early (HVs, and is the father of ten children, seven of whonv are living: 
Phoebe. Mrs. P. K. Smith, of Cofleyville; D. W. , Eliza, Mrs. E. J. Stan- 
dard, of Canton, Illinois; Charles, who died at two years; Lura B., Mrs. 
E. J. Glover; Tillie M., deceased; Charles P., of ciierryvale; Allen, de- 
ceased; Fred E., of Fort Scott, and Viola E., of the cla.ss of 1903, high 
school. Cherryvale. 

D. AV. Gathers was educated in Canton, Illinois. After finishinfj 
school, he learned the business of making cigars, and followed that busi 
ness for over thirty years. He had a factory in Illinois and remained 
thei'e until he came to Kansas, in 1887, at one time, acting as traveliii" 
salesman for his business. In 1001, the trusts interfered so with his 
business, that he closed it, and became a farmer, oil and stock man, own- 
ing two hundred and forty acres of good oil lands in Montgomery and 
Wilson counties. Me was a member of the council when it voted to 
authorize the prospecting for gas, the tirst in the gas belt to do this. 

!Mr. Gathers marricMl Kale Morning, a native of Dakota and a daugh- 
ter of -Tames and Caroline (Ihidson) Morning, the mother a native of 
New -Jersey, and the father <:{ Illinois. Their home is in Salt Lake, Utah, 




JOSEPH F. KING. 



HISTOnY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 645 

thonf"!!, for sixteon years, they were residents of Labette county, Kans- 
sas, moving west in 1800. ]Virs. fathers is one of eight children, viz: 
Samuel A., of Salt Lake; William J., of Albu(]uer(iue, New Mexico; Mrs. 
Kate E. Gathers, James I., of 'S'inita, Indian Teriitory ; Rev. Theodore, 
a minister of the F'irst Presbyterian church of Madison. Nebi'asUa ; Del- 
bert, of Parsons, Kansas; Arthur, a teacher, and JJose E., of Salt Lake, 
rtah. 

Mrs. D. W. Gathers has two childii'n living: Leatlia and ICdna ; Ar- 
thur E. is deceased. She and the oldest daughter are members of the Pres- 
byterian church of Cheri'yvale. Mr.Cathers is a mendier of the A.F.& A.M., 
I. O. O. F., AA'oodmen and A. O. U. AV. He has great faith in the resources 
of Montgomery county and is thoroughly westernized. He is among the 
most worthy and well-to-do citizens, is entcrjirisiiig and believes in pro- 
gress. His home is one of the handsome jilaces in the city. 



JOSEPH F. KlN(i— The "old soldier!" How shall we repay him, 
how measure the value of his services to his country? Shall it be in pal- 
try dollars and cents? Far be it from us, the beneticiaries of their loy- 
alty, to think that the mere jiittance received as a pension, discharges the 
obligation owed to them I Let us, in the few brief years they are to be 
here, jiour forth ujion them, in addition, the benedictions of a grateful 
posterity. Stand with uncovered heads, as each year their lessening 
ranks file by. resolved that the glorious country which they saved with 
their blood, shall continue its benign mission of ui)lifting humanity to a 
liigher ]ilane of excellence. The biogra])liei- is always i)r()ud to record 
the few brief facts that tell of duty done in the dark days of the Rebel- 
lion, and, in Josejih F. King, of Cancy townshij). is a subject which fur- 
nishes the necessary material. 

Air. King landed on Kansas soil in IS.'")?, and was, thus, in the thick 
of the fervid liatllc for su]u-emaiy, then going on between the forces of the 
Free-State jiai riots and tlie Border-Rutfians. A\'hen the war cloud actual- 
ly burst, he \vns one of the tii-st to enlist, first, in the Home (!uards. and 
then, in a com])any commanded by ("apt. J. H. Forman, which became 
part of the Tenth Kansas Infantry. After a yeai'"s service in Ihis organ- 
ization, he received honorable discharge, and, immediately, returning to 
his old home in Indiana, reeiilisted in Company "A," of the Twelfth In- 
diana Volunteer Infanti'y. In this comi)any he served during the re- 
mainder of the war. jiart icipating in many of the hard-fought battles and 
long v.-earisonie marches of the Army of the Cumberland, and. later, with 
grand old '-rncle I'.illy," to tli(> sea. A partial list of the battles in which 
Mr. King had a pai-t, follows: Richmond. Kentucky; Siege of A'icksbui-g, 
Jackson, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Hig Shanty, Rig and Little Kenne- 
saw, Atlanta, Jonesboro,Alacon,Savannali. Columbus, Rent on vi lie, Raleigh, 



646 IIISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COINTY, KANSAS. 

togetlier with nuiiu-i-ous other skirmishes, not mentioned in the reports.. 
At Rii'hmond, Kentucky, ilr. King was nnfortnnate enough to get within' 
the enemy's line and was captured. He, iiowever. was paroled on the 
fourth day. Again, at Atlanta, his zeal carried him too close to the ene- 
my. His "stay with the "Johnnie Rebs" was even shorter than before, as 
he was enabled, by the lax discipline of the guards, to make his escape, 
and to particii)ate in that "glorious march to the sea." His company 
had the distinction of being selected to lead the Grand Review at Wash- 
iugtor, an honor which it richly de.served. and which its battle-scarred 
members bore with distinguished credit. 

A few brief facts concerning the family of ilr. King will not be 
amiss. He was born in Jennings county, Indiana, on the 17th of Septem- 
ber, 1842, a son of George W. and Nancy (Boyd) King. The parents were 
natives of Ohio and, in 1857, removed, with their family, to Anderson 
county, Kansas. Here, they lived out their days, as farmers, loyal to the 
free institutions of their adopted state, which the father served during 
the war, in the home guards, and in several dilTercnt offices of trust. He 
died at the age of sixty-eight, the mother surviving him and dying at 
seventy-four years. They reared a family of twelve children, the four 
now living being: Jose{)li F., Elizabeth, William and Robert G. Those 
deceased are: .Tames, David, llenjamin if.. I'lmma, John, George, Lena 
and Gynthia. 

T'pon his return from the war, Mr. King was joined in marriage with 
Catherine F. Lewellin, the date being June 24, 18C5. llr.s. King was a 
native of Jennings county, Indiana, born the 20th of November, 1844, 
the daughter of James and Sidney J. (Scroggins"! Lewellin, who were 
from South Garolina, and early jiioneers to Green county, Indiana. 

The year of his marriage, Mr. King returned to Anderson county, 
Kansas, where he engaged in farming until 188:!, when he bought his 
present farm of eighty acres in ('aney township. It lies two miles south 
of the village of Havana, and shows the care of a practiced hand, in the 
many substantial imj)roveiiients to be found thereon. Mr. King is a man 
of 7)arts, in his township, having served as ti'easurer and clerk of the 
school boai'd a number oC times, and in various other jiositions of trust. 
In ])oliticiil belief he is a staunch Republican, and delights to promote 
the interests of that ])arty. To him and his wife have been born a family 
of ten children, but four of whom are living: Nancy, wife of Fred Wolsch; 
Minnie, wife of David M. Spring; Joseph D., and Amos. Those deceased 
are: James, ]\Iary, (ieorge, Ktta J., anil John A. 

Mr. and ^Irs. King and their son, Amos, comprise the family living 
at lionic. and all are regarded with much respect in the connnunity. 



JOSEPH A. RUCKLEY— A quarter of a century at the throttle of 
an enoine on the "Frisco" Railwav, is the record of this honored citizen- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 647 

of Cheri'.yvale, a record of faithful and oflicient service to his company, 
and of splendid oitizenshiji in tlie town which has been his home during 
this extended period. 

Joseph A. Buckley's nativity dates in Vermillion county, Illinois, 
February 10, 1855. His parents, later, lived in Hhelby and Fayette coun- 
ties, in the same state, where our subject received a fair common school 
education, in the meantime, assistin"- his father in the conduct of his 
grist-mill. The family moved to a Jlissouri farm, in 1S08, where Joseph 
developed a sound jthysical frame, in the multifarious duties of an agri- 
•cultural life. 

At nineteen, he left the faim and entered the machine shop of the 
"Frisco" Railway Company. Three years later, he began firing, on the 
same road, and, in 1877. took his first turn at the throttle, on a yard en- 
gine. In 1882, he was given a freight run and. four years later, began 
his seventeen years' continuous service at the throttle of a passenger 
engine. In the brief space alloted to this sketch, it will be impossible 
to speak of the many interesting events in the life of this faithful engi- 
neer. He has been in several tight places, but has never left his engine 
in time of danger. He has, for long years, been regarded by the company 
as one of its most trusted employees and has a record for efficient service 
not surpassed on the system. 

Prior to June 29, 1876, Mrs. Kuckley was Miss Jlinerva R. Welch. 
She is a native of ^lissouri. a daughter of Daniel J. and Winifred (Stout) 
Welch, natives of Virginia. To this marriage have been born: Bertha, 
now Mrs. Jospjih Reynolds, of Los Angeles, Oalifornia; Clinton L.. Eu- 
gene A., Hattie W., T>ouisa TO. and Max, who died in infancy, ^trs. Ruck- 
ley and the two oldest daughters are members of the Bajitist church, in 
the work of which they have taken a heljtful jiart. ^Mr. Buckley holds 
mend)ersliip in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and is a valued 
member of the Pyramids. 

Turning now to the consideralion of the family history of Mr. and 
Mrs. Buckley, the following is noted: Mr. Buckley's i)arenls are well-to- 
do farmers, residing in Texas county, Missouri. His father. Edward 
Buckley, is now in his eighty-second year, and his mother, nee Harriet L. 
Wall, is si.\ months her husband's senior. The father was a man of in- 
fluence, during his active careei'. and is still felt in the community where 
he resides. He and his wife ari> uienibcrs of the Haiitist church. 

Of the elder Buckleys, there are now living four sons, the three de- 
ceased daughtcis forming a family of .^even children, born to James and 
Sarah Buckley, of Indiana. Besides onr subject's father, there are: Wil- 
liam, .lames and John, all wealthy farmers. Mrs. l?uckley was a daugh- 
ter of Richard and Theodosia \\"all. she being the only living member 
of a large family, llcr fallier died at eighty-four and her mother at 
fifty-six \eais. 



648 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

To Edward Buckley ;ind wife were born: William P., who was killed 
at th^' battle of Richuioud, Kentucky, a private in the Sixteenth Indiana 
Infantry; Julia A., deceased; Eliza J.. Mrs. Floyd, of Texas county, Mis- 
ssouri ; Silas JI., a merchant at Huntington, Indiana ; John W., of Los 
Angeles, California; Joseph A., Henry C, a railway conductor, of Port- 
land, Oregon; George F., of Springfield, Missouri; James M., deceased, 
and Mary E., Mrs. James Teel, of Winona, Missouri. 

The grandparents of Mrs. Josejjh A. Buckley were James and Sallie 
Welch Their four children were: Daniel J., Mrs. Buckley's father; 
Andrew, Jerome and Mai'v J. The family is of German descent. Daniel 
Welch was a man of influence in his time, serving Nodaway county, Mis- 
souri, as constable and sheriff, for a number of years. He died in Colo- 
rado, in 1873, at seventy-two, and his wife, in 1S05, at seventy-seven years 
of age, a devout member of the Christian church. They reared eight chil- 
dren : David, was a violinist of marked ability, killed at Ft. Donelson, 
aprivateintheNineteenth Illin(iis;Diana and ^^■illiam D.. deceased; Mary 
E., Mrs. Jasper Dodson, of Jo]ilin, Missouri; Joseph A., deceased; Alfred 
M. and Charles A., of Joplin. Missouri. Mrs. lUickley is the youngest of 
the family. The maternal grandfatlier of ifrs. Buckley was David 
Stout, of Virginia, where he married, and he and his wife made the jour- 
ney to Ohio, on one hor.se. They were ])ioneers of Smithfield county, be- 
came wealthy farmers, and, later, settled near Muniee, Indiana, where he 
engaged extensively in Ihe milling business. They reared a family of 
eleven children and, later in life, moved to Missouri, where the wife died 
in 1855, and the husband in 1857, both at the age of eightv-four years. 



CHARLES F. HITE— Charles F. Hite. a worthy .settler, is one of 
the foremost farmers of Parker township. He is a native of Highland 
county, Ohio, where he was born June 8, 1859. His father. Addison Hite, 
and liis mother. Frances (Prince) Hite. were both natives of Old Vir- 
ginia. The father was a Methodist minister, and itreaclied for over sixty 
years, in Virginia and Ohio, riding his circuit, in the old-time waj. He 
was, often, out a month at a time and his work finally reached as far 
west as Ohio, to which state he moved his family and settled at Sinking 
Sj)rings, where he died at the age of eighty-six. His wife died at the age 
of sixty-five. Their children are: M'illiam. John W., Jo.seph, Charles F., 
Robei't ^^'., Keiii])er and James, dccea.sed; l^iizabetli. ^lary. Sarah and 
May. 

Our subject remained at liomc till he was seventeen years of age, 
working on the little plot of land his father had bought. He served as 
an api)rentice, at a tannery, and remained at this trade till he was thirty- 
five years old. In 18!M), he came to Kansas, and located at Coffeyville. 
Here, he bought two hundi'ed acres of land, four miles north of the city, 



HISTOUY OF M0.N1(;(I.MKUY COl'.NTY, KANSAS. 649 

«ii IliP Verdij^ris. Fidiii lliis ti;ict, which w.-is onco ;ill in licavx timber, 
lie has made one of tlie most nttiactive farms in llie county. He left 
fifteen acres of timber for a park, on tlie east side of the house, which 
bas teen trimmed up and sodded in blue grass. His residence and barn 
stand on the banlcs of the river, his farm beino- almost surrounded by 
watei', besides I'aisinjj; corn, wheal an<l alfalfa, he is enoaged in raising 
hogs, cattle and horses, feeding and shiiiiiing on (inite a large scale. After 
thirteen years of untiring labor, he lias made for liiiiis(>lf, one of the nic- 
est homes in the couniy. all due to jiei-severance and close atention to 
business. 

Mr. Hite was married the :{(ilh of March. ]S!)2. to Jennie L. W. 
AVebb. a native of Virginia, and a daughter of Charles and Columbia 
Webb, who came to Kansas in ]S!t!K and settled in ^lontgomery county, 
where Mr. Webb died. His wife survives him, and lives one mile west of 
Bearing. Mr. Hite lias tilled, faithfully, the ottice of township clerk, and, 
also, has been a member of the township board six years. He is a mem- 
ber of the At. W. of A. at PofTeyville. and, in politics, is a Republican, 



DAVID MONKOE EDWARD8— D;ivid M, Edwards was born in 
Independence county, Arkansas, on the Stli of March. 1858. His father 
and mother, Benjamin and Martha (Stephenson) Edwards, were natives 
of Tennessee. 8oon after their marriage, they moved to Arkansas, and 
settled in Iiideiiendeiice county, where they lived until the beginning of 
the war, when ^Ir, Edwards enlisted, but was soon taken to the hospital 
at Helena, sick, where he remained about six months, and was discharged 
on account of disability. 

After returning home, Benjamin Edwards moved his family to Illi- 
nois, and remained there till the war was over; soon afterward, return- 
ing to Arkansas, and remaining till 1874, when he moved his family to 
Montgomery county, Kansas, and located on a piece of land, north of 
Coffeyville, The sickness which he incurred, while a soldier, remained 
with him all these years, and he died, in 1874, at the age of forty-four. 
His wife survived him till 1892. when she died, at sixty-three years of 
age. The family consists of eight children, three of whom are living: 
David Monroe, William and John. 

David Monroe Edwards came to Kansas, with his parents, in 1874, 
when only sixteen years of age. The early part of his life was spent in 
Illinois and Arkansas, where he received only a common school educa- 
tion. After the death of his father, the responsibility of the family fell, 
heavily, on him, and, to the efforts of himself and two brothers, all thanks 
are due foi' the comfortable home provided for the mother, who remained 
with him until he was married. 

i<>bruary 4, 1880, he took to wife. Miss Alicg Hudelson, a native of 



650 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Illinois, and a daiigbter of William and Elizabeth Hudelson, formerly 
of that state. The father and mother came to Kansas in 1872, and bought 
a large tract of land on the Verdigris, all in heavy timber, which" Mr. 
Hudelson cleared and made a valuable farm. He died on this farm, at 
the age of sixty-six years, while his wife survives him, at the same age. 
Of the two children, Mrs. Alice Edwards is the oldest, the youngest being 
Levi H. of the Indian Territory. 

After ^Ir. Edwards' marriage, he farmed the home of his youth, for 
some time, and then came into i>ossession of two hundred and twenty- 
six acres of bottom land, which his wife inherited from her father, which, 
with the imiirovements he has put on it, is one of the best farms on the 
Verdigris. The house, a large two-story, is one of the most substantial 
farm houses in the township, and there are good barns, and other farm 
buildings. His farm is five miles north of Coffeyville, and is completely 
surrounded by water. His principal stock is hogs, but he gives most 
of his attention to the raising of grain, wheat, corn and alfalfa, the lat- 
ter being well adapted to the native soil. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have been born eight children : Emma 
Gertrude, deceased; Willie, deceased; Oscar, Oliver, Rosa, Nellie, Jessie 
and Vance. 

Mr. Edwards is an independent in politics. 



PHILIP H. DALBY— Philip H. Dalby, the leading physician of 
Havana, was born in Edwards county, Illinois, on the loth of May, 1853. 
His father, David l>alby, was a native of Tong, Yorkshire, England, and 
was born on the 15th of August, 1820. He came to America when only 
sixteen years of age, where he married Louisiana Brisenden, a native of 
Albion, Illinois. He was a lithographer in England, and a carpenter 
in America. He came to Kansas in 1870. and settled in Montgomery 
county, one and one-half miles east of Havana, where he remained for 
many years. He died at the home of his daughter in lola, on the 6th 
day of July, 1902, at the age of eighty-two, his wife having died in 1877, 
at seventy-four years of age, and both are buried, side by side, in the Ha- 
vana cemetery. To them were born eight children, seven of whom are 
living. Zeljtlii, wife of D. H. Pingree, proprietor of the Pennsylvania 
Hotel in lola; W. O., of Seattle, Washington; Fanny E. Lemmont, of 
Cimarron, Kansas; Dr. Philip H., Sarah M., wife of Charles Goe, of Elk 
City; George P., on the old homestead at Havana; and Minnie E., wife 
of Dr. John Wright, of Elk City. 

Dr. Dalby came to Montgomery county in 1870, with his parents, 
when only sixteen years of age. He received his education in the schools 
of this county, and, in 1874, he went to Texas, as a cattle driver and 
herder, remained one jear, and returned home and remained on the farm 




p. H. DALBY. M. D. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 651 

for some time. He, then. Iiecame ii student in the Kansas City Medical C'd- 
lege and <iradnaled in 1S78. Inimeilia(ely after f-i'aduatiou, he juit up 
his sign of "il. 1).'" at Elgin, Kansas, bnt only lived there a short time, 
when he moved to .Toneshoro, where he jiracticed for three years. After- 
ward, he spent three years at KoHon and eight years at Chantamiua, and, 
in 1892, removed to Havana, his jireseut home. Here, ho has built up a 
good practice, in medicine and surgery, his practice extending over much 
territory, and he is well and favorably known as a physician. 

The Doctor owns jiropcrty in both Havana and ("hautau(pia. He is 
^ Democrat in politics and is a member (if the Odd Fellows, No. 208, 
Havana Lodge. 

Dr. Dalby was married on the first day of May, 1888, his wife being 
Minnie E. Byers, a native of Iowa, who came to Kansas in 1871. 



JOHN J. KLOEHR— One of the best known citizens of Southern 
Kansas is John Kloehr, projirietor of an extensive livery business at Cof- 
feyville. He is full of the snaji and energy of youth and gives promise of 
many years of active and vigorous life. 

The historic and pic1ures(|ue Rhine of the Fatherland was the place 
of birth of Mr. Kloher, the time June 30, 18G0. Joseph and Margaret 
(Bozst) Kloehr were his parents. They were one of the middle class 
families, and had been well-to-do millers in that country for generations. 
In 1870, Josejih Kloehr brought his family to America, settling in Leroy, 
Kansas, where he went into the packing business. After two years lie 
came to Cofl'eyville and began a hotel business, being remembered as 
"mine host" of the Southern Hotel. He, later, built a handsome brick 
residence on a 220-acre tract near town, where he was living at the time 
of his demise, February 14, 1901. 

Joseph Kloehr was a gentleman who combined in a marked degree 
the best characteristics of his race — the Teutonic resoluteness of pur- 
pose and the sturdy common sense and absolute honesty which is a part 
of the German training. His wife is still an honored resident of the com- 
munity, a devout member of the Catholic church, and a lady whose graces 
of character cause her to be an object of much veneration. The family 
born to them are as follows: John J., Mollie, Mrs. Robt. Ollinger, of Cof- 
fey ville; Joseph v., residing on the home farm; Frances, wife of Samuel 
Hart, proprietor of the Southern Hotel, of Coflfeyville; Charles, who is 
in the livery business with our subject; two are deceased — an unnamed 
infant and Barbara, who died at six years. 

A ten-year-old lad when the faniily came to America, John J. Kloehr 
is a product of Coffeyville institutions, developing into sturdy manhood 
amid the influences of a live western town. Having a good knowledge of 
the butcher business by the time he had reached maturity, his first busi- 



652 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKT COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ness venture was in the conduct of a shop for some two years. He then 
engaged with the government on tlie Canadian river in handling cattle 
for a year, and, after a like i>eriod in Colorado, prospecting for the 
precious metals, came hack I0 Coflcyville, "ne'er again to roam." He be- 
gan buying and selling horses, which finally led him into the livery busi- 
ness. He and his brother have made a handsome success of their stable, 
and are the leading firm in the city in their line. They are housed in their 
own building, a brick of two stories, 50x111 feet, with stalls for sixty- 
eight head of stock in the main building and shed rdoni for an indefi- 
nite nnnd)er in addition. They have a complete outfit and keep in active 
service some thirty horses. 

Prior to October 5, 1892, the little town of Coffeyville was an un- 
known quantity. The events of that day caused it to spring, with one 
bound, into national notice, and for months it became the cynosure of 
all eyes. The events of "the Dalton raid" have ])assed into history and 
need not be rehearsed here. It is due to John J. Kloehr, however, that 
the biographer should tell in an "uuvarnished tale" the very prominent 
part taken by him in that day's exciting events. He was reclining on a 
cot in the stable when Harris Reed ran in and announced the arrival of 
the gang. Having no gun at hand, Mr. Kloehr crossed with him to the 
Eos\\('ll hardware store, and, hastily securing an outfit, got into the fight 
without further delay. For ten minutes the fighting was most fierce, and 
on count of noses four of the desperadoes wei-e found to have passed the 
divide, while the bodies of four dead horses lay beside them. For that 
ten minutes' work John Kloehr deserves unstinted praise for the bravery 
and coolness he displayed, and it was with pleasure that his friends noted 
the very generous response from those who admired his conduct. Lyman 
J. Gage, later President McKinley's secretary of the treasury, and then 
president of the First National Bank of Chicago, was instrumental in 
raising a fund of a thousand dollars, with which he had manufactured a 
beautiful gold medal, two inches in diameter and with a costly diamond 
in the center, and upon which was engraved the following: "John Joseph 
Kloehr — the Emergency Arose and the Man Appeared." Upon the oppo- 
site side is the sentiment : "Presented by friends in Chicago, 111., who 
admire nerve and courage when displayed in defense of social order." 
Besides this came numerous other offerings, among which was a Win- 
chester repeating rifle, a pair of rubber boots, indicative of "wading in," 
and a handsome hunting jacket. 

Mr. Kloehr was happily joined in marriage, in 1884, to Miss Katie 
Hufl', a native of Indiana. Four children have come to them: Jessie, 
Ru.ssell, Franklin and Nannie. 

As intimated iu the opening sentences of this review, Mr. Kloehr is 
a citizen of whom Coffeyville may be proud. He takes a keen interest in 
the life of the town, has served as alderman, school director and, for a 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEBY COUNTY, KANSAS. 653 

period, as deputy sheriff. In social life he holds lueiribership in the I. O. 
O. F., K. of 1'.. A. O. U. W. and the Woodmen, and wiien he takes a hand 
in politics, it is to aid the Democratic ticket. 



JOHN ALEXANDER BURT— One of Fawn Creek township's best 
citizens and farmers was born in Allen county, Indiana, on the 25th of 
October, 1842. His father, Silas Burt, was a native of Ohio, where he 
came as a .young man and was married to Mary Wycoff. a native of that 
state. In 1841, they moved to Indiana and settled at Ft. Wayne, where 
the father died at the age of thirty-one years. By occupation he was a 
farmer and blacksmith. 

There were four children in the family of Silas Burt, as follows: Su- 
san M.. wife of .lohn McCay of Charles Mix county. South Dakota; John 
A., Rosa, wife of Ingraham Thorn, of Ft. Wayne, Ind.. and Silas, of Har- 
jter county, Kansas. Mrs. Burt married a second time, to John M. Cart- 
wright, to which union were born five children, three of whom are living, 
viz: James, living in Washington; Marion, whose residence is in Los 
Angeles, California ; Alfred, of Ft. Wayne, Ind. Mrs. Burt died at the 
home of her son, John, at the age of eighty-one years. 

Jehu A. Burt was reared on the farm adjoining Ft. Wayne. He 
never had the ojiportunity of acquiring an education, but made the most 
of the few opportunities he did have. He became exjjert in one of the use- 
ful trades, that of a blacksmith, and does his own work in this line to 
this day. He entered the army in February of 18G5, and did good service 
the four months he served. He was a mend)er of Co. "I," 33rd Ind. Vol. 
Inf.. and was discharged at Louisville, Ky. After the war he rented land 
and fanned for some time. 

In February, 18G5, just before enlisting in the army, he was married 
to Charity Cartwright, a native of Piqua, Ohio, and a daughter of James 
and Elizabeth Cartwright. 

Mr. Burt, having bought one hundred and sixty acres of uncultivated 
land in Kansas, moved to this state in 1881. This land had an incum- 
brance of five hundred dollars and the only building was a small log 
house, which he moved into and occupied for two years. Influence was 
brought to bear on him to get him to abandon the land and not try to pay 
the debt, but he persevered, and now, as a result of that per serve ranee, 
thrift and economy, he owns four hundred acres of the best land, lying 
three and one-half miles southeast of Tyro. The land is without incum- 
brance and is well stocked with horses and cattle. In the place of the log 
house, stands a modern farmhouse, and not far away, for the comfort 
of the stock, is a good barn. 

When he arrived in Kansas Mr. Burt's only possessions were a 
wagon and team and thirty dollars in money. To attain to the great 



654 HISTOUV OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

jn'osperity of (lio prosonl, lie started to drilliiif: wells, keeping up this 
occupation for several years, and carrying on liis farming at the same 
liine. 

There are seven cliililriMi in the Hurt family, viz: John, at Cedar- 
vale. Kansas; Mary Uayle, deceased; ^'ilan<•a, wife of Wilbur Burt, of 
Tyro; Viola Norlon, of Tyi'o; Mattie Messersmith. Hettie and Susan at 
lidiiie. 

Mr. Hurt is a nieniber of the Odd Fellows at Tyro. (i. A. R., Coffey- 
ville Post, and A. H. T. A., No. 192. 



WILLIAM 1'. MAIJTIN— William V. Martin, although not an old- 
time settler of Montgomery county, is one of its most enterprising farm- 
ers and stock raisers. He was born in Montgomery county. <Jhio, July 
1. 18.j8. His father, John S. Martin, was a native of Dublin, Ireland, 
and (ame to America, with his |)arents, when a lad fourteen years old. 
The mother, whose maiden name was Martha (Miver, was boin in Mount 
Holly, New Jersey. 

John !\Jartin was reared in New York, and when a young man, went 
to Ohio, where he was married. He learned the trade of carriage maker, 
locating in Daytoti, Ohio, in 1!S4!>, where he manufactured carriages. He 
died at that ])lace at the age of sixty-four. His wife survived him several 
years .and died at the age of seventy -eight. There were eight children: 
^fary E. and Sarah, deceased; James, INIartin, John S., William P.. A. E., 
and George, deceased. 

William P. IMartin was reared in Ohio, where he was educated in the 
common schools. When he became of age, he had an anibiti(m to go west. 
He tlKUight, by (biing this, he would have better o](portunities for secur- 
ing a home. So, in 1870, he came to Kansas and slopped at Topeka, 
whei'e he went to farming and stock raising. He succeeded very well 
in his enterpri.se, so much so, that he made two or three trips to Colorado, 
during his residence there. Later, he moved to Quenneino, in Osage 
county, and bought town jjroperty, but afterward, moved to Coffeyville, 
for a short time. Prom Coffeyville, he went to Cherokee, where, for six 
years, he was in the stock raising business. 

In 1808, he bought the farm of one bundled and sixty acres, on which 
he is now living, seven miles west of Coffeyville, This farm is near the 
state line and is a natural stock farm. The home is a beautiful one, sit- 
uated half way up a slope from the main road. There is a nice drive- 
way fhrough natural oaks, on either side. Tn front of this farm is a fine 
oak grove, cleared of underbrush, making a fine stock shelter in winter. 
Mr. :Martin was married, March 24, 1882. His wife. Maggie Darling, is 
a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Samuel and Maria Darling. The j.ar- 
ents came to Kansas, in about 1875. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 655 

Mr. and Mrs. Martin have five children: Ellis Louis, Esther May, 
Charles A., John S. and Maud S. Mr. Martin is one of the most prosper- 
ous farmers of the county. This prcisiierity is all due to the efforts of a 
man, noted for his honesty, straightforwardness and perseverance. In 
political faith, he is a Democrat. 



ISAAC KURTZ — One of the leading and extensive farmers in Fawn 
Creek township, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, August 
14, 18.32, a son of Isaac Kurtz, born in Chester county, that state, near 
the close of the eighteenth century. His mother was Rachel Longacre, 
of Chester county, and the parents moved to Illinois in 1861, where the 
father died, from a fall on the icy streets, at the age of ninety-two years. 
The mother died in 18G!), at the age of eighty years, leaving five surviving 
children, viz : D. B. and E. T. Kurtz, lawyers of New Castle, Pennsyl- 
vania; Mrs. Frances McMeen, of Fawn Creek township; Mrs. Deborah 
Lochman, of Illinois; and Isaac, our subject, who is the second oldest 
of tho surviving children. 

Jlr. Kurtz, of this sketch, lived in Pennsylvania for the first twenty- 
seven years of his life, and received his education there. He came to Illi- 
nois, in 18.59, and settled in Bureau county, where he bought land and 
farmed and raised stock. He came to Kansas, in 188.5, and located on 
a farm of one hundred and seventeen acres, on the state line, eight miles 
west and two miles south of Coffeyville. He located on the state line, to 
be near the Territory and have pasture for his stock, having six hundred 
acres of leased land in the Territory, for that purpose. He has several 
large fruit orchards of apples, pears, and peaches, never failing to have 
plenty of fine apples to sell, when apples are high. He has erected, on 
his farm, a beautiful cottage, and has many good substantial granaries 
and oiher outbuildings, on the place. He has a number one gas well on 
fhe place, which supplies his house with natural gas. At this time, he 
is (uio of the largest stock dealers in the county, buying and shipping 
to the Chicago market. 

Mv. Kurtz was married on the 14th day of March, 1867, to Mary J. 
Ross, a native of New Philadelphia, Ohio, and a daughter of Jacob and 
Jfary Ross. Mrs. Ross died many years ago, and Mr. Ross is living at 
Emporia, with one of his sons, and is ninety-three years old. 

There are three children : Alcie, wife of Charles Engles; Jennie, wife 
of F. ^[. Anderson; John, living on the home farm, is married to Priidie 
Pollef, a native of Montgomery county, Kansas, and has two children. 



TIIADDET'S C. FR.\ZIER, M. D.— A distinguished pioneer of 
Montgomery county, who has been a prominent figure in the social, pro- 



656 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

fessioual iiiul poliliial life of Coffeyville aud Paikei- township, is Dr. T. 
('. Frazicr, of this review. Ho canie here in the incipient staf;es of county 
devekinnent and wiieii there wa.s nioi'e or less political chaos, and much 
jealousy and town livalry, and has wielded a silent, yet potent, influence 
in the tinal adjiisdiienl, wliii'li resulted in the uniticaticui of sentiment 
for a sinjile town, and that the metropolis of Monl<i()mery county. 

In whatever comniunity his residence has been maintained, his opin- 
ions, regarding the proper conduct of affairs, have carried weight and 
events seldom pr(»ved (hat his judgment had erred. When he came to 
ilontgoniery county, in (>clolK'r, lS(i!», he cast his lot with I'arker. the 
nieTrojiolis of the county, andJioi-e her standard with entliusiasni. until 
<Jofleyville inoculated i( with decay and rendered it a hoiieless invalid, 
when he lent his efforts to the .successful rival in huihling uji a business 
center, unsurjiassed witliin the county's limits. 

While his fii-st concern was for the j>™<'tice of his jirofession. the 
Doctor could not I'cl'rain from parlicijiat ing, with his neighbors, in the 
affair.^ of the local gov<'rnmenl. As mayor of I'arker. his administration 
contributed to the welfare of the town, and. as a business man and physi- 
cian, he honored the calling he represented. His position in Coffey ville 
has lieen no less [)rouiinent and his services no less sincere. As medical 
director of the city for ten years, as a member of the common council, 
and as mayor for four years, he has builded wisely and well. .\s chief 
executive of the city, he personally supervised a large amount of jiublic 
work, involving an expenditure of vast sums of the jmldic funds, and, in 
other directions, where the public weal could be consei'\ed, his voice and 
his hand stood ready to |)erform. 

The innumeralde ways in which Dr. Frazier has rcMuh'i-cd valuable 
service to his coniniunity, can not l»e jiarticnlarized in this article. Great 
credit attaches for his unselfish devotion to jjublic duty, and, yet, his time 
and labor were given without financial consideration or hope of reward. 
He sacrificed his profe.ssional practice, to the welfare of his town, and, 
in view of his pecuniary dei)endence, what gi-eater sacrifice could have 
been made? 

Thaddeus C. Frazier is a native of Henry county. Tennessee, where 
his birth occurred December 14, 1841. His parents. William M. and 
Judith (Arnn) Frazier, were farmers of North Carolina, and Holland 
stock, respectively. The parents remained in Tennessee, until 18fi0, when 
they removed to Green county, Missouri, aud, in 1803. settled on a farm 
near Sherman, Texas. In 1887, the family home was transfc7-red to 
Wichita, Kansas, where the father died in 1897; the mother ]passing away 
in Henry county, Tennessee, in 1845. Two of their four children survive, 
viz: Thaddeus C, and William M., of Wichita, Kansas. Aiu>ther son. 
Samuel V., was four,-yoafS a Confederate soldier, was of large jihysiqne. 
was three times wounded, and is now deceased. 




T. C. FRAZIER, M^ D. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 657 

The iireparaf ion for llii^ alTairs of life began willi Tliaddeiis O. Fra- 
zier wlien he hecaiiie a sdiileiil in llio acadein.v at I'aris, Tennessee, and, 
later, in tlie University at Cohinibia, Missionri. He left the latter sehool 
in 18G1, and enlisted in the Missouri State Guard, under Gen. Sterling 
Trice. He took part in the battle of Wilson Creek, where he received a 
wound which, subsequently, caused the aminitalion of his right arm. 
Rendered incoin()etent for further service in the arniy. he left Russellville, 
Arkansas, where he iiad suffered the aiiipniation of his arm, and went to 
Collin county. Texas, and remained till the close of the war. He went, 
then, into the Red river country, where he rented a fai-m and raised a 
crop cf cotton and. at the same time, renewed his acquaintance with the 
subjecT of medicine. The following year, he entered the medical depart- 
ment of the I'niversily of Ijouisville. Kentucky. 

His education finished, the Doctor 0]»eue(l an ottice in (Ireen county, 
Missouri, but. not being ]deased with his location, he came to Kansas, 
and identified liimself with the new and promising town of Parker. When 
the fate of thai place was sealed, by the exodus of its citizens, he became 
a citizen of roffeyviile, in 1874, where his interests have, since, been cen- 
tered. 

Dr. Frazier was one of the founders of the Montgomery County Med- 
ical Society, of which he is still a member, and has been honored with 
space for his articles in medical journals. In Pythianism and Odd Fel- 
lowship, he is high in the councils of the orders. He has i)assed the chairs 
in the latter, and has been a delegate to. and an officer of the State Oi'and 
Lodce. and is, at present. Grand High Priest of that body. He is a mem- 
\tev of the Pythian Grand Lodge and is I'ast (!raiid Dii-i^i-toi- in the 
Knights of Honor. 

Tn 18ft2. the Doctor organized the Coffeyville Poard of Trade, to 
stimulate the grain trade here. He was secretary of the body and. within 
three years, the city assumed a position as a grain center, second, only, 
to Kan.sas City. In 18fl7. the grain trade passed under the control of the 
state, and the Coffeyville Board of Trade was disbanded. Tlie roffey- 
viile ("ominercial Club was, then, organized and has. since, looked after 
the commercial interests of the city. For sevei'al years, our subject was 
presidiMit of this body and, through its etTorts. many of the prominent 
enterprises of the place were obtained. While in this position, he was 
sent, as a delegate, to the Trans-Mississij)pi Commercial Congress, at 
A\'ichita, Kansas, and was. by that body, elected a mendter of the execu- 
tive couiniittee of the congress, a position which he still holds. 

In |iolili<'s. he affiliates with Democracy, when jirinciples are involv- 
ed, but. with any movement that jtromises the best interests of liis town 
or county. li<' is. by |iolitical considerations, unmoved. 



65S HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

JOHN F. KRING — One of Cherryvale's substantial business men, 
anil the jiioneer iiierchant of the place, was born in Livingston county, Illi- 
nois, February '.), IS.")". His parents were Henry and Ann(Bowen) 
Krin*;-. the father being a native of Ohio, and the mother of Indiana. By 
occupation, llie father was a carpenter, in early life, but came to Kansas, 
in 1882, and, was here engaged in farming, for a period, thence to near 
Hastings, Nebraska, where he died, at the age of sixty-one. He was a man 
of dee])ly religious mould, an active worker in the 51. E. church, in which 
he. for long years, held official connection. His wife died at the age of 
twenty-eight. Of the four sons, who comprised their family, John F. was 
the eldest; Milton resides at Mascotah, Nebraska; Charles lives at North 
England. Iowa; and William is a resident of Ottawa. Kansas. 

John F. Kring j)assed the period of his boyhood in Fairburg, Illi- 
nois, receiving a good common school education. After leaving home, 
he favmcd. four years in Illinois, and. in December of 1881, came to Mont- 
gomery county, and passed the first year, in Independence. In 1882, he 
came to Cherry vale, where he started a butcher business. Two years later, 
he added a stock of groceries and has, since, carried the double stock. He 
is well located and does a flourishing business. 

Home life with IMr. Kring began October 28, 1880, when he was hap- 
pily joined in marriage with Alice B. Brumbaugh, a native of Illinois, 
and a daugliter of Alexander and Elizabeth (Hawtome) Brumbaugh. 
Mr. Brumbaugh died, in 1896, at the age of seventy-three, and Mrs. Brum- 
baugh is a resident of Marysville, Kansas. Besides Mrs. Kring, there 
were four chidren : Bertha. Mrs. Charles Ewalt, of Clearfield, Iowa ; Oli- 
ver P.. a painter and paper-hanger, of Cherryvale; Emma, Mrs. Frank 
Hutchison, of Marysville. Kansas; and Mae, Mrs. Edward Reed, of 
Marysville. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Kring have been born: Bertha, Madge and Mae, and 
the mother and twc oldest daughters are members of the Presbyterian 
church. Mr. Kring is a member of the I. O. O. F., the Modern Woodmen, 
and of the A. O. U. W. Politically, he is a Republican, and is ranked 
among the most substantial and worthy citizens of the city. 



F WISDEN — Among the progressive farmers of Fawn Creek town- 
ship, the name of Frank Wisden is very well known. He is a native of 
Kansas, being born in Montgomery county, on the 5th of June, 1878. His 
father, Thomas Wisden, was three years old when he was brought from 
England by his parents, who resided, for a number of years, in Ohio, 
where Thomas grew to manhood and married. In 1872, Thomas Wisden 
moved to Kansas and married, in 1876, Margaret Conklin, a native of 
Ohio, who came to Kansas in the same year. This union was productive 
of two children : Frank, our subject, and a daughter, who died in infancy. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 659 

Frank Wisden was broiijilit up in ^Montfjomcry oonnty, receiving a 
eoninio!! scliooi oducalion, and livinj;- witli liis parciils, until liis marriage, 
which event took place on November 2, ISOS. His wife was Miss Ella 
Robertson, a native of Montgomery county, ard daiiublt-r of .lames and 
Sarah ((Jraham) Robertson. Jlr. Robertson died in 1880, at forty years 
of age. Tie is surNived by his wife, now living in Liberty; James N., liv- 
ing i'! Illinois; Joel, living in Oklahoma Territory, and Ella, wife of 
Frank Wisden. 

After his marriage, Jlr. Wisden started farming on his own account. 
He rented a farm, for two years, and, by good management and close at- 
tention to business, he was enabled to accumulate enough to ]iurehase 
one hundred and fifty acres of farm land, northeast of Coflfeyville. This 
he farmed until inoi, when he sold out and bought one hundred and sixty 
acres on Onion creek, three and one-half miles west and three-fourths mil<> 
south of roffeyville. One hundred acres of this farm is fine bottom land, 
the rest being good u]daiid pasture, on which is located a nice little cot- 
tage raid good baidv barn, both of these buildings being sheltered from 
the north winds, by a tine oak grove, adding much to the appearance and 
value of this farm and forming a fine feed lot for the high grade stock 
(horses, hogs and cattle), whicli ilr. Wisden is raising. He keeps the best 
of horses, the kind which can be hitched to the plow, or make a stylish 
appearance, when driven to a buggy. 

Mr. and ^Irs. ^^■isden have no children. In politics, Mr. Wisden is a 
Re|)ublican, and. in energy, he is a Kansan, and, with his Kansas energy 
and his inherited English sturdiuess, he makes a tine model for all young 
men of Montgomery county. 



STARKI:Y H. TUCKER— The subject of this pers(mal mention is 
A\<'ll Unown among the farmer's of Rutland township, where he has resid- 
ed since 1877, the year he made settlement in ^lontgomery county. His 
h<)mestead is in section 10, township 33, range 14, iind he is the owner 
of thice hundred and t\\i'nty acres of land. 

.Mr. Tuckei' is one of the jirogressive tillers t)f (he soil and. while he 
began his o|)erations on a rudely-improved (juarter section, his success 
has put him in i)ossession of a tract twice that area, substantially im- 
proved and undei- a good state of cultivation. Farming in Kansas has 
reipiired the same tenacious industry, as fai-ming in Kentucky, in Taylor 
county in wliicli stale our subject was born. July 10. 18-t(i. 

lie canii' lo his majority in liis native heatli and acipiired the rudi- 
ments of a common scho(d education. He was twenty-six years of age 
when he located in Hart county. Kentucky, and twenty-nine years of age 
when he became a citizen of Montgomerv countv. Kansas. In this county 



660 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

he settled, by jmiH'hase. the tract entered by Jonathan Welden and passed, 
by deed, to Andrew Staniji, whose title came to Mr. Tucker. 

Tlie Tuckers of this strain were, originally, from Virginia. Edwin 
Tucker, father of Starkey H., was born in the "Old Dominion" and ac- 
conii)anied his parents into Taylor county, Kentucky, when a boy. He 
was one of the following family : Barnard, John, Isaac. Nancy, Jefferson, 
Mrs. Mary A. Wise, Eliza and Edwin. The last naiued came to maturity 
as a farm boy and married Diana Hays, of Marion county, Kentucky, 
a daughter of Starkey and Nancy (Wilkerson) Hays, born in Virginia. 
Four sons were born as a result of this marriage, viz: Willis, of Taylor 
county, Kentucky; Starkey H., of this notice; William, of Oklahoma 
City , and Norman, of Taylor county, Kentucky. 

Starkey H. Tucker married Lucibra i^mith in his native state. She 
was a daughter of Kichard and Kachel (Hays) Smith, and is the mothe)' 
of seven children, immely: Ida, Edwin, AViHiani. Ucriha Burgey. of Mon- 
tana ; Kichard, Otlo and Orville. 

Mr. and Mrs. Tucker are members of the Southein M<'lliodist ( hiirrh 
and have reared their large family to men and women of usefulness and 
honor. 



FERRY N. ALLIN — Frominently and successfully identified with 
the grain business in Oofleyville, is I'erry N. Allin. whose name initiates 
this ]i(M-sonal I'eview. He is a son of the well-known farmer, William 
H. Allin, of Fawn Creek townshij), and was born, April l(i, 18(>(), in Cedar 
county, Iowa. He accompanied his jiarents to Montgomery county, Kan- 
sas, when a youth of fourteen, and his primary and higher education were 
obtained in the country and in the Cotfeyville schools. 

Assuming his station in life, at twenty years of age, he took u]i cler- 
ical work, in the First National Bank of Cotfeyville. si)ending four years 
there. The two jears succeeding, he passed in the enii)loy of the Adams 
Grain ("ompany, of Cotfeyville, and, the next year, he spent as an assistant 
in the Caney Valley Bank. Returning to Cotfeyville, he engaged in the 
grain business, as an employee and partner, in the Adams Grain Com- 
pany. In July, lf)()l, he found matters in the company working some- 
what to his own disadvantage and, in July, 1001, organized the Perry N. 
Allin Grain Comi)any, operating twenty-tive grain stations, with gen- 
eral oflice at Cotfeyville, Kansas. 

Aside from his personal and individual business, Mr. Allin is con- 
nected with some of the prominent institutions of his town. He lias 
served eight years as secretary of the Board of Directors of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Cotfeyville, of which board he is a member; and he is a 
stockholder in the I'eoples' Gas Company. He is a Republican, in i)oli- 




CEO. H. PICKER AND WIFE 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 66l 

tics, and a Mason — Keystone P.Iue Lodf^t; and Chapter, of Independence, 
St. Bernard Coniniander.v, ^\'i<■llita Consistory — Scottish Rite. 

June 10, 1SJ)1, Mr. Allin married .\nna McCoy, a danj-liter of Wil- 
liam McCoy, of t'otfeyviile. (irace and William I'erry are the children 
of this marriage. Mr. and Mis. Allin are mend)ers of th^ Methodist 
church. He is a Knight of Pythias, an A. O. U. W., an Elk and a Wood- 
men of the World. He is a memher of Keystone Lodge, No. 102, Coffey- 
ville; of Keystone Chapter, No. 22, Independence, Kansas; St. Bernard 
Coniniandery, No. 10, Indej)endence, Kansas; Wichita Consistory, No. 10, 
Wichita. Kansas, and of xVbdallah Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine, 
Jjeavenworth, Kansas. 

Mrs. Allin is ^^'or(hy Matron of Colfeyville Chapter, Order of the 
Eastern Star. 



GEORGE H. PICKER— The subject of this sketch was born in 
Lincolnshire, England, on the l.nth of April, 1850, and died at his 
home near CotTcyville, Montgomery county, Kansas, October 16th, 
1901. His parents came to America in 18.52, settling at Fremont, Ohio, 
where they lived until 186.5, when they moved to Auburn, Indiana. 

Mr. Picker learned his trade while in Auburn, that of brickmason, 
stonemason and plasterer. In 1872, he was married to Miss Lucy Jones, 
who, with one adopted daughter, still survive him. In 1877, they moved 
to Kansas, settling on a fai'ui near Cotfeyville, where they lived until 
his death. 

Mr. Picker was a contractor and buildei- and worked al his trade 
and was also quite an extensive farmer. He was connected with the 
Ooti'eyville Vitiified Brick and Tile Company, and was a member of 
the Cotfeyville Camp No. 66.5, M. W. A. He was a good citizen and 
neighbor, and in his death the community lost a good man. He was 
generous to a fault and was loved and I'espocted by all who knew him. 



THOM.VS .1. I'.OOTH — A citizen whose iiilerests have been so diversi- 
fied, whose business connections so substantial and whose character 
comparatively so uniciue, can not fail to prove of interest to the peruser 
of local history and should have a place in the detailed affairs of the 
locality which it is the purpose of this volume to record. Thomas J. 
Booth was in Montgomery county almost from the beginning and from 
abeardlessboy loa m.iii in the afternoon of life, his history has l)een inter- 
woven with that of the moving spirits in tlu^ every-day affairs qf the 
county and presents a record of successes which indicate, unmistakably, 
a genius for grappling with men and affairs. 

A pioneer of tlie county. Mr. Booth dates his advent here at 1870, 
when he accompanied his fat tier's family hither from Des Moines county. 



6 

62 HISTORY OK MONTOOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Iowa, and settled on the raw prairie near White Post school house, six 
miles west and a little noi-tli of Indepeudeuce. Tlie father was Miltou 
Booth who died after eight years of residence in the (-(111111 y. at seventy 
years old. Bedford county. West \'iri:inia, was the hitler's native place 
and, while lie was of English cxtractiun. he was far removed from his 
original British ancestor, who was his paternal grandfather. From 
West \'irginia he came out to Adams county, Illinois, where his family 
was born. His second wife was Agatha Adams, who diwl in Des Moines, 
Iowa, being the mother of the following: Ellen, wife of .Jonas I'ickler, 
of Montgomeiy county, Kansas; Fred, of Darliy, Moiifaua; Minnie, 
deceased; Thomas J., of this record: Henry and Charles, deceased. By 
his first marriage there were f(tur cliihlreii: .James, of l'ii(>l)lo. <"ol.; Mrs. 
Susan liurnett. (rf Red Oak, la., and Mar<iuis and X'irginia. deceased. 

In Iowa and in Kansas our subject acquired a liberal education in 
the common schools. He taught countiy school for a time, as an intro- 
duction to the serious side of life, and then, as the junior member of tlie 
firm of Shoemaker and Booth, engaged as a cattle dealer and shipjjer 
for nine years. This business gave him a wide ac<|uaiiitaiice over south- 
<-rn Kansas and he knew jiersonally nearly every ])eniiaiient settler in 
Montgomeiy county. With the Inisiness of farming, and stock raising 
and as a feeder and shipper he was connected until 1S94, when he 
became interested in mercantile pursuits, displaying the same aptness 
and adaptation for the new business as for the old. In 1894, he organized 
the Union Implement Company, of Independence, of which he is Secre- 
tary and Treasurer and active nninager. This, with other important 
liusiiiess interests in the county, enijiloys him fully and warrants his 
t-haracterizatiou as one of the busy men of Independence. 

In the mouth of October — 2:> — 1879, Mr. Booth married Amanda, a 
daughter of William I'eebler, who settled in ^lontgomery county in 
the same year with the Booths. In April, 1901. Mrs. Booth died, leaving 
three children, as follows: Clyde, of Dartiy. Montana; Nellie, book- 
keeper for the Union Implement Company, ami Ethel. 

Mr. Booth is connected with many secret and insurance orders and 
liesides iieing a memlier of lioth AVoodnien orders he is an l']lk and a high 
Mason. He belongs to the Blue Lodge, the Chapter, Commandery, the 
Shrine and the Consistory at Wichita, .32d degree. He is a Republican, 
without aj)ology for his faith, and is an active spirit in the promotion of 
enterprises looking to the ]>nblic weal as well as to his legitimate per- 
sonal gain. He is not tied to fonnalities and not in sympathy with 
straight-jacketism on many lines but believes in a reasonable liberality 
of thought and action consistent with the duties of a good citizen. He 
is endowed with a wide streak of good nature, looks for the good side of 
all things and is univeisjilly jiojmhir as a citizen of tlie county. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 663 

THOMAS R. PITTMAN— For twelve years the trusted agent of 
"Uncle Sam'' in tlie Post Office in (he rural villaj^p of Havana, is one of 
the best known and most popular officials in the southern part of the 
county. He landed in Montgomery Go. in the year 1873, and, for the 
first twelve years, was one of "Nature's Noblemen," near Havana. In 
188.5, he moved into the village and served under the (.'levehuid adiuinis- 
rratiou as ])ost master. Again in Cleveland's second administration 
he received the ajvpointment and Ids iiicumbancy of the office has held 
to the present date, he being unable (o subscribe to the Free-Silver 
heresy of William J. Bryan, and supporting the Republican candidate 
instead. 

The birth of Mr. Pittman took place in Bucyrus, Crawford county, 
Ohio, on the 15th of March, 1843. His father, John Pittman, was a 
native of the Keystone State, where he married Louisa Rodgers. By 
occupation Jno. Pittman was a farmer, moving, in middle life, out to 
Crawford county. O., where he died in 1800, aged tifty-two years, his 
wife surviving him several years and dying at sixty. Their family num- 
bered ten childien, four of whom are living — Elizabeth, wife of Joseph 
Williams, of Ohio; Benjamin, also in the ''Buckeye State;" John, a 
farmer living near Havana, and .Vlbert, also a resident of Kansas. 

Thomas R. Pittman was the si.xth child of the family and was reared 
to farm life, receiving a fair commiui school education. He cared for 
his parents until their demise and engaged in educational work in the 
comm(in schools of Crawford county; this running over a period of some 
twelve years. On the 17th day of Nov., 1870, he was joined in mar- 
riage with Mary E., a daughter of Jesse and Catherine Vore. Two years 
later Mr. Pittman renu)ved to Montgomery county, and settled on a 
farm two miles northwest of Havana, where he lived for a ])eriod of 
twelve years. In ISS.'"), as stated, he came to the village, where he acted 
as j),)st master and set up a hardware business. His residence here 
since that time has been continuous. 

Mr. Pittman has always evinced a lively interest in the public affairs 
of Montgomery conuty. and has done much to bring about the splendid 
development that has come in years ])ast to the county. In 1875, he 
was elected on tli<^ Democi'alic ticket as one of the Board of County 
<''onimissi(nieis and served a term of three years. He has also served 
in the different townshif) offices. During these years he has k«>i)t n\) his 
connection with farming interests and now owns a nice little farm, 
located near the town. 

In the social and religions life of the community, Mr. Pittman Jind 
his family have been exceedingly hel|)ful, he, since 1899, having filled 
the jiulpit of the Primitive Baptist cliurcli, in which organization he 
was ordained minister in that year. He is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen and, as stated, is a Republican in politics. The change of 
heart wliich he exjierieuced in 189(i, was due solely to tlie fact that he 



<664 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

-considered that Deiiiocrac.v liad left him and that the Itepublican Plat- 
form met more nearly the views of jiovernnient which he held to be 
correct. Upon his return from the Democratic State Convention that 
year, he immediately aunonnced his intention, took the stiimji and 
])rove(i one of the most \aliied workers for Rei>uhliian ))rinriplcs which 
that party had, and since that time has hccn a staiindi suiijiorter of the 
I>arty. To the marria^'e of Mr. IMttman six children have been born: 
Stella, deceased at twenty-eijrht ; Jessie F., liertlia ('., Xellie V., Clyde 
and Louis H. The standinj; of Mr. Pitman and family, in Havana and 
Montgomery Co. is of the best, and they are greatly esteemed by a very 
large circle of fiiends and ai(|naintances. 



MKS. HATTIE E. GREENLEE, an esteemed resident <rf Sycamore 
township, was born in Wot)dbridge. X. J., Novendier liSth, 1849. When 
only two years old, her ])aren1s removed to Morris, III., where they lived 
fifteen years, afterw;u"d locating in Lexington. 111., and here the family 
remained until they removed to Cowley county. Kan., where they were 
residents twenty-seven yeais. In the sjtring of 1S!(S. .Mrs. (ireenlee came 
to Montgomery county, and locjiied on a farm of eighty acres, on which 
they now reside. 

Hattie E. Greenlee was a daughter of Henry Jones, a native of 
]{;nglinid. Her mother's name was Isabelle Mennel, also a native of 
England. Hattie was their only child, and, on the liJth of January, 
INTO, she became the wife of John H. (Ji'eenlee, a native of Washington 
count.\, Penn. ]\Ir. Greenlee was born .Alay S, 1845, and remained in 
liis native county until twenty-one years of age. when he removed to 
ilcLean cotinty. 111. Here he remained until his marriage, when he 
came to Kansas. He was the son of William Greenlee, a native of 
Penn.sylvania, and by occupation a farmer. The mother was Margaret 
Henry, a native of tlie same state. The family ccmsisted of five children: 
John H., Mary E.. of Iowa; Joseph E.. of Winfield, Kan.; Jennie E. 
Pryor, of Newark, X. J., and Marcus, of the Indian Territory. 

John H. Greenlee was enrolled] as a private in Company B, ISBd 
111. ^'ol. Inft., under Cajitain Isaac P. Strayer, and received an honor- 
able discharge at Memi)his, Tenn.. September 11th, 18(Jo. He engaged 
heavily in the stock business and became one of the largest dealers 
between Arkansas and Red Rock. 

The family of Jlrs. Greenlee consists of four children: Hampton H., 
of Mi.iilgomery county; John M., ^lira M. and Loriain. 



I. HARDY SMITH — Mr. Smith rei)resents the Kansas pioneer, hav- 
ing come into the state and established himself among its early settlers, in 
JS7:{. He located on Onion Creek near the ju'e^ent site of Bolton, 



HISTORY OF MONT(;UMUUi' COUNTY, KANSAS. 665 

Montgomery county, Imt (his slop was only tcniijorary as he look up 
his residence in ("liaulau(iua counly, so(»ii, and was a citizen tbere till 
1884. Coming ajiain to Aloutfioniery county in 18!)4. he purchased the 
west half of .section ;J2, township :!:{, range 1(J, and has, since that date, 
been occui)i('(l with its intcliiRcnt and successful ciillivation and 
improvcinenl. 

J. Hardy S^iiiitli is a native son of [laniillon Co., Illinois, his birth 
taking place .tune 22, IS.'iL'. -lohii K. Suiilh. his father, was a farmer 
and went into Illinois in IS")! from Monrov county, Tennessee, where he 
had lived many years. He was horn near Xewburn, North Carolina, in 
1820, and died in Chautauqua Co., Kansas — where he settled in 1873 — in 
1895. He was a son of Henry Smith, born also near Xewburn. N. C, and 
died in Tennessee. Henry Siuitli married Sarah Cox and their children 
were: "(Jatsie." who marrii-d .John Presley and died in Tennessee; 
Sallie, died in Tennessee; dohn It., subject's father; Samuel H., of West 
Tennessee; Ann, who married Luther Hicks, of Hamilton Co., 111.; 
Augustus, of Dade <V>., Mo.; and Salatha, of the Cherokee Nation, mar- 
ried John Redburn. John K. Smith married Nancy E. Fosha, a daugh- 
ter of Jesse Fosha, of the State of Tennessee. ^Irs. Smith died in 18G2, 
leaving the following issue: Sarah, who died in 189.'?, was the wife of 
Joseph I). Mezo; \\'ealthy J., who died unmarried; J. Hardy, of this 
sketch; Malimla, widow of James Neal, of P.olton, Kansas; Mary, who 
died in ISiMi. was the wife of J. B. Tame, of Cluuitau(iua Co., Kansas. 

The subject of this I'eview was educated liber.-illy in his native state 
and engaged in teaching country schools at the age of eighteen years. 
He continued the profession in Illinois and in Kansas till 1882, teaching 
his last term in Chant.-unimi Co., Kansas. In 1884, he moved to the 
Cherokee Nation in tlie Indian Territory and was ('ngaged in farming 
and raising stock thei'e for ten years, his success at which providing 
him with the means whei-eby lie was enabled to ])urchase and own his 
]>resent estat(>. Keturniiig to Kansas, he soon made the investment 
which put him in possession of his Independence township farm. As a 
home and an abiding iilace for contented and ha])py peoi)le, the farm was 
rather forbidding. II was unfenced, possessed no barns or sheds and 
no residence, save a small log house and a box leanto. This condition 
has all been changed and the new residence, the fenc(>s and cross-fences 
and the general air of thrift, render the sui-rouiidiiigs inviting and indi- 
cate its occupants as industrious and [irogressive peojile. 

October 28, 1.S7S, Mr. Smith married, in Chautamiiia Co., Kans., 
Belle Henry, a daughter of Monroe Henry who, with his wife, Melissa 
Corby wei'e the ])arents of Stei'ling, of Xiotaze, Kansas; .Vnna, wife of 
C. H. Wells, of Vermontville, .Mich.; Lucy, who married .Tose|(h Flam, 
of Dewe.\. Ind. Ty.; Tommie. wife of K. J. Swearingen. of Koniona, Tnd. 
Ty., and .Mrs. Smith, the oldest of the family. 

The issfiu' of the marriage of .Mr. and Mrs. Smith are: May, 



066 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Arthur, who married Golda Wagner and resides near Jefferson, Kans.; 
Bert, and Ethel. 

A review of the Smiths' political history shows them to have been 
Democrats from an early time. Our subject Ii.as maintained the tradi- 
tions and practices of the family — of tliis luaucli — and has taken a 
lively interest in the political battles which have been fought in Mont- 
gomery county for the past eight years. He is treasurer of .school dis- 
trict number 49 — "Clear Creek" — and is a warm supporter of modera 
educational methods. 



ABNEK GREEN — The name whitli initiates this review, will possi- 
bly be more familiar to a large ntimber of Montgomery county citizens 
than any other mentioned in this volume. In the three-fold character 
of one of the average farmers, a member of the county high school 
board, and proprietor of one of the best threshing outfits in the county, 
Abner Green, of Cherokee township, has to do with many and varied 
interests. 

Mr. (Jreen is a Southern man. having been born in Chatham county, 
N. C, on the Gth day of October, 1842. The family have been residents 
of that state since Colonial times. Harlan Green was the father of our 
subject, and Mary Cojjland his mother. The mother died in 18.51, and 
the father, taking his young children, came up into Indiana the same 
year and located in Orange county, for two years, and thence to Parke 
countA , wJiere he continued to reside until his death, at tlie age of fifty- 
four years. Three, only, of his nine children are now li\ing: Yancy, 
Xancy, wife of Jolin ^1. Tt'ague; and .\bncr, the sul)jcct of this review. 
After settling in Indiana, the father again married, flie second wife's 
name being, Mildred Ann Cooper, whose one child, Mary F., is the 
widow of Brace Stanley, of Indiana. 

A lad of nine years, when the family moved to the "Hoosier State," 
Mr. Green was there reared to farm life and secured a fair education. 
His father having died when he was but fcMiitceu, lie left hoiiu- and went 
to live with James W. Kussell, where lie made his home the following 
fotir years. He then began life for himself and worked on farms in 
several ditferent counties of the state until tlie date of his enlistment 
in the army, July of 1863. He became a private in Co. ''B," 11.5th 
Ind. Vol. Inf. and was sent for service to East Tennessee. The 
character of his service in the army was at once severe and uninterest- 
ing, as, by a chain of circumstances which neither he nor his superior 
officers could control, the regiment was ki^jit on I he niarcli almost con- 
tinuously in the eastern part of the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. 
On many of these long marches the regiment was forced to forage upon 
the country for its subsistence, and many a day Mr. Green and his 
compatriots were obliged to purloin corn from the jioor mules which 



HISTOUY OF MONTCJOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 667 

accompjiiiird I he rcKiiiinit. A foiccd tuiircli, whirli the lefiiiiiciit iiiado 
one (lai-k and stoiin.v iiiftlit, from ('ircciisvillc l<i Hulls (!a]), a distance of 
tliii-tv miles, is [larl iciilarl.v vivid in the ineinor.\ uf our sul)je(t, as many 
of his eomrades were so exliausted (liat they died either on the way 
or after tlieir arrival. Mueh is said in history of the credit due to men 
who bared their breast.s to .sliot and sliell, hut every true soldier well 
knows that the long weary march, without proper sustenance, required 
as hifih a degree of patri()tisui a.s was shown anywhere. Mr. Green 
was not present at a single battle, but after his honorable discharge, in 
February of ISIU, he could truliifully say llial he liad served his country 
faithfully and w.dl. 

Mr. (ireen returned to his home after the war and labored on the 
Hurt' farm until the date of his marriage, September 1(1, 18(i7. For the 
following six years he worked farms on shares, and by the day, when, 
by close economy, he was enabled to save enough to purchase a small 
farm. After two years, he removed to Sullivan county, where he spent 
four years very jirotitably and succeeded in saving enough to make his 
long contemiilated removal to (his state, in tlie spring of 1871), lie 
purchased KiO acres seven miles nor(hea*;t of ('ott'eyville, which remains 
his comfortable home today. Mr. (Jreen purchased two other tracts 
which he has deeded to his children. The improvements which he has 
added to his farm from time to time, are such as to make it one of the 
most attractive farm jtropei-ties in the county. To a large native grove, 
he has added many kinds of trees and slirubl>ery, his large two storv' 
residence being suirounded by tasty gi'ounds planted with evergreens 
iind all furnishing a very pleasing pic(uie to the eye of the traveler. 

The eti'orts of Mr. (ireen ha\e been directed, for the most i)art, to- 
farming, but for some thirty-eight yeai-s iu^ has, in season, sui)erintended 
the ojiei-ation of his thrashing nuichine, a period of time which has 
made him thoi'oughly convei'sant with (hat im"|)orfant industry. 

As the "architect of his own foi-(une'' .\bner (Jreen has every 
reason to be pioiid of his success in life, as il is all the result of indivi- 
dual ett'ort. The period of his residence in Chei'okee township has been 
one of heli)ful activity in the social and political life of the county. He 
has served as treasurer of liis townsliii», and the i)rominent part which 
he has always taken in educalional allairs, caused his election on the 
Republican ticket by a haiidsonie lu.ijority to a position (mi (lie Poiinty 
High School board. 

The lady who presidi'S over the home of our subject was Miss 
Drucilla IIulV, daughter of .\aron I>. and I'riscilla Hurt'. Mrs. (ireen is a 
native of Parke County, Ind., win re slie was born on June 20, 1845. Her 
parents ai-e both deceased, while six children survive as follows: Hanna 
liootli. died .June 1st, liMt:!; .\bigail lle.ilh, I'arlhina .Morgan, Indiana 
Carter, Drucilla (ireen, and < '. K. Hiitr. To the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Green have come five children, as fidlows: Locha, deceased at nine- 



668 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

months; Etfa J.. M'ife of Fred J. Biukliart ; ^lanford A., a farmer of 
Cherokee township who married ^Magjiic Lydic; Manson O., married 
Nellie Davis and resides in Independence; and ]>ora P., is Mrs. Ed 
Gardner and resides in the Indian Ter-ritorv. 



WILLIAM D. AVHELOHEI^-Over thiee decades lias this pionii- 
neut and worthy representative of the agricultural class followed the 
plow in Montgomery county. I'nder his hand he has seen the bare 
prairies blossom as the rose, and a well-ordered farm take the place of 
nature's wild waste. Mr. Whclchel has retired from acti\e farm work, 
however, and is enjoying the fruits of jiast labor and economy. 

William I>. Whelchel was l)orn in Hates county, Mo., in 184.^, and 
is the son of John J. and Louisji (Bullard) \\ lielchel. They were farmers, 
the father having been born in Indiana in 1S18. Shortly after their mar- 
riage, the i>arents removed to Hates county, Mo., and later to Linn 
county, Kan., where the father died at the age of tiftyfoiir years. Their 
family consisted of 10 children. AA'illiam was reared to young man- 
hood on Hie JIisso\iri farm, and in lS(i2, came with the family to Kansas. 
He remained with his jtarents nntil his marriage, .Tan. H. ISGS. Mi'S. 
Whelchel's maiden name was Saniantlia L. \\'illiaiiis. daughter of John 
R. and Sarah (Adamsi \\'illiams. Her father was boi-n in Memphis, 
Tenu., entered the ministry of the liajitist church at eighteen, and 
died in April of 1881. Her mother was born in Benton county, Illinois, 
and died at a comparatively early age. in ISfU. aged fifty-three years. 
She was the mother of twelve children: Elizabeth, who married Wm. 
Dillon, of IjaOygne, Kan.; Marion, who was killed in the Civil ^^'ar; Wm. 
R., of Washington; Harriet, who died at sixteen yeai's; Tluiiiias J., 
Sarah, John and Ilattie, also deed.; Augustus ^^'., of California; Mrs. 
Whelchel, Elvira, Mrs. \A'in. Agnew, of the Indian Ty. ; Mary died in 
infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Whelchel are parents of eight children, all of 
whom but two, are living, and occupying honored places in society. The 
eldest was John C, born Jan. 15, ]S(>!t, married Ilattie Norris and is a 
farmei' in Oklahoma Ty.; his children are: Dottie. Iik'z. H(Mner, Clay- 
ton, Frankie and Jami's; ^Vm. F.. born Dec 17. 187(1, married Matilda 
Arizona Williams, who died Feb. L'7. 1!)0:5; Charles, born June 4, 1872, 
and died Jany. 2!), 187:5; Ilattie, born ?sov. (i. 1878, and died Nov. 2.*}, 
li»0(), was the wifeof Harry DeMott— left one child, Tressie; ^Valter, of Elk 
City, married Ethel Hancock, who died May 17, 1!I02; James, a farmer 
of Louisburg township, was born Oct. of 1881, and married Hertha Hope; 
Cracie Sunshine, liorn Oct. 23, 1885. is a student of the Jlontgomery 
County High School; and Chester Iven. boiii Jan. Id. ISS8, is a sturdy 
farm lad at home. 

For a lime after their niairiage. ^Ir. and Mrs. ^^■ll(■l^ll(■l lived in 
the home neighborhood, and, in 1870. cainc to what was then the wilds 




W. D. WHELCHEL AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 669 

of Moutfjoiiiery county. They located on the claim where they have 
since resided. The farm is in Louisbur<i; township, eighteen miles from 
Independence, and four miles from Elk City, the nearest market town. 
It consists of one huudred ninety-three acres of excellent fai'minp; land, 
and presents in its substantial improvements and well-lillcd fields, a 
most pleasiuj; sij^lit to tlie eye. For the first time in tliirty-two yeai'S, 
Mr. Wheichel. in litOli. laid by the plowshare and placed the cultivation 
of his fields in the hands of others. So long a period of faitliful service 
certainly entitles him to "lay on his oars," as it were, though ditticnlt. 
as it is, to divorce himself from all labor. 

The people of Montgomery county have ever fouud in W'm. 1). Whei- 
chel a man who had the interests of the municipality at heart. He has 
used his intluence at all times in securing the best educational advant- 
ages for his district, and has been active in making his township and 
her people contented and law-abiding. His political principles are 
those advocated by the RefoiMu party, and he is consistent and earnest 
in his support of that ticket. 



KOHIOHT FJ.LIS LOtJAN— The geuHeman whose name introduces 
this brief notice is a prosperous and substantial young farmer of Inde- 
pendence township, owning two hundred forty acres of land in section 
27, township :!:!, range 15, where he settled with his father in the year 
1885. His homestead is one of the attractive ones along the Inde- 
j)endeni'(' and -letlerson road, and in fertility and ])roductiveness, is a 
competitor of any Montgomery county farm. 

R. E. Logan was born in Clinton county. Illinois. October 1. 18(59. 
His father was Henjamiu E. Logan and was born in Johnson county, 
Missouri, I)ecend)er 11. 1842. His grandfather reared a family, from 
whom he was .sejiarated in early life, and little is positively known 
by our subject concerning his ancestry or his life. He j)assed some years 
in California, where he had a son, Rogers, (named for his ado]>led father) 
and with whom he resided when he canu' to Kansas and died at the 
home (tf his son, Benjamin E. Logan, in ISN'.t. at eighty years of age. 
Benjamin E. Logan married Mrs. Mary Stanton in Illinois. Mrs. Logan 
was a daughter of Hugh Gelly and she left an only child at her death 
June 20, 188::!. Her Imsband brought his son, our subject, to Kansas, 
where they were both cotnerned with the cultivation of Iheii' Montgom- 
ery county farm 'till the falliei's death. Deeend.er 18. 1S04. Tt may be of 
interest to ])ostei'it\- to state (hat the Logans and the Cocki-ells of Mis- 
souri ar'e related. Senator F. M. Coikrell, of W'arreusbnig. being an 
uncle of Renjamin E. Logan. 

Our subject was sixteen years of age wlien he came into Mont- 
gomery county. He received liis education in the common schools of 
his native state and he has been occupied chiefly with the tilling and 



670 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

improvement of his Kansas farm during his residence here. December 
2-t, 1888, he married Anna Brewins'ton. whose parents were James S. 
and Sarah (Graves-Smitli) Brewingtoii. Tlie Hrcwinfrtons were from 
Maryland and the (Jravcs from Dearboin Co., Indiana, wliere Mrs. 
Brewington first married Wm. F. Smith. Since tlie death of her daugh- 
ter. Mis. r>ogan, — which occurred January 17. 18!I2 — Mrs. Brewington 
has resided witli and has aided in caring for and training Mr. Logan's 
only child, Sadie J., born November 11, 1889. ]\Irs. Logan was born 
July 28, 18()8, and was her husband's companion only a little niore than 
three years. 

In )Mditics tin- Logans were Democrats and our subject acts with 
that political organization in all state and national matters. He loses 
no time in a scramble for office and is concerned (uily with the affairs 
of his own estate. He is treasuier of school district number .j2 — ''Maple 
Grove." 



\\y\. A. IMKL — Wm. A. Imel, proprietor of an extensive jdaning- 
mill at Clierryvale, Kan., was born in Edgar county. 111., July 2!». 1872. 
His parents are J. C. and S. J. Imel, natives of Indiana. His father is 
a farmer and has followed that occupation all his life. In the Civil 
War he was among the Home Guards — 9th Indiana — but did not see 
active service. He moved tii lOdgar county. Ills., and afterward to 
Kansj.s. In 1879. he took a claim of a (juarter section in Chautauqua 
county, afterward selling that and moving to Labette county. Kas.. and 
for UMuy years he was a resident of Montgomery county. In 1902, he 
removed again to Labette county, where he is at jiresent engaged in 
farming. 

Williaui A. luiel is the eldest of six children, the others being — Cela, 
Mrs. Kd Turner, resident of Independence, Kas.; Alpha. Mrs. Herman 
I'ittenger, a resident of Cherryvale, Ks., her husband being one of the 
farmers of the county; Dora, Mrs. William AA'agner of Iowa; Fred, 
Frank and (Jrace, all at home. Mr. Imel's education was obtained in 
the schools of Montgomery county. Going to jNIissoun at the age of 
seventeen he learned the trade of carj)enter, residing with his uncle at 
Warren, about two years, and then returning to this county and working 
as a journe.\iMan for three years, wheiever the business called. A por- 
tion of Hull tiuK^ he did contracting, until his marriage on December 4, 
1898, when he secuicd machinery and went into the ]ilaning-mill busi- 
ness and has followed it cner since. He manufactures all kinds of church 
furniture — altars, chamels. etc. and does cabinet work as a specialty. 
He has the only jilaning mill in the city and does a high class of work, 
of which the inside work of the Catholic Church of Cherryvale is a 
sami)le. He manufactured every piece of wood-work its interior con- 
tains and it is pronounced by experts to be a most excellent and finished 



HISTORY 01'' MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 67 I 

piece of work. He also built the maiu altai- in the Independence 
Catholic Church, besides doing work in other churches on I side of the 
county. He is a finished workman in his line and his wiirk will stand 
the test of criticism. His enterprising disposition is acknowledged by 
all good citizens. 

Mr. Imel married Stacy B. Darling, a native of Kansas and a 
daughter of P. B. and Nancy Darling, from Jackson county, Ohio. Her 
parents lived on a farm in Labette county, Ks. Jlrs. Iniel is one of six 
children, the oldest being, Francis, the wife of John Oliver, of Cherry- 
vale; Tony, a minister in the V. B. Church of Yates Center, and a 
worthy, influential man, wlio has made much of opjiortunily; Thomas, 
a farmer of liiibette county, Ks. ; Daniel, of Cherryvale; Mrs. Imel, 
Eunice, Mrs. William Cooper. 

William A. Imel and wife have one child, Orlie, who is the joy and 
pride of their home. They are members of the Methodist Church and 
are worthy people who carry the good will and esteem of a large and 
increasing circle of acquaintances. Mr. Imel is a member of the A. O. 
U. W., also the W. O. W. In i)olitics he is an ardent republican. 



DR. J. T. BLANK — ^Materia mediea has no more devoted follower 
in Montgomeiy county than Dr. Blank of Elk City, physician, surgeon 
and dentist. His practice in 1h(»se three lines of the proft'ssion is a 
large one and lies among the best classes, confidence in his ability to 
master of the situation at all times, being the mainspring of his splendid 
success. 

The doi'tor belongs to the Eclectic school of medicine, being a 
graduate of the Cincinnati institutitm, class of ISOO. He immediately 
took up the practice at Elk City and is now reaping the fruits of 
pati(Mit and painstaking effort in the earlier years — years in which he 
endui-ed tiie varied trials that come to evei'v young j)rofessional man 
with a persistent complacency whicli finally won the lespect even of 
his brethren of opi)Osing schools. Of late years he has given es])ecial 
attention to surgery and has made a tine reputation in that diflicult art. 
He is a clo.se student and has at vaiious times contributed ai'ticles of 
much merit to the different medical journals of the ccmntry. In the 
annual state meetings of the Eclectic .Vssociatien he takes a prominent 
part, and thus keei>s in touch with the best thought in the i)rofession. 
The doctor is a member of and medical examinei' for a number of the 
best fraternal organizations, notably the ^^'oodmen, Fraternal Aid, 
Tonties and Koyal Neighbors. He is a member of the Knights of 
Pythias and of the .V. (). V. W., in which organizations he has been a 
prominent workiT, having filled all the ehairs in each. No more popular 
citizen resides within the confines of tlie municiiialily than this busy 
and courteous disciple of Aesculapius. 



b-j2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Passiug to the family history of oui- subject, the biographer notes- 
that he was born in AVest Virginia, June 2:5, 18G6, Ihe son of John and 
Justina UliHilM Hlank, the father a native of Holland, tlie mother of 
Germany. The father was a practicing physician in < 'larJisburg, \Y. ^'a., 
for a number of years prior to the war. He enlisted in the service as a 
surgeon and served in the western army, and at the close carried on his 
person the scars of a wound received in battle, and which attested his 
loyaky to country in the days of her dire need. After the war, the family 
mo\e(l uj) to Altooiia. I'a.. and in 1870, came out to Kansas, first settling 
in Doniphan, thence to Elk county, where the father jiracticed until his 
death in 1874, at the age of seventy-two years. TJic ludther survived 
him many years, dying in 181>7. at the age of sixty-seven. 

Dr. .J.T. P.lank married in 1892, ]\Iiss DoraHattan. a native of Illi- 
nois. She was a lady of many beautiful traits of character, a S])len- 
did mother to her two children. Jay and Merrel. Her death, which oc- 
curi'ed January 7, 18!)0, at the age of thirty-two years, was a sad shock 
to her devoted husband and children. Two years later the doctor 
brought to ju'esidc over his home, Miss Louisa Kruschke. a native Kan- 
sas gii'l, daugliter of Frederick Kruschke. Mrs. Rhink combines in a 
happy degree the (pialities so essential in the pliysician's wife, and 
both she and her husband are potent factors in the city's social life. 
The doctor is Vice President of the Eclectic Medical Assn., meeting 
genei'ally at Topeka. 



HKXKV \y. si: LTZER— Henry W. Selt/.er was l».rn and reared on a 
fai-ni in Peoi-ia county. 111. His birth occurred Se]it. 4. 185i5. His father, 
A\'illiam Seltzer, was a son of a native German. His family consisted of 
three sons: .John, Jacob and William, who married Catherine TJnk, a 
native of Geruiauy. To tluMu were born four children: .John D.. a resi- 
dent of Chicago; oui' sultject, Henry "\\'., of Independence; Mary, de- 
ceased; aTid Catherine AN'atzel, a resident of Peoria. 111. His wife hav- 
ing died, Mr. Seltzer married Lizzie (i7-ittin, and to this second mar- 
riage were born six children: Burton, Tonard. Nellie, Frank. ^Marion 
and Oliver, all of whom reside in Peoria. III. Ronalil is the son of his 
third wife, Catherine Pimble. 

Henry \V. Seltzer, the subject of this sketch, has also followed 
farming as an occujtation, and that success which conies from intelli- 
gent farming has come to him. The farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres, where he now lives, in Section 22-:{31.^, was jiurchased when he 
came to .Montgomery county, in lilOO. In politics none has ever been 
truer or more enthusiastic than Mr. Seltzer. He is an ardent Repub- 
lican, and has always served his party to the best of his ability. As 
a friend of education, he is well and favorably known in his native 
state, where for several vears he was a member of the hoard of edu- 



HISTORY OF MONTfiOMBRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 673 

cation, and has always worked for lln' best interests of tho schools, 
where he resides. 

On the 13th of September. ISSli, oeenrred (he inarriajre of Henry 
W. Seltzer and Anna Arehabald, a daufjhler of Thomas jind Susan 
(Kalb) Arehabald. Mrs. Seltzer's father was a native of the Isle of Man, 
and his wife of old Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Seltzer have been born 
four children: Orie A., Katie IT.. Jay H. and I'idiia M., all of whom 
are school children at home. 



WILLIAM COCHK.^N HALL, M. I). Tlie medical i-rofession of 
Montfjouiery county and of Ihe city of Ooffeyville is honored by the dis- 
tiiifiuished services in its helialf of Dr. William ('. Hall of this review. 
For sixteen years he has been identitied with the practice of medicine 
in Cotteyville and the success of his practice, his hijih character and 
his substantial citizenship, place him prominently in the front rank of 
Montgomery county physicians. 

Highland county. Ohio, was th(> birthplace of Ur. Hall and his 
birthday was October I'll. LS(il). His father, f^arey F. Hall, was a bu.si- 
uess man of a speculative turn and was born in the same county and 
state October 21), l.S;{(i. He passed his life in Hifihland, Adams and 
Scioto counties, Ohio, and, for a short time, was a hotel-keeper in New- 
castle. Indiana. Jacob Hall, grandfather of Dr. Hall, was born in Vir- 
ginia in lSt)2, and came out of the Old Dominion State with his father, 
George Hall, and settled in Highland county, Ohio. He passed his 
life on the farm and married I'olly Cochran. Jaiob Hall died leaving chil- 
dren, as follows: James, Jesse K., Maiy J., Matilda A.. Sallie. Lucy and 
Carey F. The last named nuu'ried Hannah Milburn. the mother of our 
subject. His wife was a daughter of Daniel and Kaster .\. (Kice) Mil- 
burn. The Milburns were among the first settlers of that Ohio region 
and were from Pennsylvania. Carey F. Hall and wife were the par- 
ents of: William C. of this notice; Lonella N., wife of J. C. Trice, of 
Montgomei-y county, Kansas; Laui-a C., who dieil at eighteen years; 
Verdie R., wife of Hardie Stanfielil, of CoHVyville. Kansas: and Carey 
Frank, who resides with the mother of these children just west of 
Coffeyville. 

Dr. ^^'illiam C. Hall jjassed an uneventful boyhood and youth and 
attended the comniou schools of his native state. He acquired his ad- 
vanced literary ti'aining in the National Normal University at Lebanon, 
Ohio — Hollirook's school — in the mean time teaching school, and. at 
twenty-one years of age. took uj) the study of medicine with Di-. James 
W. Buiin, of West 1'nion, Ohio. He was a student in the College of 
IMiysiciaiis and Suigeons in lialtimore, Maryland, from which institu- 
tion he graduated in .March. 1885. April 1st following, he located at 
Latham. Ohio, and began active practice. In February, 1886, he re- 



674 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

moved to Sinking Spring, that state, where he remained till his final 
removal to Ooffeyville, Kansas, April 27, 18S7. His practice in this 
city and community has been most active and has become of great im- 
portance not only to himself but to the locality as well. It has been 
attended with remarkable success and does honor to the county and 
great credit to the doctor. He is division surgeon of the Mo. I*, and 
Iron Mountain Railways, local surgeon of the M. K. and T. Railway 
and of the Santa Fe Railway; is one of the staff of the Good Samaritan 
Hospital of Cotfeyville, and was president of the Montgomery county 
Pension Board during Cleveland's second administration. He has 
served as President of the Ooffeyville P>oard of Education, is President 
of and one of the founders of the hospital above named. He has many 
business interests of iuijiortance to Cott'eyville, among them being: the 
erection of and his ownership, with Mr. Mahan, in the Hotel Mecca; a 
stockholder in and holds the Presidency of the Ooffeyville Pottery and 
Clay Co.; he is President of the Ooffeyville Chemical Company and a 
Director in the Peoples Gas Company, in the Condon Bank, in the 
new glass company and in the (^offeyville Commercial Club, of which 
two last he is also Vice President; President of the Ootfeyville (Kan- 
sas) Academy of Medicine and member of Adams County (Ohio) Jledical 
Society; Montgomery Co. (Kansas) Medical Society; Indian Territory 
Medical Society; Kansas State Medical Society; American Medical 
Association, and International Association of Railwav Surgeons. 

June 15, 1887, Dr. Hall mai-ried Sara H. Hite. a' daughter of Rev. 
Addison Hite, a Methodist minister of \'irginia origin. Mrs. Hall was 
born in Highland ('o., Ohio, Se]it. 16, 1S(i4. and is tJie mother of Levera 
May and William Carlton Hall. Tin- doctor is a Scottish Rite Mason, 
a Democrat in politics and a meiriber of the Elks lodge. 



OLIVER PERRY ER(}ENBRI<JHT. As an advocate and counselor 
at law and in the field of jtolitics, do we l>est know the gentleman 
whose name introduces and who is the subject of this brief review. 
Skilled in his profession and distinguished as an orator, he is an ac- 
knowledged power at the bar, and a political commander of the third 
congressi(mal district. His success in his chosen and favorite fields 
has been pi'onounced and his position influential among men. 

The I'^rgenhriglils are of Teutonic oi-igin and "Ijlierenbreitstine" 
on tlic rivei- Kliiiic in Lower Geruiany, was their native home. The 
founder of this American family, August "Ergenbreit."' was the great- 
grandfather of (mv subject and, about 1740, he added his i)resence to 
the population of Virginia, from which ('olony he enrolled as a soldier 
in the Continental army for American independence. He was a private, 
did his duty throughout the struggle, was present at the siege and cap- 
ture of Yorktown and was one of the detail to carrv the news of the 




W. C. HALL, M. D. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 675 

surrender of < 'oiiiwallis lo tlie ('a])ilol jit r!iila(l(>l])hi;i. In his family 
was one son, (Jcorjic Ki-ficnhi-cit, wliosc two sons, .lacol) and .John, pcr- 
IK'tnated the family name. Jacob EiKenbiiftht n'aied a family in Hock- 
biid};e connty, Virginia, where he died about LS47. .John ^Irgenbrifrht, 
father of the subjeet of this sketeh, was born in Westmorland Co., 
Virginia, in 1S(»(1, and left the state with his father and settled, for a 
time, near J>ayton, Ohio. About 1818, the family continued westward 
and located in Bartholomew Co., Indiana, from \vhi«h place the family 
removed, in ISTlt, to Montj-omery county, Kansas. In 1871, -John Ergen- 
biijiht died at Indeiiendence, Kansas, and at his grave in Mount Hope 
Cemetery was erected the tirst gravestone i)ut up in that cemetery. 

Farming was their chosen occupation and it was followed as a 
life work without interrnjition by theii' i)osteiity until the jiei'iod of 
early manhood of Mi-. Krgenbright of this recoid. 

.John Eigenbright was a man with limited educational ('(piijiment 
but ])()ssessed of successfnl bnsiness traits and he became a man of sub- 
stantial tinancial standing during his active career. His jxditical rec- 
ord was contined to the supjiort of Whig and Repulilican jtrinciples, as 
a private, and his social distinction achieved in Juinging u]) his children 
to become nseful citizens. He brought his family to Monlgomery coun- 
ty, I\;!!isas, in November, 1870, and in -lanuary, 1871, he died in Inde- 
jiendence. He Tnarried .Jane Martin, whose grandfather, .James ^[artin, 
was a Kentucky pioneer from N'irginia, going into the state of Daniel 
Boone among its earliest immigrants and l)eing killed there b.v Indians 
in their attack on the settlers' blockhouse, which was erected by Dan- 
iel Boone and associates near the pi'esent site of Danville, Kentucky. 
James Maitin, Jr., father of Jane (.Slailin) ETgenbiight. left Kentucky 
in ISKi and took his family into Bartholomew Co., Indiana, where he 
died. He was a soldier in (Jen. Harrison's Dejiiirtmcnl of the West, War 
of 1812, and took ])art in the battle of Ti]i](eca)ioe and in other mili- 
tary service of impcu'tance during that vvai-, and I he war of ISl:!. Tho 
childi-en of John and .Jane Ergenbright were: William ,\., a farmei-, who 
died at Barney. Iowa, in June, 1!)02; Ann ICIi/.a, who died in December, 
Ifltll, as the wife of Geo. W. Deming, of I'ueblo, Colorado; I^lizabelh, 
wife of Oliver P. .\j)plegafe, of Ticnton, Mo.; tieorge V., who died 
.\ugust, 1S!)7, in Neodesha, Kansas; James M., of Jamestown, In- 
diana; .Mrs. C. II. Howe, of I'omona, California; Jacob A., of Hojikins, 
Missouri; Sarah J., who married James Tulley. of Denvei", Colorado; 
Benjamin, of Chicago. Illinois; and Oliver I'., of this article. Five other 
childi'eu complete the family of fifteen but ai-e unnientioned here be- 
cause they died young and without personal history. 

(X I'. lOrgnbright was the ymingi-st of his paients' large family and 
the scenes and enxironmcnt of his youth were pui-ely iiiral. He at- 
tended Eiankliu College, Indiana, when approaching manhood, and 
from thei'e entered .\nu .\rbor I'niversity, Michigan, and was a stu- 



676 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, IvANSAS. 

dent there when his father removed to Kansas. The lattei's sickness 
and death prevented his son's graduation from the famous college. 
Mr. Ergeubright began the study of law in the oflice of Oyler and Howe, 
in Franklin, Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in that city in 
April, 187.3, before Judge David Banta. He married the same year and 
went immediately to Los Angeles, California, where ho was engaged in 
law practice till 187G, when, owing to the sickness and death of his wife, 
he abandoned his profession and did not again resume it till 1883, when 
he resumed it in Montgomery Co., Kansas. Proper reference to his ca- 
reer as a lawyer in this county is omitted here to appear under its 
proper head on another page of this work. Tu 1879, Mr. Ergenhright 
came to Kansas and settled on a farm near Coffeyville, Montgomery Co. 
He engaged actively in farming and the growing of stock for four years 
and then, having recuperated in physical strength, he returned to the 
profession in which lie has won renown. 

Bartholomew Co., Indiana, was where Mr. Ergeubright was born, 
and January 1, 18.51, his natal day and year. May 2.5, 1873, he married 
Jennie Doss who died at Gilroy. California, July .5, 1876. May 28, 1885, 
he married Mrs. Ella B. Lovejoy, a daughter of Kichard Brooks, of Cof- 
feyville. Kansas, who came west from Athens, Ohio. April 2.3, 1807, Mr. 
Ergenhright met with his second groat misfortune — the loss of his 
wife. April 20, 18!»!t, he married Jliss Geneva Pratt, a daughter of 
Myron J. Pratt, of Montgomery Co., Kansas. By his first marriage, Mr. 
Ergeubright has a daughter. Madonna, wife of O. B. Reddick, of Cen- 
terville. Kansas. By his second wife, two children were born, viz: 
Mabel S. and Floyd O. 

Mr. Ergeubright has always been an active partisan in Republican 
ranks. He has achieved distinction in Kansas politics, beginning with 
his election as County Attorney of Montginuery county in 1889, for a 
term of two years. In 1900, he was an Elector-at large for Kansas and 
was chairman of the college which cast the vote of the state at To- 
peka for Mr. McKinley for President of the T'nited ^States. He has been 
])rominent in campaign work in his county, district and state and in 1902, 
was one of the leading candidates of the Third Congressional District 
for the House of Representatives of the T'nited States and was de- 
feated for the niiminalion by only one vote. Disa]i|>ointed but not cha- 
grinned, he returned home and gave his successful competitor a sup- 
port that aided materially in producing his large and complimetary ma- 
jority in Montgoniei'v county. 



lA'MAX LEONARD HUMPHREY. The young and vigorous busi- 
ness life of Independence is worthily represented in the person of Lyman 
L. Humphrey, of whom it is the purpose of this article to make some 
deserving mention. He is one of ^lontgomery county's native sons, hav- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 677 

Ing been boru July 3, 1S7(), so near tlio rculeunial anniversary of oiir 
nation's birth as to bo a fitting event in (lie (loni<'s(ic life of tiie Hum- 
phrey family. He passed through the eity schools and graduated from 
the high school in his native town at the age of eighteen years. Ambi- 
tious for higher education, lie attended the Kansas State University two 
years, during which time he contributed much toward his maintenance 
in the institution as a corresjiondenl f<u' the Kansas City Star, writing 
its "T'niversity Notes.'' Other ]Miblications have known him in a like 
cajiacity iind, as edito!' of the "K. U. Weekly," he niainTaiii(><l a lively 
interest in the college journal by the charm and originality of his 
•editorials and by tlie pith and spice of his paragraphs. 

On closing his university work, Mr. Hnm]ihrey entered the ('itizens 
National liank. of Indef)endeuce, where he was book-keeper for three 
years. He then became a member of the firm of Humphrey and Son, 
financial corresjiondents of the Union Central Life Insurance ('ompany, 
of Cincinnati, Ohio, managing its investments in southeastern Kansas. 
In litOl, he was elected Treasurer of the board of education of Inde- 
pendence, and was the custodian of and handled the funds of the dis- 
trict, including the proceeds of the school bond sales amounting to 
forty thousand dollars. 

December 2, \'M\'2, ]Mr. Hum]ilirey marri(^d Elsie ('. .\nderson. daugh- 
ter of the pioneer mercliaiit and well known citizen, .John M. Andei'son, 
of Independence. Mrs. Humphrey was born in Montgomery county, 
Kansas, November ."{, lJST!t, was educated at Hardin College, Mexico, Mo., 
and is a charming and accomplished lady. 

In fraternal matters our snbj<M-t is little more than a novice. He 
became a mason in 111(10 and has taken the blue lodge and diapter 
'degrees. He is a member of the Phi Delta Tlieta college fraternity, and 
imbibed his Republican i)arty jiroclivities from his father, Lyman U. 
Humphrey, Ex Gov. of Kansas. 



CH.\RLES IT. KENNEDY, one <if I'arker Townshii.'s rei.resenta- 
tive men. was born in Whiteside county. Ills., on (lie 21st day of July, 
lS.")ti. Ills father's name was .lames I.. Kennedy, a native of I'eiinsyU 
vauia, and ids iiiotiier's Elmira U<iberts, a native of Indiana. In Septem- 
ber, IS.'j.'). the jiaients moved to Illinois and setlh'd in Whiteside county, 
whei-e the mother died in lS(i(). a( (lie age of ( hi r(y three years. After 
this event the fatliei- moved back (o Indiana and jiassed his remaining 
years there, dying in IS'.IT. 

To them wi-re born six cliildreii. lOiiiily .).. deed.; Lewis T. , .\niasa 
R., deceased; .lolm D.. Chailes II. and Sarah L. deceased. 

The subjec( of (his skelcli was reared on (he farm in Illinois. 
After (he deadi of his niodier he weii( (o live wi(h an uncle, S. R. 
Libbv, where he a((ended (he conmion schools and i-eceived his edu- 



678 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

cation. He reniaiiu'd with his nnrle till he was t^ightoen years old^ 
and then set out to make his way in the world alone. For ten years 
he worked as a farm hand, receiving much exi)erience and some wages. 
On the :?Oth of November, 1S82, he was married to Emma Kingsbury, 
a native of Whiteside county, Ills. She was a daughter of Sylvius H. 
Kingsbury, a native of New York, and of Olive E. Pond, a native of 
Ohio. 

After ]Mi-. Kennedy was married he rented land and farmed for 
some time. In 1889, he came to Kansas and settled in Fawn Creek 
townsliij). .Montgomery Co. Here, for two years, he was a tenant on 
rented land, then bought ICiO acres five miles northwest of Coffey- 
ville, where he moved in 1801. 

This land he has improved and made a permanent home. Among the 
improvements is a fine residence and substantial outbuildings. The 
farm is one of the good ones in the township and is stocked with horses, 
cattle and hogs. He is making a specialty of registered Poland-China 
hogs, keeping the best breeds in the country. Mr. Kennedy, has by the 
closest economy and strict attention to business, slowly climbed from 
the position of a hand on the farm to that* of an independent farmer 
and stock raiser. 

Mr. Kennedy has been honored two years with the office of Trustee,- 
and three years he has served as Clerk of the townshij). In ])olitics he 
is a I\e])ublican, and is a member of the Coffeyville Camj), Modern AYood- 
men of America. 

Jlr. and Airs. Kennedy have live children — Pearl, Roy, Forrest, Olive 
and Nona, all living at home. 



WILLIA^I C. HAVEKSTICK. An early comer to Montgomery 
county was AVilliam C. llaverstick, well and favorably known over 
southern Kansas for some years, by his connection with the develop- 
ment of the gas and oil fields. Born in Waverly, Bremer county, la., 
June 7, 1858, he accompanied his parents to Paola, Kansas, in 1862, 
and was a boy of eleven years when, in 1860, the family came down 
into Monlgomery connly. They filed on a rpiarter of land in sections 
24 and 2;", township 'A\. range 15. These were the days of begin- 
nings in Monlgomery county, ^^•itIl neighbors few and far between 
and Indians in nunibcis all about. Mr. Haverstick well remembers 
a number of their big chiefs, the family having been on the best terms 
with them. They were frequent guests at his father's table, and just 
before they left for the south, the Haversticks gave a dinner to Nopa- 
walla and his council, others ])resent being: White Hair, Strike Axe, and 
the government interpreter, Alexy. Our subject was present at the 
famous gathering of the clans to celebrate their farewell, and heard 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 679 

the eloqiK'iit address made by ^■oJ)a\valla ou that occasion, lull of inilhoa 
and deepest feeling. 

The lof; cabin on tlie claim was, in time, replaced by a small 
frame residence and that, in ISSd, by the present commodiiis home. 

William Haverstick was f;iveu such education as was current in 
those early days, not a fireat deal in books, but such as Dame Nature 
has iu store for those of observant minds. He remained at home until 
he entered the employ of the railroad, linally reachiii}; the ens;iueer'3 
place at the throttle. In 1S!);>. he qnit the road and has .since been largely 
interested in gas and oil. lie holds a meniberslii() in the Masonic fra- 
ternity at Armourdale, Kans. 

Mr. Haverstick comes of a somewhat noted Swiss family, grand- 
father Casper Haverstick. who was born in I'sleldeii, .\rgyle county, 
Switzerland, having been with the great Napoleon as a staff ofiicer 
ill his t\A(i greatest undertakings — the successful crossing of the AIjjs 
and his ecjually disastrous Russian campaign. In this campaign the 
cold was so intense as to crip[)le Casjier Haverstick in a most curious 
manner, causing him to be, through life, the wonder of the medical pro- 
fession. He was very young, and the doctors say, in an undeveloped 
state, so far as his arms were concerned. The cold stopped the growth 
of the arms from the elbow up; the lower arm developing to full length, 
thus causing him to present a strange spectacle, ("asjier was a man of 
good education, being able to converse fluently in French, German, Swiss 
and Polish. In middle life he came with his family to Aniei'ica, and 
settled in Leetonia, Columbiana county, Ohio. He ]iassed his remain- 
ing years in efforts to ameliorate the condition of his fellow country- 
men in this gre:it re|iublic. He married Nancy Zimmerman, also a 
native of Switzerland, and a daughter of Jacob and .Maiy Zimmerman, 
who bore him nine children: .bdin. Ceorge, Jacob. Samuel, Daniel, 
Nancy, Elizabeth. Maiy and Emma. 

Samuel Haverstick was born in \\ashin};l<>iivilii', ('"lumbiana 
county, Ohio, June 2G, 18:1."). He married Sarah I'owell, born in Canton, 
111., December 4, 1S.37, and to her were born three children — William C, 
the subject of this sketch: Mrs. .\ddie Dugan and Adelbert E. 



DR. E. J. HERTENSHAW. There is jirobably no profession that 
demands a highei- morale from its votaries than does that of medicine. 
The successful jdiysiciaii of to-day must be a man of e.xceiitionally high 
chaiacter — a man who inspii-es confidence not only by his deeds iu med- 
ical juris|)ruden<e, but by his standing in the commuiiily foi' honesty 
and i:ilegiit.\ . To his chosen profession Dr. Mertenshaw, of lOlk City, 
brings both these requisites in a high degi-ee, and thoufih still young 
in the field of medicine, has demonstrated thoroughly that success ia 
large measui'c is within his gi-isji. 



68o HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

The parents of Dr. ISertcnshaw, Edwin and A. Melissa Bertensbaw^ 
have louf; been jiioniinent aji'iieulturists of the county, they removing 
here in ISTl, from their native State of Indiana. They settled on a claim 
in Louisbui}! T\vj>., but liave sinee removed to Independence Twp. Their 
family consisted of: Dr. E. J., John T., an attorney at Independence; 
Herbert, a dentist at Independence, and Hosey G., a commercial trav- 
eler. 

Dr. Bertenshaw was hoin in Franklin county, Ind., March 1.3, 1869. 
He is a product, in education, of the common schools of his home town- 
ship and of the hijjh scliool of Elk ('ity, where he fjraduated in 1889. 
He then entered upon the study of his j)rofession under the preceptor- 
shi]) of Dps. J. T. Davis and T. F. Bertenshaw, (the latter an uncle) of 
Louisburo Tw]i., .Montgomery county, Kansas, practitioners of note there. 
Continuinj"- with them two years he, in ISno. repaired to Miami Medical 
College in Cincinnati, and in the spring of 189."}, was given the diploma 
of that institution. The 1st of June found him located in Independence, 
where, for the remainder of that year, he continued the practice in con- 
junction with Dr. W. A. McCulley. In .lanuarv of 1894, he opened an 
oflfice in Elk City, As intimated. Dr. Bertenshaw soon took rank among 
the best in the county and has each year added new laurels in the dif- 
ficult cases Avhich he has successfully handled. He takes measures 
to keep in close touch with his i)rofession, lieing a constant student of 
the best medical litej-ature, and a member of the different medical socie- 
ties within his jui'isdiclion. He served a period of tlii-ee years on the 
pension examining board and is examiner foi' sevei'al old line and fra- 
ternal insurance comjianies. 

Dr. Bertenshaw was mari'ied November 29, 1896, to Miss Laura J. 
Oowell, daughter of a pioneer family of the county, and ])rominent in its 
history, a brief sketch of which is here appended. 



DR. HENKY COWEEL, grandfather of Mrs. Bertenshaw, was a 
native of New York state, where he married Eliza Mc5Iaster, and, later,, 
removed to Crant county, Wisconsin. Here he was for years the pion- 
eer jihysician, continuing until about the time the Civil Wai- opened, 
when he went to Califoi-nia, where h(> died in the seventies. The wife- 
died later in >Yisconsin. They were the jiai-enls of: F. A., now deceased; 
Lucy, deccjtsed: 11. ^^'., of Stockton, Cal.; Joshua, of Stockton, ("al.; 
Adaline. and AX'ilJiston, deceased; F. M., of Stockton, Cal.; and Phoebe, 
Mrs. Richard Brown, of the same point. 

F. A. Cowell, father of Mrs. Bertenshaw, was the eldest of the fam- 
ily. He grew- to manhood in \\'isconsin and was first married to Jane 
Carson, wlio.se children were: -Tohn T., and Oscar C, deceased; Charles 
L., of Missoula, Mont.; Seldon D., Slevensville. Mont.; Nannie, Mrs. J. 
W. Greenough, Missoula, Mont.; and Joseph W., deceased. The mother 




JOHN CASTILLO. 



HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 68 1 

of these chiUheii died in ISfU and on March 7, ISO", ^\v. rowel! inai-- 
ried Margaret I), ("arson, a sister of liis first wife, and daiif{iitei- of Wil- 
liam and Anna ("iiisnn. This family were early pioni'cis of .Mahoning 
county, Oliio, fi-om whence tliey icmiived to ("alifornia in 1S.")(). There 
the father soon died, the mother li\in<; until lS(i(i. The children were: 
John A., now of Minnesota; Joseph P., and Sarah J., deceased; Xancy, 
Mrs. William Ingersoll, and Chas. ()„ both deceased; l^aura C. Mrs. 
Timothy W'annamaker, deceased: and Marjjaret I)., now a resident of 
Elk (Mty. The latter is the mother of four diildren: Harry W., of I'.art- 
lesvilie, J. T. ; Laura J., Mrs. I>r. liertenshaw ; (irace L., siufjle; Wal- 
lace AV., a carpenter of Klk City. Mrs. Cowcll lived in \\'isconsin until 
1804 and came to Kansas, living hei-e until 1S88. In the year lS!l4,they 
came to Kansas and stopped at Elk City, settling in Montgomery Co. 
Here the family continued to reside, though making several trips to 
California of extended length. Mr. Cowell died June 21, 18!)(), at the 
age of sixty-seven years. He was a man of great energy and many fine 
traits of character. He was a life long member of the I'>aptist clinrch 
and was a prominent factor in tlie different communities where his 
lines were cast. 



JOHN CASTILLO. Of the many defenders of the nation's honor 
during the dark days of 18()1 to 180."). who settled in Montgomery 
county after the war, none is more deserving of representation in this 
volume than John Castillo, Justice of the I'eace of Louisburg town- 
ship and Ex-County Commissioner of the county. He has, since 1874, 
resided on a farm of one hundred sixty acres in this township. 

In Wayne county, Kentucky, Mr. <l'astillo's birth occurred Feb- 
ruary 17, 1842. His father was Joseph Castillo, his mother Annie Dod- 
son. The Castillo's are of pure Irish extraction, his grandfather, Mat- 
thew Castillo, having been a native of Dublin, emigrating to the United 
States shortly after the Revolutionary AVar and remaining in \'irginia 
until 1809, when he came out to Wayne county, Kentucky. The hit- 
ter's wife was Mary Ray. They reared a family of which our subject's 
father was the eldest, and was born in 1805. 

Joseph Castillo married his wife in 183.3. Their children were: 
Brazile, Matthew L., Michael, Mary, John and Joseph, Of this fam- 
ily two of the boys, our subject and Michael, were soldiers in the ('\\\\ 
War; members of Co. "H." 12th Kentucky Vol. Inft. They enlisted Oc- 
tober 3, ISCl. and at the expiration of service John Castillo reenlisted, 
in January of 1864; he enlisted as corjKiral and was discharged as ser- 
geant. T'pon his re-enlistment he became Regimental Commissary 
sergeant. He served until mustered out at Greensboro in July of 180."). 
The regiment of which he was a part was in the following engage- 
ments: ^fill Sj)rings, Siege of Corinth, Perryville, Siege of Knoxville. 
Franklin and Nashville, and in the fight at Wilmington. North Carolina. 



682 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

After the war our subject contiiuicd to reside in the "Blue Grass 
State" until 1874, when he located, as stated, in Montgomery count}'. 
Here he owns a farm of one hundred sixty acres, the sjileudid character 
of the improvements thereon and the neat aj)i)earance which it pre- 
sents being evidences of the agricultural ability of our subject. 

The marriage of Mr. Castillo was an event of the year 1860. Mrs. 
Castillo was I^ean M. Simpson, and resided in Wayne county, Ken- 
tucky. She was the mother of Elisha J., now a teacher in the Mont- 
gomery (\iuiity High School, whose four children are: William Wort- 
man, Harriet J>ean, Sadie Elizabeth and .John (iilbert; John, Jr., a law 
student of the State University at Lawrence; Mary A., wife of John 
M. ("otton. Clerk in the Elk City Bank, whose children are Clyde and Cor- 
nelia; Sally K., a teacher in an Indian school in Utah; Nannie B., 
married Frank Drybread. a farmer of Louisburg township; her chil- 
dren are — Elizabeth and Matilda. Our subject's first wife was a lady 
of many excellent (|ualities, a devoted mother to her children and was 
sincerely mourned at her death, which occurred on August 1!), 188-t. 
His second wife was Permelia Elizabeth, daughter of John and Nancy 
(Bobbitll Kandall. The marriage was solemnized on the 25th of De- 
cember, 1885, in Neodesha, Kas. Mi's. Castillo is a native of Pulaski 
county, Kentucky, where she was born, 21st -July, 1854. Her parents, 
later, moved to Pettes county. Mo., where they died; her father suf- 
fering death at the hands of the Bushwackers in 1804. To Mr. Castillo's 
second marriage has been born one child, Irving, born June 12, 1888. 

During the residence of Mr. Castillo in ■Montgomery county, he 
has ever evinced a deep interest in the moral and social and political 
life of the county. In 1884, he was nominated on the Republican ticket 
as a candidate for Commissioner of the First District, and, being elected, 
filled that office three years with great efficiency. He has been, for 
one yeai'. Justice of the Peace of Louisburg township. After the rise 
of tlie reform party, Mr. C'astillo supported that party 'till 18!)6, when 
lie became a free silver Kepublican and in 1900, advocated the reforms 
proposed by the I'opulist party. As to future politics he stands by 
Bryan, but in case of the nomination of a Gold Democrat Mr. Castillo 
"will cast his influence for Roosevelt. He and his family are consistent 
members and liberal supporters of the Christian church and the re- 
spect in which they are held throughout the entire county is most uni- 
form. 



GEORGE L. REMINGTON. During tl;e comparatively brief pe- 
riod of twelve years that he was permitted to mingle with and be 
one of the citizens of Montgomery county, the late subject of this rec- 
ord, George L. Remington, lived a life conspicuous for its relation to 
men and affairs, for its usefulness to civil and social institutions and 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 683 

conspicuous for its purity and dignity as exemplified in Ills daily walk. 
Few men exhibit suili stronj; and genuine element>< of cliaracter and 
win the unhounded confidence of a coninninify in so few years, as 
did he. and his death, April 11th, ISttn, was uiourned as a p)d)lic loss. 

Horn in Lancaster, near ISutlalo, \ew York, .May L'4, ls:',2, he was 
a son of Kev. James Remington, a noted IVesbyterian minister of 
western New York, and for eifihteen years pastor of the confirejjation 
of Lancaster. Thou<;h he had ^iven up regular work very late in life 
Rev. Reminj;fon died in IMS!) at over ninety years of age, still in tlie 
harness, as it were, and doinjj the work of the Master. lie married 
Caroline Evans, who died in the sev(>nties, hein};- the mother of thi'ee 
.sons and two daughters, namely: Rev. Charles, of Huffalo, Xew ^'ork, 
the only survivor of tlie family; (Jeorge !>., of this memoir; dames, who 
died about 188(1 and ])assed his life chiefly in the milling business; Mary, 
who died unmarried about 1875, and -Jennie, who was for many years 
a deputv in the office of the Clerk of Erie coiintv. New Y'ork, and died 
in 1891.' 

The education of (ieorge 1>. Remington was acipiired in what 
we now term the common schools and in Gambler College, Ohio. On 
leaving college he entered the Union army as a private, joining coni- 
l)any "C," 21st New Y'ork Vol. Inf. He rose by successive promotions, 
viz: to First Sergeant, and, Angust 7, 1861, was commissioned 1st Lieut., 
and Capt., Dee. 12, 18(31. He succeeded Capt. \Vasliburn who was 
killed at Second Bull Run in August, 18(j2. His regiment formed a 
part of the Army of the I'otomac and he paiticipated in all the en- 
gagements of that famous and splendid army and was discharged in 
18(54, resigning and leaving the service on account of failing healtli. 
September 14, 18G5, he married Alice Tomeroy, a daughter of Robert 
Pomeroy, a banker and one of the old settlers of Buffalo, New York. 
Mr. Tomeroy married Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of a Baptist clergy- 
man, and died in IS.jfi at sixty years old. He resided in Buffalo when 
the British burned that city during the war of 1812 and he and his 
mother were the last to leave the destroyed city. Mrs. Remington is 
the fourth of nine children in her i)arents" family, five of whom are 
yet living. 

Mr. Remington was in the service of the government in the com- 
missary dei)artnient of the army at Nashville, Tennessee, fcu' near one 
year, immediately succeeding the end of the war, and on retuining 
north engaged in the wholesale tobacco business in Buffalo. Subse- 
(pu'iitjy he was elected Register of Deeds f<n- Erie county. New York, 
and some time after the close of his official cart^er he moved his family 
out to Saginaw, Michigan, where he embarked in the lumber and salt 
business and conducted the same successfully till sonic time in the 
year 1882, when he disposed of his Michigan interests and became a 
resident of Independence, Kansas. As a citizen of Saginaw he in- 



684 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

giatiated himself into the love and esteem of his compeers and was 
favored with public trusts. He was a member of the Board of Educa- 
tion, where he rendered valuable service, and was an active and faith- 
ful worker in his reli}i;ious denomination. 

For about two years after coining to Montgomery county, Capt. 
Reniingtiin was engaged in the cattle business. In 188ij, he was in- 
vited to become cashier of the First National Bank of Independence. 
He filled the position 'till his death and in it demonstrated a pecu- 
liar fitness and adaptation to the place. He was always courteous, 
sincere and reliable, prompt in fulfilling his obligations and faithful in 
serving the constituents of the bank. 

As a citizen of Independence, Oapt. Remington took a prominent 
part in all its affairs. His ability and integrity were at once recognized 
and he accepted the public trusts that were imposed on him with au 
eye single to the public good. He demonstrated his unflagging interest 
in public education by long and faithful service on the school board. 
He was President of that body for some years and many were the 
ideas he advanced for the improvement of the facilities and methods 
of education. He was a leading member of the Presbyterian church 
and, in the absence of the pastor, was frequently designated to read a ser- 
mon and to comment on the charactei', good works and teachings of 
Christ and the satisfaction coming to all who owned the faith and 
conscientiously served God. For many years he was Superintendent of 
the Sabbath School and the beneficent works of a good man were felt 
in this field, also. In his capacity as a teacher and leader his work 
was most eH'ectiv(\ He was a ready and pleasing talker, was a storehouse 
of information on ])opular subjects and, in 1S04, was chosen by the 
I'resbytery of Neosho to be a delegate to the General Assembly at Sar- 
atoga, New York. He was a member of McPherson Post G. A. K., 
"was a Modern Woodman and a Knight Templar Mason, by whose di- 
rection and under whose auspices his funeral was held. In politics he 
was a Republican. 

Capt. and Mrs. Remington's family comprised three children, name- 
ly: Jennie P., wife of Will P. Lyon, of Independence; Allen .\.. who 
married Lizzie B. Marshall and is a merchant of Bristow, Ind. Ty. , and 
George F., who died Sept. 18, 1890, at twenty-three years of age. 



WILLIAM L. PRATHER, of Bolton, Independence township, came 
to Montgomery county in 1884, and settled on section 21, township 33. 
range 1.5, and thus identified himself with the Kansas farmer. It was 
on the i)th of Nov. that his citizenship began here and for nearly twen- 
ty years he has contributed his efforts toward the internal develop- 
ment of the county. As do most settlers in a new country, he came 
with small means, which he husbanded .clo.sely and used wisely and 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. ,« 

10, IsL'^^'^.ZZ^Z 7f ?SSr^" ^«""*^' ^"^--' I^^bruar, 
springs from three brothers w^'^'^rt"/"'' "'" ^""''•'^■•''" ^^''^^^'h 
generations back. Walter P.-ather father nf "" ™««'onaries several 
Clark countj, Indiana, in 180< a^d , !^ °^ T "'''•''''■^- ^"^ ''O'" in 
past eighty-four .years of Je fZLJ '\ ^^^^^^oUmunv county at 
b.s life in oircuistanees mLc. an ninrf ^''' ''l''"- '''"d ^'^ P«««ed 
He filled the office of County Oomm^ss on '""' T^ ''"norable citizen, 
as a Kepublican. He manid M°n wluT" ' . T''' ^'"'^^'^ «^^'reto 
diana. She died at the a-e of fifA' f '^''^' "^ Jackson county Tn- 

Orlie, wife of Henry ML^haHofladi'n Co "m" .''"' ^'"'*^-" '--- 
became Jlrs. Henry W-irnp,. '' "'/"'^"'^on Co., Montana; America who 

wife of Elmer Oy i of S^^cl ro''^ ^''"^[^^^^^^-^ L- Jessie F 
Morton, of Sultan Co! Indhnf ' '"''"'' '^"*'"' «*' Oklahoma, and 

ment'^t^in^e'^gJIw' up" Thr?o'" "'' /"""^"^'^ ^-^ -"■«' environ 
and he r^^mained witrthe ^u.^nTiT"? ''''?'f, ^^^"'^'^"^ ^'^ '^<^"°" '"" 
He began an independent ca^er as , Z' /''' /^^°^-^-f«"^ .V^ars old. 
earned a monthly wao-e as Jn^h '^'Vl ^?'"'^ ""^^ '«'" ^^e years he 

gradually and the Iir4r no! nn ^IP'""^ ^°to independent farmin-r 
Hoo.sier8tatewasaSi1.yeit ;;?/4?' '^'^''' -cumulations in th^ 
;m.e;T£jhie;'S'^^---SM.ei^ united with ArnUna Krien- 
farmer. Two sons have been born o/l^^^^ « lifetime 

suryiyes. The latter was born Jan^lyS ]"o?"'^'^- ""^^ '' ^^''-"' O^a, 
m the second grade in school Mr^ pLlt^.Y ''/ Pro-nising boy 
part in the achievements of the fnn^iiv f f,^^ '''" performed no sma 1 
the n.utual confidence wh?ch he •%?? p^F/'^'^'^^ «^ I^'^-^-" «"<! 
force^tow.ard promoting the famny weiLre *''' '°^"" '^ '^ I'«*^"t 

ti.s. i.:-a «er'"f%;e \tde'r'r Wo^:bf'P''1 •''^ ^^"P'^^ I'^''^-- P«Ji- 
•"-'■i't No. 4, Pleasant ^^f^^'ilTr:; nSLl";^ JtLrS"T.l.^'^'^^^' 

.nen^?^.^^™^ ^^^l^'^^^^rf. "^ the business 
terest in his town is Grant nS?ne fh. ^''^f "^^ h.s spirit and in- 
introduction to this notice Th^ Z'i , -•'"''eman mentioned in the 

proprietor and he ha ten so Connected t "">""" '""^-^ '^'"^ «« >ts 
Lowman, its founder in 1S99 ''''""^^t^*^ «'°<^e he succeeded Henry A. 

McDonough county, Illinois, was the na.iye place of Mr. Hainline 



686 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and bis birth occurred January 2, 1804. His fatber, George W. Hain- 
line, was a pioneer to that k>cality and is now living within five miles 
of his original place of settlement. He was born in Kentucky in 1825, 
and ill \^'.W. his father became a settler of Mcl)onoiigh county in the 
Prairie State. The latter was a farmer, as were his posterity, and 
passed away in the vicinity of where he made his last settlement. 

George W. Hainline passed his life in })ursiiits of the field and 
can be said to have made a success of life. He was a plain quiet citi- 
zen and reared a large family of children by bis marriage with Mary 
J. Keithley, an Indiana lady, born in 1.S2S, and died in 18!>2. Their 
issue were: Nathan T., of Hutchinson, Kansas; Thomas, of McDonough 
county, Illinois; Frank, of Knox county, Missouri; .lacoli, of Iowa; Seth, 
of Knox county, Jlissouri; Oliver, of the home county iu Illinois; (irant, 
our subject; Shei'iiian, of Ua.visville. ( ";ilifoiiii;i , and Ida, who lias re- 
cently married. 

Grant Hainline learned the ways and the work of the farm under 
jiarental guidance and at twenty-one years took up the responsibili- 
ties of life. His education was acquired in the lountiy school and 
when he established himself ;ind took \i\> life's serious affairs, it was 
as a farmer in Knox county, Missouri. Later, he went to Neosho county 
where he became the owner of a farm, which he suld to ((une to Kan- 
sas, in ISiti). In April of that year, he located in Cherryvale and has 
since been actively engaged in manufacturing and handling feed. He 
owns other ])roperty tluin his mill and is one of the promoters of one of 
the promising oil and gas conijianies of the community. The Farmers' 
Oil, Gas and Mineral (.'ompany, in which he is interested, has done some 
effective and valuable development work and gives much ]iroiiiise of 
good returns to its jtropriefors and investors. 

December 24, 1885, Mr. Hainline married Lena Lee Benner. a 
daughter of David Benner, who settled in Knox county, Missouri, from 
^'irginia. Mrs. Hainline was born in Knox county in 18C8 and is the 
mother of six children, namely: Willis V., Clarence and Elza, deceased; 
Lena , George ^V. and Theodore R. 

Mr. Hiiiuline's j)eo])le are Rejuiblicaiis, as he is himself, taking a 
good citizen's interest in the welfai'c of his jiaify and his town. 



PERRY F. BROWN, a farmer six niih-s from Elk City, is a son 
of James and Nancy (Herrell) Brown and a grandson of Turner Bi'own 
of Virginia. The i>arents of Mr. Brown were born and reared in the 
Old Dominion State and later moved out to Illinois, where they resided 
during the remainder of their lives, the father having died while on 
a visit to our subject in 1874. 

Perry was given a good common school education in his home school 
and continued to help his parents on the farm until h(> was nineteen 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMKEY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 687 

years of age. He then star(e(l out to see the world for blinself and 
having become acciuaiuted with the cooper's trade at home, i)ursued 
that in getting a start in life. In 1847, he was joined in marriage to 
Elizabeth Cottrell. They are the parents of twelve children, ten 
of whom were born in Iowa, where they settled shortly after marriage, 
and two were born in Missouri. Xancy, the eldest, was born Oclober 
!), 1848, married Daniel Jones and resides in Missouri; their children 
are: Anna, Kertha, Francis, Daniel, ifyrtle and Cracie; William F., 
born October 15, 1849, married Genevieve Moorhead and their six chil- 
dren are — Mary, Ethie, Marian, Lavetta, Walter and Carrie; Robert, 
born February 20, 1851, died February 15, 1872; Elizabeth, born Jan- 
uary 30, 1852, died January 7, 1853; David W., born July 15, 1854, mar- 
ried Jane l.ockett, and resides in the Indian Territory with their chil- 
dren — Elmer, Duard, Andrew, Earl, Koxy, Angle and Clarence; Addi- 
son P., born April 24, 1856, married Lucy Hayward and lives in Okla- 
homa with their children — Robert, Cyrus, Nora and Bessie; Susannah, 
born June 1, 1858, is the wife of John Jeter; Mary A., born February 29, 

1860, died October 11, following; Stephen A. Douglass, born July 31, 

1861. died November 3, 1882; Sidney M., born July 15, 1863, married 
Frankie Doughtry; they live in the Indian Territory with their two 
children, Alice and Ernie; John, married Susie (Jastineau and lives on 
the old home place with their two children — Vada and Verna; Alfretta, 
born January 1, 1870, married J. Samuel Orr, and resides at Havana, 
this county. They have one child, Elsie May. 

After a long life of splendid helpfulness in the home, the mother 
of these children passed to her rest, on Novembr 2, 1902, at the ripe age 
of seventy-eight years. She was a woman of many beautiful qualities, 
had a kind, sympathetic disposition and was a true mother to the large 
family of children who now, together with the husband, mourn her most 
sincerely. 

After a residence of eighteen years in Davis county, Iowa, and six 
years in Schuyler Co., Mo., Mr. Brown removed wiih his large family, 
in 1872, to Montgomery county, Kansas, where he has since been one 
of the solid men in the community in which he lives. He and his 
family have been very helpful in the educational and religious life of 
the different communities where they resided, having been life-long 
iiieiiihcrs of the ^lelliodist Episcopal church. 

In political matters, i\fr. Brown has been a supporter of the Dem- 
ocratic party, but has not aspired at auy time to office. The high char- 
acter of his citizenship makes him a man worthy of representation in 
this volume, devoted as it is to the mention of the worthy class of citi- 
zens of the count V. 



ARTHUR E. PAGE. The subject of this brief notice has per- 
formed an honorable part in the up-building and develoj)ment of the 



688 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

domestic alTairs of Moiilf;oinci'_v (•(iiiuty. He lias passed niiu'tecn vcais 
within its hoi-dci's and a second lionicstcad is yicldinf; to his inaj^ic 
tonch and in a new (ownship lie is cstablisliinj; liis good name. 

Aiiliiii' K. I'siRC is (h-scended from American antecedents but for 
many years tlie family lived under another flag and owed allegiance 
to another nati(Ki. During the e.'irly years of the century just passed 
Josiah I'age, father of (»ur- subject, was born in (he Trovince of Quebec, 
Canada. His father setlled there from the State of New York and had 
other children, as follows: John, Timothy, Mrs. Melvina Kobinson 
and Mrs. Annie Keed. .losiah K. I'age nuuried Salina Kobinson, a 
native of .loliet county, ('anada, and a daughter of James Hobinson 
and wife, of Scottish and Canadian birth, respectively. 

Josiah E. and Salina I'age passed their lives in the Queen's Amer- 
ican dominions and reared nine children, namel\': John E., of Ore- 
gon; Elnu'liue, deceased; Arthur K., our subject; Mrs. Emily J. Eng- 
land, of ('anada East; Mrs. Emma A. St('^^lleus, of Boston, Massachu- 
setts; William H., of N(uton county, Kansas; Mrs. Lucy E. (Jlenney, 
of Fall Kiver', Massachu.setts; Herbert, of Canada, and lienjamin. of 
]{oston, Massachusetts. The parents of this family of children were 
of tlie E]iisco|»al faith and in his active and nuu-e vigorous life the 
father was a lumber-camp for<-man and \v;is alsci l)e|nity Sheiitl' of 
Joliet county, Canada East. 

July 17, 1848, Arthur' E. I'age was born in Joliet county, Quebec. 
He renmined with the parental home till past his nuijority, when li" 
left Canada and sought the United States. He went out into the w(ul(l 
with a country school education and learned to work while doing duty 
on the farm of his boyhood. He first stopjted in the I'nited Slates at 
Dubuque, Iowa, and did fariri work there till he had earned sullicieiit 
means to carry him to Poweshiek county. Iowa, wluM-e. at I)ee]( Kivi'i-, 
he took uj) farm work and continued it as a farm hand for four years, 
in the si)ring of 187:^, he went to Clay county, Nebraska, ])urchased a 
claim right, entered the land and was occupied with its cultivation and 
iiu])ro\enient till 1884, when he left that semi-frontier region an<l sought 
the fertile and more reliable country of eastern Kansas. He purchased 
a quarter section of land iu Rutland township, Montgomery county, 
r^and, during the next eighteen years, doubled its area and sold one of the 
"desirable farms iu the townshiji, when he disjiosed of his place in 
October, 1902. In thi.s time he had also acquired a tract of land in 
West Cherry township, which he still owns, thus marking his as one 
of the successful careers among Montgomery county farmers. In March, 
190.S, he bought one hundred and sixty acres in Independence townsliiji, 
in section 0. township 32, range ITi, which he is c(mvertiiig into a desira- 
ble hcune. 

In the year 187J,3lr. Page married Sarah 1>. (Jarr, whose jiarents 
were Robert L. and Louisa Y. (Snyder) (iarr, natives of ^'irginia and 




M. ASHBY AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 689 

Kentucky, respectively. Mrs. Page was born in -Tolinson county, In- 
diana, Sept. 2S, 18.")0, and is tlie mother of Koherl .(.. \\ lio married Cora 
A. -Mills and has a child, Helen P..; Elmer E., who married Miiniie V. 
Higt^ins, is a clerk in Scott's store at Indejien<li-nce. Kansas; Homer 
W., and Oren E., wlio married Tula F. tJreer, are both with the pai-ental 
home. 

As an instance of what determination and perseverance, c(.iij)led 
with ample physical \ igor, will accom|ilish, it is in jdace to state that 
when Mr. Page reached I'oweshiek cnuiily, Iowa, he had but "fifty 
cents t() Ills name." His juojierty aciiuirements have ail resulted froiii 
the individual eltorts of himself and his devoted wife and modestly 
stand as an achievement worthy to be emulated. In jiolitics Mr. Page 
was first a Democrat and then a I'opuHst. He w-as township Treas- 
urer two terms in Rutland and member of the school board twehe 
years. He is a member of the .\nci<'iit Older of Pnited Woikmcn. 



MILTON ASHPV is a leading farmer and old S(ddier of Chero- 
kee township and was born in \'ermillion county, HI., on the 27th of 

October, lS4(i. His father's name was -James Ashby, a native of liour- 
bou county, Kentucky, and his motlu'r was Sarah .1. Ulakeney (d' tlie 
same state, ^^'hen small children, their parents moved to Illinois — in 
1821) — where James lived and died in Georgetown township, N'erinillion 
county, within half a mile of where they first settled. His death oc- 
<uvred at the age of seventy-two, but his wife is still living and is sev- 
enty-six years old. 

Five of the children of James ami Sarah .\shby are living. Pleas- 
ant Ashby, trav(ding agent; Kliza Milner, resident of Indiana; Maitha 
Doop and lOmma Smith, both of Montgomery county, and Milton, 
the sabject of this sketch, who is the first born. Milton .\shby was 
reared in Vermillion county, 111., and his education was received in 
the ol(\ fashioned log school house. In this school house there were 
not the new patent seats of today, but those made of split logs, wliose 
I)olisb was not attained at the factory, but by contact with "jeans and 
luimes])uii" for many yeai-s. 

A'lhcii the war was on he cniislcd, I'cliruary 4lh, \S(<'>. in Coiupany 
I'„ l.'dth 111. Xt)]. Infl., and served till after the close of the war. Ho 
would have entered the army sooner, but his age prevented, and he 
was held over until the 2nd of February, IStJt!. After the war was 
over he retuvned home, and stayed with his pai'cnfs on the farm. 

His nianiage occui-red .\ugust 2S, 1S7(). His wife was Maiy .M. 
(Jraves, a native of ^'ermiilion co\inty. III., and a daiightci- of L(>vi II. 
and .Matilda (Took) (iraves. .\ftei' his marriage, he bought eiglity acres 
of lan(^ and cultivated it foi' ten years. In 1SS4. he sold his farm and 

-came to Kansas. ;iud bought eighty acres, thicc miles noitheast of f'of- 



690 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

feyville, whore he now resides. There was only a small frame house 
on the farm where they lived till the new house was erected, which they 
now occupy. This is large and commodious, with modern conveniences 
and contains eleven rooms, heated and lighted with natural gas. Be- 
sides this beautiful home, there is a large barn and good out buildings, 
also lighted by gas. This whole farm is an up-to-date one, everything 
being kept in good repair. Land has been added to the original eighty, 
nntil now the (>state comprises three hundred and sixty acres. 

Mr. Ashby has in his possession the first tax receipt he ever re- 
ceived, which amounted to sixty cents, a sum somewhat less than his 
present annual tax. On the farm he keeps a variety of stock — cattle, 
horses and hogs. 

In politics Mr. Ashby is a Republican, and lias served successively 
as treasurer of the township two terms, and trustee one term. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ashby have four children living: Lillie A., wife of 
D. A. Jones, of Coffeyville; James L., a farmer; Alva M., also a farmer 
in the count}-; Maud, the wife of Edwin Peterson, living at home with 
her parents, and Bertie, who died at three years of age. 



JOSEPH S. HAMER, manager of the Cherryvale Grain and Live 
Stock Association, and one of the energetic and enterprising citizens of 
that progressive borough, is a native of the "Buckeye State," born in 
Logan county, October 7, 1854. His father, Joseph Hamer, was a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania and at maturity married Elizabeth Clingerman, 
a native of the Keystone State. The father was, during life, a well-to-Jo 
and successful farmer and stock shipper. He passed the greater ])ortion 
of his life in Ohio, but in 18S9, came to Kansas and settled in Wilson 
county, near Lafontain. Here he resided and engaged in farming un- 
til 1896, when he became an inmate of the home of our subjct in 
Cherryvale, and during a visit to a son in Ohio, sickened and died at 
the age of sixty-nine years. His wife still resides with our subjei't and 
is a woman of strength and sj)irit at seventy-three years of age. To 
these parents were born six children, but two of whom are row liv- 
ing; a son, Daniel A., residing in Ohio, and Joseph S., of this sketch. 

Mr. Hamer, being the son of well-to-do parents, was given .a lib- 
eral education. After the country school he attended the Ada Normal 
School and from there went to the National Normal School of 
Lebanon, O. To this literary training was then added a course at a 
commercial college in St. Louis. Mr. Hamer did not, as is too often 
the case with young men who are favored in matters of education, con- 
nect himself with city life, but returned to Ohio and engaged in farm- 
ing, an occupation which he followed with success in that state until 
1883, when he came out to southern Missouri and continr.ed there quite 
extensively in the raising of stock. In 1889, he accompanied the fam- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. ' 69 1 

ily to \yilsoii founty. as before giveu, and was there eiifjaged nntil 
the fall of IS'.t:!. This date marks his ((iinin}; to Chcirvvaic, where he 
engajied in the buying and sliippiu;^ of j,nain. a busiiiess in wiiich he 
has made a great suceess. 

In 1!)02. Mr. Hanier interested himself in 1 he foiniatiun of Ihe 
present stock company, which is organized and chartered nnder the 
laws of Kansas. They purchased a large elevator ncnir the "Frisco" 
depot and are now extensively engagi'd in handling all kinds of grain. 
The comjiauy has a capital of .f(i,(M)(l which is hehl in (i(l(l sliaics, paid 
up in full. The otticers of this association are: S. 1). ( Hiiiiiaiit. Presi- 
dent; \\'. H. Crowl. ^'ice President; -lohn (iivens. Treasurer, and -loseph 
S. Hamei'. Secretary and Manager. The enter])rise was instituted .June 
7 of 1!)(»1', and, fifteen days later, the stock was all paid in and the 
association was ready for business. Being a home enterprise by 
home people, it is gratifying to note that its stock advanced since its 
issuance some lOO per cent. This is largely due to the earnest work 
of the efiicient secretary and manager of the association, whose stand- 
ing in business circles and whose business sagacity are of the highest 
, order. 

The niairiage of Mi'. Ilamer was a hai)py event, occurring Feb- 
ruary 8, 1883, at Reading, Mich. The maiden name of Mrs. Hamer was 
|gnes Comestock. She was a native of the Empire State and was a 
lughter of Samuel and Amanda Comestock, both now dect>ased. She 
Dicame the mother of a daughter, Edna O., and at the age of thirty- 
fly? years, October 1*2, 1S!)7, passed to her rest. She was a woman of 
suierior attainments and a consistent member of the ^I. E. church. 
In'^Iay of l!l<ll, Mr. Hamer again entered the matrimonial state, be- 
ingVtiued to Miss Blanche Baughman. Mrs. Hamer is a native of the 
Hooier State, but was reared in Topeka, Kansas, whither her parents 
mov^ during her childhood. Thomas and Catherine Baughman, of To- 
peka,^^ansas, are her parents. 



■WILLIAM H. COLEMAN, one of the pioneers of ^lontgomery Co., 
and ()ne-)f its largest land owners, was born in Clarion county, Ohio, 
May .'U, \ir,. His parents were James and Xancy (Davis) Coleman, the 
father dy.o jn Iowa in ISCS, at the age of sixty-two. 

Janieswjis the son of John ('oleman and the second of three chil- 
dren : irarr„„|_ .Tjnnes and Nathaniel. The family of James Coleman con- 
sists of f<>ui,.iii](][.pii. joab, who died at the age of twenty-two; Sarah 
A. Shuler. a >sident of California; Thomas J., wlio died in the arm v. and 
William H.. ^ subject of this sketcli. 

\\ ilhani V Coleman lived in Marion county, O., nntil he was nine 
years of age, ^jp,, ],p moved with his jiarents to Van Buren county, 
la. Here he reNjjie^ until his nineteenth year. when, in .lanuaiy, 1864, 



692 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

he enlisted in Co. "G," ;^rd la. Cav., under Col. John ^A^ Noble, Gen. 
Wilson's Div. of Sherman's army on the Mississippi. During his service 
he was most of the time d()in<i' scout dxity and hunting Husliwhat-kei'S. 
He partieipated in the following battles: Selma. Alabama, and Colum- 
bus, Georgia. He was mustered out at Atlanta, Ga., in 1805, and re- 
turned to his Iowa home, where he remained for a number of years. 

On the L'-nd of August. 18(;(!, Mr. Coleman Tuarried Sarah A. Hill, 
a daughter of John and Armilda (Harper) Hill. Air. and AIis. Cole- 
man caiiie to Crawford county, thence to Labette county, and after- 
ward to Montgomery county, Kans., in 1870. They came overland, their 
mode of travel being a wagon drawn by an ox team, which Mrs. Cole- 
man drove. Mr. Coleman rode a saddle pony and gave his attention 
to a herd of nine head of Texas steers which he drove through to their 
new home. His original purchase of land consisted of 8(1 acres near 
Elk City. 

Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Coleman: William 
F., of California, who nuirried Emiuarctta Hansford and whose chil- 
dren are: Ira M., Anna AI., Olive C, William, Herbert, Jessie and Josie. 
twins, and Alfred; the second child. Armilda A. Harley, has tViree cliil- 
dren: James, Percy and Gertrude; George S., who mari'ied Cora Alil- 
ler, resides in Montgomery county, and his children are: ("Jertrude. Alabel 
and John; Airs. (Mara B. Williams, whose children number four: AMI 
liam, Emei-y ('., Ola P. and Isaac O.; Airs. Emma Hutchinson, wlios^ 
only son is William A.; Claud H., married Ethel Cook and resides a 
California, witli three children: Edith, Euey and Kussell; Stanley, wio 
died at the age of sixteen; Gordon H.. at home; and Airs. Flossie Slaer, 
who lesides in Sumner county, Kans., and has one child, Sarah A. 

AV'illiam H. Coleman, having been reared in the great middle vest, 
has done much to aid in the development of the far west in an 'arly 
day. He traveled in the nuist ]irimitive way from California to Alabama. 
Following the flag of the noith. he fouglit for the extermination 'f our 
greatest national evil and the preservation of his country. Niw, at 
an advanced age, he is content to pass the remainder of his da)S with 
his wife in their comfortable home, and in the evening of life, an look 
back over the past without regret and forward to the future without 
fear. 



1 



WILLIAAI B. PARSONS, Cherryvale, A'ard Alaster fo' the Santa 
Fe railroad, was born in Allen county, Kansas, near lola, vlay 5, 1850. 
His father was Henry D. Parsons, his mother Harriet T>dd, the for- 
mer a native of Texas and the latter of Alissonri. The father was a 
representative farmer and stock dealer, lived here whie the country 
was yet a territory, was a trader among the Indians, arl thus saw the 
state in its primitive condition. He was a Lieutenant ina vobnitcer reg- 



HISTORY OB" SlONTGOJIEUVr COUNTY, KANSAS. 693 

iment during the Civil War, and had served as a private in the Mi^xicau 
War. lie was a iiu'iiibei- of the ('lirislian eiiurch, his wife of (he Meth- 
odist; lioth are now deceased. Their family consisted of three sons and 
four daughters, all of whom are living. 

William H. Parsons was educated in the lola schools. After leav- 
ing school he worked on the farm until 18S(I, when he; engaged as ,i 
brakenian on the St. L., Ft. S. & W. lly., in which position he served 
for one and one half years. He then secured a jjosition as conductor 
on the saTiie lailioad, retaining the run for two years. He then 
changed from this road to the Southern Kansas, accepting a brake- 
man's place, but soon receiving promotion to conductor. Tiring of the 
road service, Mr. Parsons entered the shops as a carpenter, and for 
three years was thus engaged. The "singing of the rails," however, was 
music that could not be forgott<'n. and again he got nearer the track, 
this time as a switchman on the same I'oad. His j)resent responsible 
jiosition came to him in ISiXJ. 

Mr. I'arsons has been a resident of ('herryvale since 1887, and has 
been a |K)j)ular and helpf\il citi/-en, being at the present writing a mem- 
ber of the school board. 

Marriage was an event of 1881, with our subject, when he was hap- 
pily joined with Miss M. .1. (\)ulter, a native of Ohio and a (laughter 
of W. J. C'Oullci', of Chanute, Kan. To .Mr. and Mi's. Parsons have been 
born three children, namely: Ha.Miiond V., Floyd 1). and Fred F. For a 
number of years prior to her marriage, .Mi's. I'arsons was one of the 
efficient and jKipular teachers in the schools of Neosho county. 

Mr. Parsons is a member of the Masonic order, of tlie A. O. U. W., 
and of the Order of Railway Conductors. The above record shows him 
to have been in the emjiloy of the Santa Fe for some seventeen years, 
a period, the lengtli of which, attests the measure of his value. Hf? is a 
worthy citizen and has a lively interest in all enterprises wliich ]>ioin- 
ise outcome for the communitv in which he lives. 



GEORGE H.VRRISON. A jjioneer resident of Elk City and rep- 
i-esentative citizen of the county is the gentleman wliom we here men- 
tion, and who has been one of the wheel-hoi-ses in the develojunent of 
both. Of late years he has been e.ngaged in the tin-smithing business 
Mr. Harrison is a gentleman of undoubted integrity and has always held 
a high ])lace in the esteem of his many friends. He has served the city 
in the Mayor's chair and in the common council and in many ways has 
j)roved his i-ight to the title of "rej)resentative citizen." 

Mr. Harrison is a native of Overton county, Tenu., born on the; 2.")th 
of Xovember, 1S48. His parents were William ('. and Sarah C. (Hopkins) 
Harrison, the father a native of Tennessee and the mother of Kentucky. 
They were farmers by occupation and resided their entire lives on the 



'6g4 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

farm where Mr. Harrison was born on the 7th of June, 1813. His death 
•occurred May 15, 18!)1. The mother was born (Jctober UC, 18;J(J, and died 
November 20, 1803. They were the parents of four children, our subject 
being the eldest. Polly married J. M. Clark and is now deceased. J. 
H. resides in Newark, Texas. I'leasant is a farmer, cultivating the home 
farm. 

(itorge Harrison was reared to hard lalior on the farm, using his 
■winters in the actiniicnient of a good cducalion. \\\ the time he was of 
suitable age. he was well enough e(|ui](jied 1o enter the school room as 
an instructor, and for several years followed that occuj>ati(ui success- 
fully in Tennessee and Kentucky, his last work of that nature having 
been done after his coming to Montgomery county, teaching two terms 
in the lOOth district. He then followed farming until 1881, in 
which year he came to Elk City and engaged with the elevator 
l)eo])le for three years. He then changed the charactci- of his occupation 
and learned the tinner's trade, which he has followed successfully since 
that time. He is an excellent workman and adds to th<' dignity of labor 
by the character which he sustains in the comnuinity. He takes a had- 
ing part in thesocial and religious life of the city, he and his wife being 
active members of the Christian and Baptist churches respectively, in 
which he is an Elder and has served acce])tably as Superintendent of the 
Sabbath School. He is Secretary of the Masonic lodge and is also a 
member of the \A'oodmen. His political jireferences lie with the Demo- 
cratic party. 

Jliss Mary K. Owen became the wife of Mr. Ilai-rison on the 28th of 
March, 1872. She is a native of Tennessee and is the daughter of Ed- 
ward L. and Nancy Owen, the former deceased at seventy-two years, 
September 7, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are the parents of five chil- 
dren — Edward S., of Ardmore, I. T.. married Angle Lawrence; Sallie B., 
now Mrs. F. W. Sheiniaii. with two children : (ieorge and Howard, the 
latter deceased; William O.. at home; .Afaud E.. Mrs. M. C. Barton, and 
Thomas, who resides at the family domicile. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are most worthy members of the community 
where they have sjx-nt the major portion of their lives .•nid the respect 
in which thev are held is most uniform. 



JOHN ^^■. JHJjLER is a well known educator and farmer of Syca- 
more township. He has spent a long and active career in the educa- 
tional life of the county, and has also been most helpfully prominent in 
matters of moral and religious moment. He has taught not less than 
twnty-five terms of school within the bounds of the county, has served 
his township as trustee for a number of years, and has for seven years 
been Sujierintendent of the Congregational Sunday School of Sycamore 
and also President of the Sunday School Association. 



HISTOBY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 695 

Mentioning briefly the special points in the family lii.story of Mr. 
Miller, the biographer notes that Ihe family is traced to the Blue Kidge 
mountain country of West Virginia, where John Miller, our subject's 
grandfather, was born, and whose union with Sally Sands, also a native 
of that state, resulted in the birth of eight children: Mrs. Sally Addi- 
son, John J., ]\Iatthe\v, Mrs. Margaret Baughman, Mrs. Sarah Hamricli, 
Mrs. Louisa Dodril! and Mrs. I'olly ("utlij). 

Of this family, J(din J. was our subject's father. He was born iu 
Braxlon county, March (Jtli, 1833, where he married Diana M., a 
daughter of Adonijah and Sallj' A. (Rodgers) Harris, all of whom are 
natives of West Virginia. The children of Jolin J. Miller were — Nannie 
W., who married Sam Terry, and resides in Clackamas county, Ore.; 
John W., the esteemed subj(Ht of this sketch; Sarah, wife of ^Vm. Terry, 
who resides in Bristol, I. T., and Matthew, of Grand Forks, B. C. 

Owing to the unseltled state of the country at the beginning of the 
Civil ^^'ar, Mr. Miller removed his family from Braxton to ^[arion coun- 
ty, West \'a., where they continued to reside until 1800. In that year 
they came out to Iowa, but, after a period of three yeais, settled at Car- 
thage, Mo. Here they remained a little over a year, and then came on to 
Montgomery county, where, in the spring of 1871, they filed on a claim 
in section 2G, township 31, range 1."), Sycamoi-e Tp. Here the usual i)rim- 
itive style of box house was constructed, which served to iirotect them 
from the weather until the great tornado of 1S73 passed <iver the coun- 
try. This storm cdmpletely destroyed the home of (he Miller's, and the 
commodious frame dwelling wliiili is there now took its place. 

In fraternal life Mr. Miller is quite active, being a member of the 
Masons, of the Modern Woodmen of America, and of the A. H. T. A. He 
is one of the pojiular and efficient educators in the county, and numbers 
his friends among all classes of societv. 



IKA N. TOWELL. The worthy citizen whose name introduces this 
biogi'aphy owns and resides on one hundred and fifty-six acres of section 
32, township 33, range l."), Inde]>en(lence township, whei'e he settled on 
his advent to .Montgomery county, iu tli(> year 18S1. His farm was ])artly 
improved by 'William Atkinson, a former owner, and was once owned 
by the pioneer E. P. Allen. Mr. Towell emigrated to this state from 
I'arke county, Indiana, and is one of several of the Friends' sect who 
made settlement in Montgomery cotinty about that time. 

Parke county, Indiana, is wIhh'c Ira N. Towell was born April 7, 
185G. His father, Isaac Towell, was a native of Orange county, the same 
state, was born in 1817 and died in Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1900. 
Henry Towell, giandfatlier of our subject, was a North Carolinian — 
from Orange county — and one of the early settlers of Orange county. 
Indiana. He was descended from the early American Quakers and, if 



1696 iiisTdUV (IF M(int(;iimi:ry cointy, Kansas. 

it could be traoi'd, u6 doubt the fiiniily has some Colonial history. Isaac 
Toweil luiuricd Amy Mai-shall. a daiijihter of William ^Marshall, whose 
daugbtei' Sarah was Isaac's first wife. By his sccoud marriage Isaac 
Toweil was the father of William H.. who died in the Union army; Eliz- 
abeth E., who died single; Elwood H., of Parke county, Indiana; Hiram 
L., of Fountain county, Indiana; Ruth, wife of Ira Hadley, of Bolton, 
Kaus. : Sarah, who married Llewellyn liowsher; Ira X., our subject, and 
Lydia, who died young. 

.\ common school education was all ilial lia X. Toweil ac(|uircd. and 
that in the counU v school. He jiassed liis majority around the parental 
hearthstone and when he came to Kansas his i)arejits accomiianied him, 
his mother dying near Bolton in ]lS<s;{. .January 2, ISSo, lie nuirried Miss 
Belle Farlow, a daughter of Jose])h Fallow, a worthy citi/,en of Bolton. 
Three children have. come to cheei- and bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Toweil. namely: F. lOrnest, born Nov. IS. l.^SC, ; .\ithur. Ix.iii Feli. 2. ISiMI, 
and M. Colda, born Feb. it. 1S!)4. 

(ieneral farming is the industrial line in which .M i-. Toweil has 
achieved bis success. He has been busy all his life and by this jiractice 
has maintained himself unincumbered and able to meet all obligations. 
He is liberal in politics and is a Wooodman. 



JOHN ATKINSON. Those who have passed a score of years in 
the vicinity of Bolton are familiar with the name introducing this article. 
Its owner is one of the modest farmers of Inde])nedence township and 
IS situated on section 30, township '.)?>. range 15. He cast his fortunes 
with Montgomery county in August. ISSl, and is an emigrant from 
I'arke county, Indiana, where his birth occurred Nov. 20. ]8:'4. His 
father, Thos. Atkinson, settled in the wooded country of Parke county 
in 1831, and Avas one of those who spent his life battling against nature 
and with nature in the jthysieal development of his section of the 
Hoosier State. He was born in Orange county. North Carolina, in 1796, 
and died in 1871, just as he was nearing his home while returning from 
a visit to his native heath. He was a son of John .\tkinson of North 
Carolina Quaker stock, whose antecedents separated frojii the parent 
church in Pennsylvania and established themselves in the "Tar Heel 
State." Thos. Atkinson nuirried Marjorie Lindley. a datighter of David 
Lindley, also from North Carolina. The children of this marriage were: 
Jonathan, Mary, wife of Levi Dix; Sarah, whose first husband was Thos. 
Marshall and Iter second, IMr. Bedford; Dixon, David, of Parke county, 
Indiana; Eleanor, who died single; Samuel and John, twins, and Emily, 
of Parke county, Indiana. 

John Atkinson of this sketch, attained his majority on the farm of 
his parents, in which community he acquired a good common school edu- 
, cation. He accepted the calling of his fathers as his own and devoted 




ISAAC JAMES AND WIFE. 



lUSTOUY Ol'' MONTIiO.MHUY COL'.NTV, KANSAS. 69/ 

himself iutelliffently to the tilliii^^ of I lie soil. Fop a lift' conipanioii he- 
chose, iu Fel)rniiry, lS(j:{. Mary Kllcii At]<iiisoii, a (laiijilitei- of Hirauv 
and Amy (.Marsiiall) Atkinson, wiio lias shared wilh liiin his successes 
as well as his i-eveiscs. for forty xcais. In coni|iaiiy with the Lindleys 
and Towells they came to .Mont j;()meiy county in ISSl. and have since re- 
sided on theip farm. Mr. Atkinson is a minister of the Friends church 
and has .served his community in that capacity. He is comfortable in 
his surroundings, enjoys the luxuries of natural gas and, as a citizen, is 
interested in the civil atfaii's of his municipality. 



IS.\.\(" .lAMFS. On a faini of three hundred and twenty acit'S in' 
Lonishur^- townsiiijt I'esidcs Isaac -lanies, one of the leading agricultur- 
ists of Montgonu'iy county. His residence on this farm dates from the 
year 1884, and he is a native of Missouri, where he was born near Jeffer- 
son City, Cole county, in 1847. He is a son of Mitchell and Margaret 
(Glenn) Jaines, atid is a maternal grandson of James (Jlcnn. one of the 
earliest settlers in Moniteau county, .Missouri. The latter gentleman 
was born in Tenni'sscc and immigrated to Miss()uri at a very early day. 
Our subject's father is now residing in High Point, near Jefferson City,- 
Missouri, at the age of seventy-nine years, but his mother died in 1886. 
They were the jiarents of eiglit children, of wlioTn Isaac is the eldest. The 
others are: Cynthia, wife of Jacob Cook, of Missouri; Maggie, Mrs. John 
Louis, of ^lissoui-i; Mary, now Mi-s. Failing; ^^'illianl, who resides in 
Missouri; Kosa, di'ceased; lU-ttie, wife of J. C. Richel. of .Missouri, and 
Katie, who married .Merido Harris and who also lives in Missoiiii. .\fter 
the death of the niotliei' of these children, the father again married, his 
second wife's name having been neckieMackiney. who is (he mother of 
four children. 

In 18712. Isaac -laines was joined in marriage with Loui.sa Richel. 
This lady was the dauglitei- of .lohn and Uickey (Wilhanna) Richel. The 
family was of (iernnm stock and came fi-om the Fatlieilaiid in 1S.":'> and 
settled in .Missouri, whei-e they became well-to-do farmers. The father 
is now deceased, w liile llie Miothei- still icsides near Uusselville. Missoui'i. 
There were eight children in the family, of whom four are yet living. 

Mr. and Mrs. ,liim<'s are the jtarents of nine children: ^^'illiam, 
born March :!(), 1874. married Fmnui Fllington. of Montgomery county, 
and is a farmer, with one child named I.saac; Maggie .\.. horn February 
8, 1878. was a twin of .lohn F.. the latter deceased in infancy; .\ndre\v 
C, born Xovemliei- 10, 1S7!); J(din ('., born f^eptember 28. 188i ; Dora A., 
born November I'd. 18S:;, died .\ugust 21, 1884; Maltie. born \ov( niber 
20, 18,sr); May Keile. born January :?(». 188!>: .Milton, born .Vpril :,. 1891; 
Louis A., born .\ugust 0, 189."., and Olive M.. born November .">, 1895. 

Mr. James j)assed the peiiod of his youth on the home farm in Mis- 
souri, where he received a good connm school education, remaining on 
the honieslead until the year after his majority. In 1884. he came to 



698 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Montgomery county and located on a farm in Louisburg township, on 
whicli he has continued to reside to the present time. He has at sundry 
times added many substantial inii)rovements to this farm and it is now 
regarded as one of the most valuable in the township. He devotes it to 
general farming and stock raising. It is located in what is called the 
Gas Belt and was leased by Mr. James for oil and gas purposes to an 
Elk City comj)any. 

Mr. James has always taken a helpful interest in the public aifairs 
of the community in which he resides, and has filled some of the minor 
offices. His ]>i)litical ]irinci])les are those of the reform party. In re- 
ligious matters, he ascribes to the ten(4s of the Presbyterian faith, while 
his wife is a member of the Lutheran demnninatiou. ^Ir. and ]Mrs. James 
are highly respected mendters of society in Louisburg township, whei-e 
they are held in very great esteem by their many frirnds and neighbors. 



ALBERT G. HARPER. The gentleuum whose name initiates this 
brief aiticle came to Kansas in the year lS7(t, and bfcamc a resident of 
Montgomery county in 1885. March 15 of Ihe latlcr year, he took up his 
residence in Independence, where he has, practically, since, maintained 
the same, and has for thirteen years been superintendent of the city 
water works. For seven years he has rei)resente(l the Third ward of the 
city on the Board of Education and in this prominent way has exercised 
a beneficent influence on i)ubli<- education in Indejicudence. 

Born January (t, 1850, in Warren county, Ohio, Mr. Harper is a son 
of Benjamin Harper, whose life was jmssed as a fainier, and who was 
born in the same county and state with his son in the year 1818. He 
entered the Fnion army, joining the 125th III. Inft. in isr.2, and taking 
part in the battle of Stone River, among others, and dying in Cumber- 
land Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee, in January, lS(i-t. He was a son 
of Joseph Harper, who jiassed away in Warren county, Ohio, and had 
a family of three sons. Benjamin Ilarjiei- nuuiied Sarah Hitesman. who 
is a resident of Independence. Kansas. Their childii'n weie: \\'m. IL, 
of Jeffersonville, Ind.; Mrs. C. H. Thompson, of Lamar, Col.; Mrs .Maggie 
Jennings, of Chandler, Oklahoma; .Mbeit G.. of this uotiee. and E. S. 
Harper, of Coffeyville, Kansas. 

The common schools provided Albert (1. Harper with a liberal edu- 
cation. He attained his majority on the farm and began life as a farmer. 
In 1860, he came west to Vermillion county. Illinois, where he was en- 
gaged in his native calling ten years, at the conclusion of which period he 
came to Kansas and became a resident of Parsons. He was engaged on 
the construction of the cit\ water plant of that city and when his connec- 
tion ceased there he came to Indt-pendeuce, where he was employed in a 
like capacity. With the exception of two years passed in Newport, Ar- 
kansas, as Supt. of its water works, he has been a continuous citizen of 
Montgomery county for eighteen years. He becan)e Suj)t. of the water 



HISTORY Ol'^ MOXTCiOMKKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 699 

plant of this city in ],S9(), and the best scivicc that can he {jiveu Inde- 
pendence, with the ])mseiit water system, is diivctcd truiii tl;e oJTices of 
the water Supt. 

In Ai)ril, 1S71, Mr. IIari)er married .Marjjarclta San(h'rc(iol<, of Par- 
sons, Kansas. Mrs. Harper was a daiijihicr of Ucnjamin Sandercook and 
she died in ISS:',. ]!y this marriajie the folh)winj;- chihlren were born: 
Frank, Edward II., (irace and \\'eaver. Marcii 1."), 1S,S7, Mr. Harper 
married ("elia Loj;iie, a daiiniiter of .Vmbrose Loj^ne and a native of 
Illinois. Mr. Lojiue was a Maryland man and died in Woodson connty. 
Kansas. Mrs. Celia Harper was born in the month of March, isr>(;, and 
is the mother of two cliildi-en, namely: Florence and Albert. 

Mi-. Harper is a I{e]iiiblican without e(|uivocation, is a \A'orkman 
and a Select Kniiilii ,ind a member of the I'niled P.retliren church. 



HIRAM REE\'E, a nali\e of N'i^o county, Ind., was born January 
2Cth. 1S;?2, and lived there until lie came to .Montjiomeiy county, Kansas, 
in the fall of ISSd and located ui)on a faiin of eij;hty aci-es in section 0:^2- 
16. He came to Kansas with a team and a family, which consisted of 
a wife and six children. He erected the dweljinj; and liain which are 
now on the ])lace, and set out an orchard of many varieties of fTiiit trees, 
and nuule many othei- im])rovements. 

At the bejiinninfi' of the Civil W'ai- he was rejected for physical rea- 
sons — on account of jtoor teeth. 

Hiram Hee\-e was a son of Zadoc Reeve, a native of New England. 
The father lived in his nati\e state until his marriafje, when he went 
to Evansville, Ind., and there worked for a numbei- of years as a ship 
carpenter. Then he l>ouj;ht a farm in Vigo connty, and there s])ent 
the remainder of his life. His father was Elias Reeve, a native of New 
York, and was of English descent. His mother's maiden name was 
Mary Cotton. She was a native of New England, and a daughter of 
Nathan Colton, also of New England birth. 

The children of I^lias and Mary Reeve were: I>avid, Lovica Hollo- 
way, of Cireat liend, Kansas; .Minerva Coltrin, of Indiana; Hiram, our 
subject; Mar.\- Ha.\niakei-, of Indiana, who lives on the old homest(»ad, 
and (Jeorge. Hiram Reeve married Elizabeth Reeves, a native of A'igo 
connty, Ind., and a daughtei' of John and Jane (Carico) Reeves. 

The greater ])art of the life of Mr. Reeve has been s])ent on the farm, 
where he has been most successful as a tiller of the soil. He is well 
known for his strict attention to business, his honesty and integrity. 
For some time he sei-ved as a member of the school board, always ])er- 
forming his duty to the best of his ability, and foi' the best welfare of 
the school. 

The family consists of six children: .Monzo, of California; Rtdle 
Hitchcock, of Los Angeles, Cal., who has one child, Raymond Leon; 
Carleton. of California; Cora, and Myrtle Walker, both of Montgomery 



70O HISTORY OF MONTGOMKRY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

county; the latter having two children living: Stella and Loyd — Earl, 
another child, died at the age of IS years. 



JOSHUA TERKINS was born in Warren county, 111., January 20, 
1851. His father, D. R. I'erkins, was also a native of Illionis, his death 
occurring in 1886, at the age of sixty-one. To Mr. I'erkins and wife, 
Maria, were born eleven children: Albert and Eliza, of Iowa; Francis, 
Jo.shua. Stephen, Kachel ("oats and Abigail Kiiigle, all of Montgomery 
< ounty, Ivans.; Epluaiin, of Oklahoma; Kvalim-. who died in Towa in 
1871; Minnie Kutledge, of ("arlliage. Mo., and Jasper, of ("hautauqua 
county, Kan. 

Joshua I'erkins was the fourth child and with his jiarents removed 
to Iowa when he was only four years old and renuiincd there until he 
was of age. His education was obtained in the common schools of the 
state where he was reared. At the age of twenty, he left his parents in 
Iowa and, with a team and wagon, drove to Montgomery county, Kans. 
Here he located in Sycamore townshij) on section :'.2-.'>I-l."J. 

Mr. Perkins" marriage occurred .\ugnst o, 187.5. his wife being Maria 
Overman, who died March Kith, l!)();i, and was a daughter of J. R. and 
Charlotte (Ramsey) Overman. Their family consists of five children: 
Mrs. Delia ^I. Swan, of Cherryvale. Kans., who has one son, Truman; 
Mrs. Minnie Swan, a resident of Montgomery county, whose two children 
are: Thelma and I'aul ; Walter 1>., of ^loiitgomery county, who has OTie 
daughter, Ruth; Lottie Hobson, of the same county, and Bessie, at home. 

Mr. Perkins lias always resided on the farm and has been very suc- 
cessful as a farmer. He has shown the greatest interest in public affairs 
and has served fifteen years as a meinber of tlie school boaT-d. He has 
never been an office seeker, but has been jdeascd to aid by his vote in 
placing in office good men holding to the ](rinci](les of the ])arty of Thos. 
Jefferson. Mr. I'erkins ke])t the county poor on his farm for live years. 
Socially, he is a ^lodern Woodman and his wife was a member of the 
Roval Neighbors. 



GEORGE M. SEAC.VT. M. D. It is possibly true that the family 
physician comes nearer to the inner life of his f(dlow man than any other, 
unless it be the physician of the soul. It becomes an absolute necessity 
therefore that the medical fi-aternity should be closely safe-guarded in 
tlie matter of charactei-. The physician should be sincere and honest and 
as efficient as it is possible in this lattei- day of advanced medical science. 
Possibly no other physician in the city of ("herryvale comes nearer to 
the ideal ]>hysician than the gentleman whose name initiates this review. 

Dr. Seacat was born near Palmira, Harrison county, Indiana, and 
spent the period of adolscence in the health-giving laboi' of tlii' farm. 
He received a fair district school education and later matiiculated at 



HISTORY Ol'- MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 70I 

the National Normal TTniversity of Lebanon, Oliio, where he graduated 
in the scientifie course, in 1882. He entered the school room as a teacher, 
and after several .years of successful e.xperience he took u]i the study of 
medicine, attendinf>' his first course of lectures at Keokuk, Iowa. He 
then enrolled as a student at the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louis- 
ville, in which institution he graduated, in 188.5. lie then came to Kan- 
sas, where, for several years, he practiced at Kinsley, in Edwards ccjunty. 
He located in 189(>, in ("tierryvale, where he lias ac(niired a most enviable 
practice. Dnriuo- his residence here, he has particijiated actively in ])ub- 
lic atl'aii's. having been a member of the City (Nuincil for a number of 
years. 

The Doctor aud his family are leading members of the Methodist 
Ejiiscopal church and are esteemed members of the most exclusis^e 
social circles of Cherryvale. Eminent in his profession, noble and juire 
in his character. Dr. Seacat is resfiected in all walks of lifi-. 

I'rielly noting the salient points in the family history of Di-. Seacat, 
his parents are Hamilton aud Mary A. (KingI Seacat. They were natives 
of Ilar-risoii county, Indiana, where the father was an extensive farmer 
for a long period of years. The parents were both devoted membei's of 
tiie Methodist church. Tlie father died in his native county, Sejjtembei" 
7, 1S7!), at th(> age of foi'ty-eight years. His widow is still residing on the 
old homestead at the age of sixtj'-seven. It might be noted in jiassing, 
the Gresham family, of which Seci-etary of State (ii'esliam was a mem- 
ber, is connected with the Seacat family, our subjecl's father having 
been a first cousin of .Judge (iresliam. A rather remail<able iustaiice is 
worthy of noting here concerning the longevity and activity of this 
family. Our subject's great aunt, Mrs. Sally Rumley — mother of Judge 
Gresham — on September (i, 1!)()1, at the age of ninety-eight years (at her 
home near New Albany, Ind,) tasked herself, unaided, to jirepare dinner 
for her fifty guests, who had assembled to celebrate her birthday, a task 
which she pei'formed with ai)j)arent ease. She still resides m llie same 
house to which she came as a bride in 1S2L'. 

In social affairs, he is a member of the \\dodnien, of liie Fraternal 
Aid and of llie Sons and Daughters of Justice. Politically, he is an 
ardent Republican, aud contents himself witli casting his vote for the 
candidates of that paity. He is a constant student of his ju-ofc^ssion and 
keeps in close toucli with it. He is a close leader of the best liierature 
and is a member of a number of the ditferent associations, jiidininent 
among which is the National .Association of Railway Surgeons, the 
American Jledical Association and the Kansas Medical .Xssociatitm, and 
was the local surgeon for the Santa Fe (V)mi)any for a ]ieriod of eleven 
years. 

Dr. Seacat's marriage occurred Sejitemliei t. 1SS!I. when Miss J. 
Rosa (iranily became his wife. ^frs. Seacat is a native of IJaltimoit', 
Maryland, and is a daughter of l{ev. C. II. and (Miesla (iramly. Her 



702 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

father is a iiromiucnt divine of the Methodist Episco{)al chiireh and has 
lived in Kansas since ISSi". He is now on the sniierannuiited list and 
resides in St. Lonis, Mo. Mis. Seacat's mother died in ISTlV, aged thirty 
years. She was a woman of beautiful charactei' and a censistci)! mem- 
ber of the Methodist cluirch. The children born to ])r. and Mis. Seacat 
are: Charles H. (iiainly, Lester <i. and Chester <i (twins), the laf'ter 
deceased at one vear. The viiunucsl child is Leura (Iramlv. 



RIflH.\i;i) II. hc.MoTT. One of the well known pidiiccis of .Mont- 
gomery connt\ and a retired farmer of Independence is the gentleman 
whose name introduces this i)ersonal record. His advent to the county 
dates from 180!). and he was one of a colony of iiiiniigrants from John- 
son county, Indiana, several of whom performed an iiiqioitaiit part in 
the rural development of the inunici])ality. 

Richard IT. HeMott was boiii in Mercer county, Kenlucky, .\pril 17, 
1(S47. His father, I'eter DcMott, was l)oin at ("ove Sjirings. in the same 
county, in November, 181."!. and was one of five sons of l^awrence He- 
Mott, whf) settled in Kentucky from New Jersey, where his ancestors 
settled in Kiits. U'liile the family came from Holland they were orig- 
inally from France. Lawi-cnce DeMott died in Mercer county, Kentucky, 
and nearly, if not (luite. all of his children removed to Indiana, where- 
many of them died. They were: Low, William, John. Uichard — all of 
whom jtassed away in Indiana — Peter, who died in ^loiitgomery county, 
Kansas; Rebecca, who mai-iied Frederick Low; Sarah, who married 
John Robinson; Doiothy, wife of f]li Peters, and Jane, who became the 
wife of ^lerrit Cleveland. Peter DeMott nmiried Indiana Drury, who 
passed away in Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1871. Her husband sur- 
vived her till 1!»()1, when, in ()ct()ber of that year, he died, being the 
father of Margaret J., who luaiiied Alfred Caiter; William L., of Mont- 
gomery county; Ricliaid II., our subject; Mary E., deceased wife of Will- 
iam (iarrett; Nancy A., deceased wife of .lohn Hamilton; Sarah D., 
now !Mis. Flank Roswell. of Indianapolis. Indiana; .Martha R.. wife of 
Jose])h Reeves, of Pawnee, Oklalioma. and ^laggie E., widow of Dora 
Parkhiirst, of Indianapolis, Indiana. 

The conion schools ])rovided Richard H. Deilott with the rudiments 
of an education. He began life as a farmer on his new farm in Mont- 
gomery county. He continued the calling without serious iiiteiiiiption 
till Se])t('inber, l!t(ll2, when he came to Indejiendence to spend his de- 
clining years. His farm of six hundred and forty acres is one of the 
well im|iroVcd ami productixe ])laces of Inde]iendence townshij) and he 
owns other lands in addition to this. 

He was married in Johnson county, Indiana, in 18fi(i, his wif(^ being 
Matilda J. I'arkhurst, a daughter of the jtioneer and wealthy retired 
farmer, Robert S. Parkhurst, of Inde]ieiidence. The children of this 
marriage are: Lucinda, wife of A. R. Faetheringill, of Montgomery 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 703 

county; Chester W., M. D., of Indepeudence, a fjradnate of Kiisli Medical 
College and practiciuj; medicine %vifh Dr. J. T. Davis, (he (inn heing 
Davis & De.Molt; I'eai-I, Frederick F. and hee ('., twins. 

On leavinfj Kentucky in IHati, Peter DeMott went up into Johnson 
county, Indiana, wi(h which he was identified till 18(;i», when he gath- 
ered his effects together and drove his teams through to his destination 
in Kansas. He entered land near ludeijcndence and was an active 
farmer (ill 1874, when he became a member of his son Richard's house- 
hold and remained wi(h liini till his deadi. 

In party ])(tlitics the De.Motts of this biamli believe in and practice 
Democracy. The tenets of faith of this historic old ]iarty were imparted 
to the early generations of the family and their children and grandchil- 
dren accepted them and have lived by them. Richard H. DeMott has 
served as Trustee of Independence townshiji. has taken some active part 
in county politics and has become somewhat known for his political acts. 



JONA^ BEEC.HLY. In Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on May 
16, 1832, Jonas Keeghly of this personal record, -was born. When he was 
young in years his parents moved into Ashland county, Ohio, and in 
ISfio, he located in Senaca county, (hat state. He brought his family to 
Montgomery county, Kansas, in October, 1883, and located, first, four 
miles west of the town of Iu(le])endence. In 181)7, he removed to his 
present farm in West Cherry township, located on section 15, tow-nship 
32, range 16. 

Mr. Beeghly was a son of John Beeghly, a native of Somerset county, 
Pennsylvania, a farmer, and a son of John Heeghly. Sr., of (ierman 
origin. His grandfather mai'ried Jliss Flory and reared Samuel. David, 
John, Mrs. Kate Arnold. Mrs. Sallie Miller, Mrs. Susan .Miller. Mrs. 
Elizabeth Flickinger. 

John IJeeglily, Jr., married Kate Peck, a Pennsylvania lady and a 
daughter of Jacob and Eve Peck. Thirteen children were the issue of 
their marriage, namely: Abraham, David, Jonas, .lacob, of Ashland, 
Ohio; Joseph, of same place; Samuel, of Iowa; Mahlon. of North Da- 
kota; ISfrs. Mary Trucel; Jlrs. Anna Clark, of North Dakota; Mrs. Susan- 
nah Martin, of Ashland, Ohio; Mrs. Kate Hosteller, of Holmes county, 
Ohio; John, of Ashland, Ohio, and Criah. of Kansas. 

Eliz.-ibeth Harner became the wife of .loiias Heeghly in Ashland 

county. Ohio. Her father was Samuel Harner and her motli(>r 

Miller. Four children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Beeghly, 
as follows: Ezra J., of Iowa, who has four children; Samuel H., of 
North Dakota, with luie child, and Frank and Emma, yet with the 
parental home. 

Mr. Beeghly is a Republican and is a nieuiber of I lie < ierman Kaiitist 
church. 



704 HISTORY OF 3SI0NTG0MERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

JAMEH H. (;KA^'E^^. Aiiion}i; the old-tinu' settlers of Montgomery 
county no one more deserves recofjiiition in tin's volume tban James H. 
Graves. He was born uear Racine, ^^'is., JIarcb 1st, 1844. His father, 
Greenville Graves, was a native of Kentucky, aud came to Illinois with 
bis parents when only ten years of ajre. He was reai-ed in Vermillion 
county, of that state, and married there, Mary Cook, a native of Ohio. 
He went to Wisconsin in the early years of that state, but returned to 
Illinois in 1S44, where be died at the ajje of seventy-eight, liis wife having 
died sixteen years before. There were nine children, five of whom are 
liviu<> ; Margaret -I., ("Ida, Sanuuitha, James H. and Larkin T. To bis 
second marriage, to Sarah ]>a\is, three children were Imru: Flora. Julia 
and Charles; Julia, alone, is living. 

James H. Graves was reaied on the farm aud lived with his father 
till 18f)4, when he enlisted in Company "C," 1:2th 111. Vol. Inf. With this 
regiment he .served till the close of the war, partitiitatiug in several 
battles, among v^'bich were Dallas, Keuesaw Mmnitain and .\tlanta; and 
was with Shernuin on his umi'cb to the sea. After the long march n]j 
through the Caroliiias lie was taken sick, aud tiiiished bis journey aboard 
a boat. .\ short period in the hospital at Alexandria, and then to Wasb- 
ingt(ui, where he took part in the Grand Keview. He received his dis- 
charge at Kpringfield, Ills., in July, ISOo. Ketnrniug home, he remained 
in Illiouis until 1S(;!», when he started foi' Kansas, an uncle accom])any- 
ing him i'vinn Kansas City on. 

(loiug to I'aola, Kansas, they joined a ]iarty of five other nu'u, and, 
together, they cauu' to Montgomei-y county aud secured claims. Mr. 
Graves is the only one of the party who stayed through all the hard 
times, and deeded his land, all but one of the ])arty dying too soon. Mi'. 
Graves lived with his uncle until their money gave out, and they could 
get neither woik nor provisions to live on. .\ laige herd of Texas cattle 
canu^ into the couuty aud a great many of them died and the owners 
gave away hides for skiuuing aud in this Avay the boy ami his uncle got 
through tiie wiulcM-. For three years, Mr. (iraves hired out as driver 
and drov(> cattle fr(un Texas, still holding his claim. At the end of tive 
years he had eariu'd enough money to secure his land, which he had 
rented, and then I'eturned to his old home in Illinois. 

Sei)tember 4th, ISSO, he was married to Xancy Lanhain. of Madison, 
Indiana, and a native of the state. They immediately lame to Kansas 
atul took ]iossr'ssinn of the little log cabin that had been built before 
his return to Illinois. Here the young couple went to work, and, by yu'V- 
severance aud the faculty of overcoming difliculries, th(»y made a com- 
fortable comiieteuce and a good lionu'. His farm now com[)rises four 
hundred and eighty acres of line land, upon which there are two large 
residences. In addition to the cultivation of all kinds of farm products, 
Mr. Graves is interested in the raising of stock. 

July li.jth, 1S!»4, death claimed the wife and mother of the family 




J, H. GRAVES AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 705 

of our subject, she leaving two children: Kthel B., now the wife of E. 
E. Duckworth, and Earl, a young man at home. Sept. 2!), l!»(ll, Mr. 
(iraves married Mary S. Duckworth, wlio imw in-esides over his home. 
She is a native of Indiana, a daughter of .John Duckwoith, a near-by 
farmei', who came to Kansas in 1SS4. Mr. (iiaves is a Ki'iiublican in 
jtolitics. and is satisfied witii the deposit of his vote on elei'tion day, 
leaving the liolding of olhce to others. 



(ilOOHtilO W. FINLAV. In the subject of this brief biography is 
presented the life histoiy of one of the eaily settlei-s of Monlgoniery 
county. From his entrance of its confines as a permanent settler on 
the 14th of October, 1874, to the opening of the lliird year of the twen- 
tieth century he has modestly and honorably condurfed himself as be- 
comes a loyal and [jublic-spirited citizen. 

Mr. Finhiy is a native of the State of Michigan, being born in Kala- 
mazoo county February 1.'^, lS4li. ilis parents weic of New ^'(U•k origin, 
his father, David Finlay, having come into Michigan from that state as 
early as 1837, and settled in Kalania/.oo county. He was of Scotch origin, 
as to consanguinity, and resides now in Petosky, Mich., at the age of 
eighty-six years. The family have been represented in the T'nited 
States since before the .American Kevolution and the falliei- of David 
Finlay was a soldi(M- Iti that famous struggle. Our sul)je<l's motliei' was 
Khoda I'hilliiis, who died in IStKi, leaving a family of five children, two 
of whom, only, survive, miuiidy: Sarah J. Winslovv and (ieoigc \\'., of 
this personjil record. 

The common schools of his day and the Kalamazoo Commercial 
College furnished George W. Finlay with liis educational e(]ui])ment for 
the l);:ttle of life. He graduated fiom the lattei- in IStitl, and took a ])Osi- 
tion as book-keejier with a hrm in Kalamazoo, Mich., and tilled it till his 
enlistment in the aiiny in ISIiil. His command was <"oni]iany "II," 2.")th 
Mich, infantry, and he enlisted as a private. He was soon ]>i(>moti'd to 
Orderly Sergeant, and still later to Sergeant Major <d his regiment and 
finally was comnussioned Second Lieut, of Comjiany "1" of the same reg- 
iment. Heing detailed as Acting Adjutant of the regiment in a short 
time, he was not with his new company long until after his detail duty 
was finished. He then returned to tli(^ comi)any and had <'liarge of it 
till after the capture of Atlanta, when he was immediately di'lached as 
A. -V. Q. M. of the Second Division of the 25111 Aiiny Corps and iihu-ed in 
command of forty wagons with six mules to tlu' wagon. Some time 
after that period of detail he received a First laeutenaut's commissi<(n 
and was assigned to duty with Company "(',"' ;Ulfli .Mich. \'ols. He was 
in command of this company from then on to the close of ihc war. He 
was in all the service from the cam|)aign in East Tennessee until after 
the fall of .Vtlanta, including all battles and skirmishes of his corjis, and 



7o6 HISTORY 'OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

was on duty all the time during his active service. He was discharged 
on the 17th of June, 1865. 

On resuming civil pursuits Mr. Finlay engaged in merchandising 
at Jackson, Mich., a short time, then was engaged in the same line at 
Ft. Wayne, Indiana, but some time later returned to Kalamazoo, where 
he took a position as book-keeper for a lumber company, finally giving up 
this work and drifting to Kansas. 

Becoming a citizen of Montgomery county and of Independence, he 
took a position with Hull's Bank as book-keeper, which bank was one of 
the financial institutiofns of the town. He remained with this concern 
nine .^ears, and for some time succeeding his separation threfrom, was 
employed at various other things. In 18S9, he engaged with The Eagle 
Roller Mills as the firm's book-keeper and spent the next ten years there. 
He then engaged in the insurance business, with which he is now con- 
nected as one of the leading firms of Independence. 

June 4, ISti.'i, occurred the marriage of Mr. Finlay with Susan M., a 
daughter of William Norris, of Jackson, Michigan. No children have re- 
sulted from this union. 

The j)ublic schools of Independence have known and felt the force 
of Mr. Finlay's public service. He was four years a member of the 
Board of Education and was two years Treasurer of that body. He is 
a Republican and is well known for his political convictions. He is one 
of the high Masons of the state. December it. 18!)8 he became a member 
of the Fort Scott Consistory, Scottish Rite Masonry, and has achieved 
the distinction of beng one of the twelve thirty-two degree Masons of 
Independence. He has since transferred his membership to the Wichita 
Consistory. He has sei'ved Mcl'herson I'ost, O. A. R., as Adjutant for 
two years and is now fJommander of the Post. He also belongs to the 
I. O. O. F Encampment Cantons and Rel)ekahs. 



WILLIAM JONES. Among the many "pi'airie schooners"' which 
rolled into the counly in the fall of 187(t. was one manned by Pierson De- 
weese, Mosier Fleeuer and William Jones, the latter the esteemed subject 
of this review. Mr. Jones j»roceeded to Sycamore township, where he 
filed on eighty acres in section 14, township :\2, range 15, the deed to 
which he holds to-day, together with an additional 120-acre tract ad- 
joining. Over on (lie creek near him were camped some three hundred 
Indians, but Mr. Jouits soon found that this was a matter of little con- 
cern, as they proved very friendly. The old log cabin which he then 
erected has long since made way for a more pretentious home, and the 
virgin piairie has been transformed by patient and painstaking effort 
into a productive and well-i'egulated farm. 

William Jones is a Kenluckian bv birth, that event haviuL' ociiirred 



HISTOay OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 707 

iu I'.utlcr countj. April (i, ]S:$(). Ilciv he vvaH reared to farin life and 
reniaiued until the date of his eoniinf^ to Kansas. 

As the iiintterins's of eivil sti'ife heeanie more and more dislinct, Mr. 
Jones watched each succeeding event with an al)siirl)in}; interest and 
was ready to defend the honor of the llaj,' when Die call was made in 
the fall of 1801. In December, he enrolled as a meinher of ("ompau.y "C," 
11th K.v. Inf., tinder CIol. T. 15. Hawkins, and which became a part of 
Generals Crittenden and Burnsides' Divisions. The bloody battle of 
Stone River initiated him into the "delijjhts" of mortal combat, and 
later at Kno.wille he had a month's taste of siege life. At Hume's Sta- 
tion and Cumberland Cap his regiment had a brush with the enemy, 
aft(>r which the rest of his service was mainly in Ion}; and weary marches 
over the States of Kentucky, Tennessee and Cieoi'jjia. 

Noting somewhat brielly the essential points in Mi-. Jones' family 
history, the hioorapher records that he is a son of William and Kebecca 
(Jones) Jones, both natives of the Blue (Jrass State, but of no blood re- 
lati(»n. Their children were: Josiah, Joab, William, Kebecca and Luvica. 
The pateinal f;randi)arents of our subject wei'e James L. and Nancy 
Jones, who came into Kentucky from Viri^inia. where .lames was per- 
sonally a(f]uaiiited with Cen. ^^'asllin}J;ton and seived undei- him as a 
Captain in the War for Independence. The cliildren of .lames were: Pej;- 
g'w, I'hilip, Thomas, K. (J. L., Moses, Polly, Nancy, Nellie, Kebecca and 
William. 

The immediate family of William .lones consists of four children: 
Charles M., Mena, Clara and Edward, the mother having died in April, 
1800. ill-. .lones first entered wedlock in 18!')^, Iteing joined to Alary 
Deweese. daughter of ^^'illianl Deweese. She became the luothei' of two 
childien, Elvira and Columbia, all of whom are now deceased. His sec- 
ond marriage occurred Nov. iMi, 187.'{, the maiden name of the mother 
of his children being Louisa il'^llenger) Brost. 



S. .1. HOWARD — Tlie gentleman whose naine initiates this review 
is the etlicienr assistant cashier of the Monlgoitiery County National 
Bank, and has been identified with the life of Cherry vale for some fif- 
teen years. He is a son of .). T. and .Jane K. (Williamsonl Howard, both 
of whom are natives of Illinois. The fatlier was a faiiner and carjM'nter 
by occupation. He was a man of intensely j>atriotic ccmvictions and 
at the breaking out of the Civil War left his family and enlisied in the 
service, beciuuing a menibei- of Company "I," 47th III. N'ol. Infl.. in 18(il2. 
This regiiMciil saw e.vceedingly active service, in which .Mr. Howard 
tof)k a jiromineiit part, serving from .\ugnst of 18(il! to August of 181!.^. 
Although in many of the bloody battles of the war. he did not suffer 
wounds, nor was he so unfortunate as to be taken j)risoner. These facts 
are the more to be renuii'ked, as he was a niembei- of the disastrous 



7o8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Banks Expedition up Red river, which ended in the death of so many of 
the ''Boys in Blue," or to the wrecking of their physical health. Since 
the war he has followed his trade in Kansas City, Kansas. 

Our subject was the eldest of five children and the .second child was a 
daughter, Lizzie, now the wife of C. E. (Jarrison, telegraph operator at 
Albuquerque, New Mexico; Addie is Mi*s. A. D. Hall; Lorin, of Kansas 
City; Elmer, also lives at Kansas City. 

S. J. Howard was born in AVoodford county, Illinois, March 16, 1863. 
He received his education in the coinnion schools of his native state, and 
one year in college at Eui'eka, Illinois. I'pon completing his education, 
he retui'ned to the home farm, where he continued to reside until he was 
twenty-five years of age. He then entered the banking business, starting 
as a book-keeper in 1891, and' later, being pi'omoted to the position of 
assistant cashier, which position he is now holding with satisfaction to 
his emi)loyers. 

Jlr. Howard married in 1888, on the 14th of Febriiary. Miss Mary 
I., daughter of Jauu'S Bell.. Mrs. Howard is a native of Hlionis. Her 
people I'eside in Montgomery county on a farm. She is one of eleven 
children, ten of the family now living: Mrs. Howard, Jennie, wife of D. 
R. Jones, Montgomery county; Ettie, widow of J. D. Orr; Ella, wife of 
James B. James, Montgomery county; Daisy, Mrs. R. S. Johns; Fraqk, 
Martin and Ross are faruuu's of Montgomery county; Corda, Mrs. Walter 
Mull, Montgomery county, and Miss Bertha, single, at home. Mr. and 
Mrs. Howard are the parents of five interesting children: Edith L., 
Ruby B., Ralph F., ('larence R. and Edna. The family arc all members 
and active workers in tlie Baptist church, of which organization Mr. 
Howard is Treasurer. Prior to Mrs. Howard's marriage she was an 
efficient and successful teacher in the public schools of Illinois tor a 
number of years, and her reputation as an instructor and disciplinarian 
was of the best. ' 

In fraternal life, Mr. Howard is a valued mcunber of the Knights of 
Pythias, in which he has passed most of the local chairs. He is also con- 
nected with the Modern Woodmen, of which organization he has been 
clerk for tli(^ jiast seven years. He is living an upright and consistent 
life in the commniiity and is jield in very high esteem. 



EDWARD i;. SKINNER— The subject of this ])ersonal nienticm is 
the efficient Treasurer of Montgomery county and has been a citizen of 
the county since 18815. His material connection with the affairs of the 
county has been prominent from his advent and, ;is a citizen of (\Tney, 
he is at once a leader and prominent manof-atl'aii's. 

A native of M(uii'oe county. New York, Mr. Skinner was born June 
19, 1858, nnd was a son of Charles Skinner, a native of the same state, and 
of Vermont ancestry. The latter came west toward the close of his life 



UISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 709 

and dii'd at Butler, Missouri, iu 1^88, at the af;e of sixty-five years. He 
married Mary Bliss, who bore him an only survivinji; child, aiid who re- 
sides in the city of Kochester, New York. 

Edward B. Skinner remained in his native state till fiast his major- 
ity, when, iu 187!), he went west and located at Colorado Sjuiufis, Col- 
orado, where, f(u- a time, he was in the sheep business, but lastly in the 
employ of the Denver & Kio (iraude Railway Company. After six years 
spent in the Koekies country he returned eastward and found his clioice 
of locations at Oaney, Kansas. Here he engaged in the live stock busi- 
ness and only closed it out when he was elected Treasurer of Montgom- 
ery county. In November. ISiJT, he was the candidate of the Fusion 
forces — as a Democrat — for the oHice lie holds and was elected by a 
majority of only fifteen votes. He took ottice in October, 1808, and the 
fall of 1800, he was again elected, his majority this time being nearly 
three hundred vot<'s. 

To his favorite town of Caney Jlr. Skinner has been a useful citizen 
and has rendered it sincere and unselfish oflicial service. His first office 
was that of member of the city council, where he served two years, and 
his second juiblic position was that of Ifayor of the city. This latter ho 
tilled for three yeais. and the interests of the corjtoration were cared for 
as he would care for liis juivate business. His frankness and honesty 
in those jtositiiuis and his jiersonal ]>opuiarity made his candidacy for a 
county office a foiiuidabii' one, and, when tlie lest c;iiiic. it inoxcd to be a 
successful one. 

October 28, 1887, 5Ir. Skinner iriariied, in New ^'ork. Miss Fiank 
White, a djiughter of J. H. A\hit(% of l{<ichestei-. Four children have re- 
sulted frtim this mairiage. namely: Hay, I'eicy, Ted and INfarian. 

In 10(11), .Mr. Skinner secured a fraiichis<' frcnii the city of Caney to 
furnish it gas and was instrumental, chiefly, in the organization of the 
Oaney (Jas ("ompany. of which he is the general manager. Successful 
prospecting was doni-, an abundance of gas discovered and the Caney 
Brick Company was formed with Mr. Skinner as its President. Leases 
covering twenty thousand acres of land in Caney townshij) are held by 
the gas comiiany and its |)roveii valui' ju-omises much material good to 
Caney and to the ])rime movei-s in this mineral de>elopmeiit. 

fn the fraternal world, .Mr. Skinner alliliates as a memhei- with (he 
Modern Woodmen. Knights of I'ythias and KIks. He is a Master ilasoa 
and is a I'ast Noble C.rand of the I. O. O. F. 



JAMF;S D. HCDD — The ])ossibilities of lite to one without the ordi- 
nary prejiaratifui oi youth, yi'i having and being endowed abundantly 
with the essential (lualities to a successful career, are strikingly fur- 
nished in the i)erson whose name ajtpears in the introduction to this 
article. .\s an exain]ile of consiticnous fliianci;il and husini'ss achive- 



7IO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

uienl wi1h(nit any of the auxiliarios of an educalion to encourage him, 
his position is unusual in contrast with that of the average business man 
of our day. Orphaned, even before his birth, and being forced from 
home, as a child, by an unfeeling stei)-father, he was doomed to carve 
out his own destiny, guided largely by the experiences which came to 
him from day to day. Nature provided for the misfortunes of infancy 
and childhood by unusual mental endowments such as capitalize one's 
life and initiate him into the world's affairs, equipped for the successful 
career which is finally his. 

James D. Budd is a native of the Hoosier State. He was born in 
Hendricks county, Indiana, on Feb. 8th, 1S55. His father, Marcus Budd, 
•was a Virginian who settled in Hendricks county in the early fifties and 
died in 1854. He married Margaret JfcCloud who resides, now, in 
Crawfordsville, Indiana, as Mrs. Margaret Halston. Mrs. Minerva 
Welch, of that city and oni' subject constitute her family and she is now 
70 years old. 

As expressed above, James D. Budd found liimself, in early child- 
hood, without that parental love, guidance and advice common to other 
children and so necessary to the proper rearing of the human offspring. 
He came into conflict with his teacher in school and finished his educa- 
tion with a very few week's attendance upon a c(uintry school. He went 
to live with a prominent farmer in the neighboihood, nuide himself 
iiseful in many ways and was afterward placed on the regular payroll. 
He ci:ntiiiued a farm hand till about sixteen years of age, when he 
employed with a walnut lumber concern, cutting down trees and saw- 
ing off logs for shipment to the factory. In time, he became an exjiert 
judge of walnut timber, could estimate intelligently and accurately the 
contents of a tree and was promoted to a position commensurate with 
bis ability and worth. He was in the employ of Col. Straight, the 
famous escaped piisoner of war and tunnellcr at Libby Prison, and con- 
tinued with that tiini till about the time of his departure from the State 
of Indiana in 1870. 

Leaving his native state he came to Kansas and established himself 
at Burlington, engaging again in the walnut lumber business. He had 
charge of the business of his tirm in that locality and accuinnlat(>d a few 
hundred dollars, the most of which went to defi'ay the exjiense incurred 
by a serious accident which bi'fell him sliortly after he went there. 
While carrying a maul and ax together on the same shoulder, he 
attempted to drop the maul behind him and the ax followed and the 
blade took him across the achilles, as he raised his foot backward to 
interce|)t the fall, and half severed the foot from his ankle. Soon after 
recovtring from this accident, he came down into Montgomery county, 
Kansas, on a prospecting tour. He chose Elk City as a place of business 
and located there in 1878, engaging in buying and trading stock and 
finally in the mercantile business. He remained there till July, 188.S, 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 71I 

■when he took uj) his residence in Independence where he has since 
resided. 

About this era Mr. Budd became interested in invention. Tlie idea 
seized him tliat the greatest perfection in a. wasliiiig-macliinc iiad not 
vet been achieved. He followed iij) a priuciiile which suggested itself 
tu him and in 1880, patented a iiiacliine which outrivaled oUier similar 
inventions and which he had manufactured and placed on the market. 
In 181)5, he jtatented an improvement to his machine and, in 1898, took 
out an entirely new patent covering another invention much superior 
to the first one and which is, apparently, the climax in the washing- 
machine line. For the manufacture of his machine Geoigt^ and Twedale, 
of Constanlinc, Michigan, ejected a plant and supplied the demand of 
the country for a number of years. In June, 11(00, Harvey and Son of 
Con.stantine equipped a plant for making the machine, also, and while 
the plant of the first firm had a capacity of 50,000 machines annually the 
Harvey factory's capacity is 100,00(» machines a year. From early in the 

history of the patent Mr. Hndd was in i)artnershi]) with Hymer 

— the firm being Hudd and Hyirier — but in 18!)!), the firm was dissolved 
and since then no machine can be obtained except they be purchased 
through the jiatentee, himself. More than two hundred persons handle 
this invention in the United States, fourteen of which states have been 
opened, and it is not surprising that many car loads of them are annually 
consumed. Little else has consumed Jlr. Budd, for nearly twenty years, 
than the successful invention and handling of his patent. Its merit has 
established its jiojinlarity and with its introduction to the ti'ade began 
an inflow of jnofit to its ownei-. He owns valuabh^ I'eal ()ro|(erty, not 
only in Kansas, but in .\rkansas, where, in Little Kiver county, he has a 
rich bottom tract of (i,()00 acres, situated only a few miles from Texar- 
kana. 

August 12, 1878, James 1). Budd married Dora Beekman, Ikm'u on 

the , . . .th of IS.")!). Mrs. liudd is a daughter of Sam I'.eekman, 

of (ierinaii lineage, and is the mother of ILirry, boiii 1870, married to 
Maud .Morgan and has a son, Maicus; Roy fbidd. of Little Bivei' Oo., 
Ark., is married to Maud Oliver; and Cliarii's and Itontiie, yet with llie 
})arental home. 

Mr. Budd has been a singularly successful man. His personal ctTorts 
have won him the confidence of men looking for investment ami the 
result of liis genius has been the ei'ection of industrial enterprises and 
the consequent employment of laboi'. From the dark and forbidding 
future of his eai]\- life he hewed out a career of usefulness and piotit and 
the woild has looked on in eiicoinageitient and with pride. 



CH.\KLF'S JOYPE — .\ better or moT-e favorably known citi/en can- 
not be found in Indepentlence than Charles Joyce, one of the pr-oprietors 



712 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of the OjKM-a House Diuj; Store, and a son of one of the pioneer farmers 
of the connty, WilHaiii .Joyce, now deceased. Our subject was a lad of 
but seven years when his parents moved to the county and is therefore 
entitled to be rejiarded as to the manner born. He received a good 
common school education and remained on the farm until he had passed 
three years beyond his majority. He then came to Independence and 
entered upon the work in which he has been so signally successful. He 
served in subordinate positions, first under F. F. Yoe for four years, 
then with Thomas Calk until 1S!)S, wiien, in company with Drs. Surber 
and Masteiman, he })urchased a stock of drugs, the store having since 
been operated under the name of the "Opera House Drug Store." The 
stock represents a |f(,000 outlay and is kept in first-class condition by 
constant sup])lies of new and fresh material. 

Charles Joyce is a native of Indiana, born in Marion county. Septem- 
ber 27, IStU. the son of William and Margaret (<'lark) .Ioyc<'. The father 
was a jirominent Tuerchant and stockman, having business interests 
near Indianapolis for a nuinlier of years. In the S](ring of 1S71, he sold 
his interests in the "Hoosier State" and located on a farm in Independ- 
ence Twp., M'hich he continued to cultivate with success until his death, 
which occurred Sept. 20, 18JtO, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. 
Our subject's mother had died March 17, ISflfi, at the age of sixty-five 
years. They were the iiai'ents of five children — Elmer, Mgr. of the 
Brown Supply Co., ("offeyville, Kan.; Charles, Thomas, Mgr. of the 
electric light plant at (iaiveston, Te.xas; Harry, deceased at 2^ years; 
and Laura, wife of W. E. Morrison, a farmer of the county. 

As before stated, Charles Joyce needs no encomiums in a woi'k of 
this nature to exploit his good qualities to the people of Independence. 
His life has been an ojieu book before tiiem and there are few in the 
city l)ut know liis worth. Hy ])eisistence and studious concentration on 
the object he set out to attain, he lias become a leading memlier of the 
business community and an inthiential member of its social life. In 
Masonry he has taken the Hhie Lodge, Chapter and f-ommandery 
degrees, being at present Senior Warden of the latter, and is also a 
member of the IMystic Shi-ine. He has for years been a prominent 
member of the Woodmen, in which he has ])assed through all the chairs. 
In the city's municipal life he has taken an active and intelligent interest, 
having been foi- the jiast four years member of the council from the 
1st ward. He is now living in the .")tli ward and out of politics. In 
politics h(« supports the jiolicies of the liciuiblican i)ai'ty, and is I'cgarded 
as splendid material foi- liilurc otlidal |irefei'ment, should hi' consent 
to the use of his name. 

Marriage \\as contracted by oui- subject Mai'ch 21, lS81t, the other 
contracting party being .Mrs. McKee, daughter of John .\dams, a farmer 
of the county. To her were boin three children — Ivy L., Ressie T., and 
Mav, the latter deceased at IS months. The mother of these children 




CHAS. JOYCE. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 713 

died May 18, 1!)0(I, at the ajfc of tliitly-foiir. Mr. Joyce's jireseiil wife 
was Miss Cora M. Clark, <lau};liter of Tliomas A. and Kiiiiiia (McCord) 
Clark. To this iiianiajie one child, Mildred, has been horn. .Mrs. .loyce 
is a member of the Con^n-ej,M(ional chnrch, and a lady whose natural 
gifts canse her to be rejiaided as a most \alnalilc luembei' of tln' best 
social life of the citv. 



CL.\KKS()N KDC.VK MORGAN— The subject of this brief 
biography is one of the modest farmers of the vicinity of Uolton. lie 
has resided in Montgomery county since tlie month of August, 18S1, 
and owns one hundred twelve acres of improved land in section 1!), town- 
ship 8;i, range 1"). He came to Kansas from I'arke county. Indiana, 
where he was reared and limitedly educated in the country schools. His 
birth occurred near I'lainfield, Heiidiicks county, Indiana, on the 2!tth 
of December, 1857. His father was Nathan Morgan and his mother was 
Amy Doan, a daughler of Washington Doaii, one of the early settlers 
of Parke county, Indiana. The father was born in Tennessee, .Vpril 21, 
1831, moved to Indiana as a boy with his parents and passed his life 
in rural pursuits. His efforts were fairly successful and he died at his 
old Indiana home at the age of seventy-one years. His first wife passed 
away and he married .Vrminta Doan. His children numbered seven, the 
first six following being the issue of his first marriage, viz: )>ydia, wife 
of Joseph lily, of Hendricks county, Indiana; Clarkson, deceased; C 
Edgar, our suliject; Elizabeth Ellen, who married Henry Iladley and 
resides in l*arke county, Indiana; Thomas, deceased; Rev. Everett, who 
is doing evangelistic work in behalf of the Friends' church in Old Mexico; 
and Otto, the j'oungest and son of the second marriage of Nathan 
Morgan. 

C. E. Morgan, of this notice, was a son of a farmer, was brought up 
on the farm and has made farming largely his life occuiiation. After 
he had finished his career in the country schools he learned the black- 
smith's trade at Sylvania, Indiana, in the shop with his uncle, James 
Doan. He was engaged at his trade some seven years, to the exclusion 
of all other work, and maintains a small shop on his farm in Mont- 
gomery county simply for the economy it brings in the administration 
of his rural affairs. 

On coming into Kansas. Mr. ^Morgan's resources were most limited. 
He accompanied his father-in-law hither and paiked his few house- 
hold effects in the same car witii the hitter's, and thus avoided the 
freight. When he had reached his destination thirty-tive dollars in cash 
constituted his capital with which to begin life anew. The first two 
years he passed in he home of his wife's fatlier and with the labor of 
his hands provided his family with little more than their physical 
wants. At this juni'ture he acquired "an old team" and soon aflei'waid 



714 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

traded for five acres of laud, his first substantial possessions in Kansas. 
His labors brouf:;lit prosperity in a limited way and as the condition 
of his i)urse warranted he has expanded his real estate area till his 
homestead includes nearly three forties of land on Onion creek. 

Mr. Morjjan was married in Parke county, Indiana, .January 21, 
1879, his wife being Ruth Josephine, a daughter of Rev. Isaac Lindley, 
whose history apjiears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Morgan was 
born in I'arke county, Indiana, Januai'y 17, ISGl, and is the mother of 
the following sons and daughters, viz: Wm. II., born Oct. 28, 187!t; 
Lizzie E., born August 2(t, 1SS2; Gertrude May, born May 8, 1881; Orie 
Ann, horn Feb. 12, 1890; Leon E., born Nov. 2:5, 1894, and Lois A., born 
December 28, 1897. 

In political belief the Morgans of this record were originally Repub- 
licans. Our subject cast his first presidential vote for R. P.. Hayes and 
gave the Republican jiarty his sympathy and sujiport till the period of 
political reform of 1890, and later, l)rouglit a new party into existence, 
when he allied himself with its friends and made common cause for 
labor and its just reward. 



NOAH E. T501TT0N— The honored citizen and worthy townsman 
whose name heads this review came as a i)ioii(^er to Montgomery county 
in 1870. He was then but twenty years old and he settled three miles 
northeast of where Cherryvale was afterward located. Here he cast his 
maiden vote and struck the initial licks of his long and honored career 
in the county. For thirty years he was occupied with the reduction and 
improvement of his homestead and then sold it and invested in the 
farm on which he resides, four miles north of the metropolis of Cherry 
township. 

November 29, 1849, Noah E. Bout on was born in Delaware county. 
New York. His father was Noah E. Bouton and his mother Mary Todd, 
both natives of the same county in New York. The father was an 
iron moulder, and also a carpenter, and, in 1871, came to Labette county, 
Kansas, where he passed away at eighty-seven years old. His wife, who 
died early in life, bore him fifteen children, only five of whom now sur- 
vive, namely: Deborah Smalley, of \Yilson county, Kansas; Mrs. Sarah 
Hinkley, Mrs. Adaline Whitbeck, Mrs. .Josephine Stockdale and Noah 
E., the subject of this article. 

The loss of his mother in his childhood caused Noah E. Bouton to 
make his home with his oldest sister while growing up. He learned 
the carpenter trade on the approach of manhood and began life a 
mechanic. He acquired a country school education in Kankakee county 
Illinois, to which place he went in 18.50, along with the family. July 4, 
1807, he was married to Elizabeth Phares, a lady born in Tipton county, 
Indiana. Two years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bouton turned 
their steps toward the untamed prairies of Kansas and established them- 



^ilSrOUV OK MONTGO.MEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 715 

selves in Montgomery coiiuly. Here Mrs. Bouton died in IST.'i, ;it twenty- 
eight years of age, without issue, .\ugust 27, IS7(;, he married Luey V. 
Yeager, who eame to Kansas in lS(i!» fioni lier birthplace in Iowa. 
yhe was a daughter of A. H. and .\dda Yeager, the present Dej)uty 
Probate Judge of Montgomery county. The Yeager children were four 
in number: Edward ('.. (Mara T., Mrs. liouton, and Frank, deceased. 

Mrs. Routon's residence on the frontier neai' the lines of Mont- 
gomery and Labette counties biought her into close proximity to the 
notorious Kender family. She knew John and Kate well and liecanu; 
familiar with their turnout as il passed to and fro past the Yeager 
liome to Cherry vale. When the g<uy discovery was finally made in the 
Bender orchard. .Mr. and Mrs. liouton were on the gronnd and saw the 
bodies of their victims exhumed. 

\Yhen Mr. Bouton came to Montgomery county the claim which he 
took was widely separated from civilization. Independence was their 
trading point and it contained no sembhince of a town for a year after- 
ward. Erie was the ]ioint where he went to mill and he occasionally 
lauled stuff from Ft. Scott and Humboldt. 

In the politics of the county Mr. Bouton has ever taken a li\ely 
interest. He has frequently been honored with public oflice. being 
elected Trustee of Therry townshi]i three terms. County Commissioner 
by election from ISSO to lS!t:5 an(l Probate Judge of the county from 
1895 to 1807. He is a radical Republican and a ))<)pular party man. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bouton's family consisted of si.x children, namely: 
Adda L. and Charles, both deceased; Amanda E.. wife of (!uy B. Dart- 
nell, of Cherryvale; Hibbard, deceased; Freddie O. and Olla Bell. 



JAMES J. MORRIS — In secticms two and eleven, township 33, 
range 14, James J. Morris, of this review, maintains his home. His 
settlement in the county dates from the year 1880, and his residence 
in Rutland township began with that year. Five hundred and sl.xty 
acres comprises his farm and its physical condition is the j)leasing out- 
come of twenty-three years of ceaseless and undiniinished etfort. He 
represents the progressive I'ural element of our population and. in his 
way, has contributed to the warp and woof of our local civilization. 

James J. Morris was, it seems, decreed by fate to pass his life in 
Montgomery county. It was in that county he was born, in Indiana, 
Sept. 11, 1838, and in no other county, save the one where he now 
resides, has he had a home, except short ])eriods spent in Pulaski and 
Clinton counties, Ind. His father, John J. Morris, was a native of 
Butler county, Ohio, and came into Indiana during the first third of the 
nineteenth century. ^A'illiam Morris, grandfather of our subject, was 
a Virginian by liirth and had children: \Villiam. James, George \\'., 
John, Mrs. Emma Timmerman, Mrs. Betsy Currv and Lovina. John 



7l6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Morris and Luciuda Ilaficriiiaii, of Butler i-ouuty, Ohio, became raau 
and wife and reared a family of uine children, as follows: James J., 
our subject; Sarah, wife of Marion Scott; Mrs. Jane Brant, Mrs. Emma 
Robinson, John, of Montgomery county; Mrs. JIartha Reis, of Indiana; 
George, of ('ol.; Mrs. Margaret Tony lives in Missouri; Joseph, of 
Indiana, and Mrs. Armilda FulleT', of Missouri. 

In ISoS, James J. Morris mari'ied Martlia J. Konsh, a native of 
Clinton county, Ohio, and a daughter of Sebastian and Amanda (John- 
sou) Roush. Seven children have come to bless the home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Morris, viz: Sarah, wife of William Haish, of Montgomery county, 
with children: (Jeorge and Melvin ; .John, of Montgomery connty, with 
one child, James; Mrs. Amanda I)eg;irmore, of Jlontgomery county, with 
diildren : Minnie, Frances, Leslie, Oscar, Kd, Ophie, Ora, James and 
Nora Jane, twins; Charles, of Montgomery county; (ieorge, of the same 
count}, with children: James and Myrtle; Joseph, with children: Walter 
and Vivian; Mrs. Emma I'eaper, of Independence, Kansas, with three 
children : Christie, Martha and Harry. Of Mr. and Mrs. Morris' children. 
John and Amanda are twins. 

Wlieu .Mr. and Jlrs. Morris launched tlieii- Utile craft upon the sea 
of life their capital amounted simjily to their energy and their deter- 
mination to win. \\'hile puisuing the even tenor of their way they 
have filled a niche in the social and business woild of their community 
and have risen by regular steps to a position of financial independence. 



LEWIS A. RT'NDELI. — In this utilitarian age when the trend of 
population is so largely toward the great cities, it is gi'atifying to note 
the success of those young men who have resisted the temptation to 
leave the farm and are engaged in the noble occupation from whose 
ranks have lisen some of the greatest men which this country has 
l)roduced. All honor to them; and may they so instill into the minds 
of their progeny a love for the soil that the tinsel of city life will have 
but the effect of turning their minds the more contentedly to furrow 
and field. The gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph is a 
product of Montgomery's schools and rural society and is a fit repre- 
sentative of that stirring and energetic young manhood for which the 
county is famous. 

Mr. Rundell was born in Charleston, Mo., in the year 1871, and is 
the son of one of the county's most respected yeomen, Mr. Levi E. Run- 
dell and his wife, nee Miss Mary King. The father was born in the 
State of Mississippi, Septemlxn' 4, 1831. Having lost his parents early 
in life, ftlr. Rundell, at the age of fifteen years, went up the river to 
Madison Co., Illinois, where he engaged in farming for a period of some 
twenty years. It was here that he met and married his wife. They, 
later, removed to Charleston, Mo., and in 1874, located a mile and a half 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 7I7 

east of Independence, near where they how reside. Levi Rundell is a 

man whose cifizeusliip at all limes has laoked nothing of tliose essential 
qualities necessary in the framework of a p(>ace lovinj: and law abiding 
community and his friends in the county aic legion. 

Lewis, the son, is "a chip off the old block," and is daily proving 
his right to the good will which is his by inheritance. He was given a 
good district school education and when he came to vears of discretion 
began farming on his own account. In 189!), he purchased the farm he 
now cultivates. It lies 4 1-2 miles east and 1 mile south of Inde- 
pendence and consists of 220 .acres of as good f aiming land as may 
be found in the county. He is fast bringing this farm into a high state 
of cultivation and as time passes is adding substatitial improvements. 
No young farmer of the county has a brighter financial outlook, and 
none stands higher in the general estimation. 

Marriage was entered into by Mr. Rundell in 1895. Mrs. Rundell 
was Hester A. G. Madden, and she is the daughter of John and Keturah 
(Marnier) Madden, respected farmers of the cotinty. She is the mother 
of three bright and healthy children whose respective names are: Levi, 
seven; Lewis, four; and Lloyd, one year of age. 

In religious belief Mr. and Sirs. Rundell are Mctliodisis, being 
workers in and liberal supporters of that denomination, while in politi- 
cal matters the party founded by the greatest of all statesmen, Thomas 
Jefferson, receives the suffrage of our honored subject. 



HENRY N. BUNDY — The gentleniau here mentioned is one of the 
leading business men of the prosperous community of Liberty, where he 
has conducted a drug store since LS95, and during this time he 1ms been 
jirominent in the development of this section of the county, and is 
always in the front of every cause which has for its object the uiilifting 
of humanity and the building up of his community. 

Mr. Bundy is a native of Indiana, where he was born, in Tarkt; 
count.v, in the year 1801. The name of his father was I'. H. Bundy 
and that of his mother, Rachel! Oaschatt. Mr. Bundy was reared to 
farm life, i-eceiving a district school education, togetlier with some 
further scholastic training at Annai)olis, -a town of his native county and 
near which his father was one of the prominent farmers. Our sub- 
ject remained under the home roof until he had attained his majority 
and in the fall of 1882 came to Liberty, Ks.. where he engaged in the 
drug business. In the following spring ilr. Bundy's ])arents came to 
Liberty, wliere for the following twelve years they engaged in the hotel 
business. In lS9.'j, they purchased a farm in the township, where 
the husband still resides, the mother having died in 1895. There were 
four children in the fnmily: W. E. Bundy. a physician, living in Tona, 
Jewell county, Kansas, married I^lla Took, and has two children, Clyde 



7l8 HISTOItV OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, IvANSAS. 

;uul True; .IiMiiiy, \v)i<> iiianiod Jolin (Jrooii of Illinois, now a County 
CVmniiissioiicr in lliat state, rt'sitiiuj;' at I'alnier, Ills. 

Our subject was the youngest of the familj'. He married Euiina 
]S'ichols()i), of (io<Kllan<l, Newton county, Indiana, llrs. I?undy is the 
mother of four cliildi'cn; Myitle, horn, January IS, 1S8!>; Ralph. Jan- 
uary li!). IS!):!; Hazel, Oct. 2'i, ISilC; and Kennetl"i. Noveniher 12, lS!tn. 

.Mr. and Mrs. IJundy are leading factors in the social life of Lilierty, 
where t liev are n-f^arded with very f^reat resjiect. .Mr. Hundy is a 
mend)er of tiie Masonic frateruily and in i)olitical matters attiliates and 
votes with the l\c|Mddican jiarty, in the- local councils of which lie is 
regarded with much favor. He is a gentleman of attractive personality 
and his business relali<»ns with his large trade is of the Viest character. 



FKAXfIS M. SUKFACE— The successful young farmer whose 
name introduces this brief per.soual .sketch, represents one of the wortliy 
families of Montgomery county whose advent hither dates from the year 
1881. He came here as a school-boy and has grown up an excellent 
speciment of a genuine Kansan. As a yontli he develojied the elements 
that have contribulcd to his success in life and as a man liis achieve- 
ments and his iiersonal worth are tit to be emulated by liis posteiity. 

Francis M. Surface is a native of the Buckeye State. He was 
born in Darke county, Ohio, March 22, 1871. His fatlier, Adam J. 
Surface, was bom in 1818 and is a venerable retired citizen of Inde- 
pendence township. The latter brought his family to Kansas in 1881 
and settled ou a traitt of land in section 12, township :{:{, range 15, jtur- 
cliased of L. A. Walker, well known as a citizen of the locality. Tlie 
senior Surface has been an active, hearty man all his long life and 
Nvent into semi retirement only after he had acquired a competency 
sutticient to ]irovi(le for his comfoi-t in his decline. He was an active 
Rei)ublican in his earlier life and was fi-equently seen in county con- 
ventions as a delegate from his township. For his wife he married 
Elizabeth Snyder. The children of this marriage were: James, who 
was drwned in Elk river, Montgomery county, in .\ugust. 1S!)7. and 
left three children; Jane, wife of Free Thomiison. of Kansas ("ity, -Mo.; 
Elizabeth, who married William dodwin, of Bolton, Kansas; Fiancis 
M., our subject; C'harles I., of Montgomery Po. ; Clara, wife of Lincoln 
Thompson, of lola, Kansas, and John, deceased. 

The subject of this review was educated in the common schools 
of Montgomery county and remained a comjianion of the domestic 
fireside till twenty-two years of age. He married tlien. Miss ^linnie 
Buck, a daughter of Isaac Buck, of tlie Indian Tenilory, but formeily 
from Indiana. Mrs. Surface was born in the montli of June. 1S7.">, 
and was married to Frank M. Surface, Januaiy 22, 18Ii;{. She is tin.' 
mother of three children, as follows: Marion, Fred and Hattie. 




F. M. SURFACE AND WIFE. 



; HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 719 

Frank Surface began life witli a disposition 1o work as his chief 
capital. Soon after his nianiajie he purchased, on payment, a part of 
the home farm, has discharged eveiy ttblijration and owns another 
eighty of land besides. He has simply done tlie l)est he could with the 
opportunities aftorded him and is regarded one of the substantial .young 
farmers of his community. In other words, lie and his wife started in 
life without a dollar and after about ten years of married life have 
accumulated one-fourth section of land, as fine a farm as can be 
fouu'l anywhere, entirely paid for, with tine residence, out buildings, etc. 



NAPOLEON DUltAND— In the career of our subject is exemplified 
the trite adage — "labor has its sure reward." The proverb is strik- 
ingly true in this instance, applying, as it does, to one thrown upon the 
world in l>oyhood without the power of money or the prestige of 
influential friends behind him and being able, with his hands, to work 
out a destiny that shall some day class him among the successful self- 
made men. A victim of parental indigence in childhood and hamjx'red 
by the lack of opportunity for an education, but endowed with intelli- 
gence and a strong physique, he met the world with these simple forces 
and dug his way, by slow processes, into a creditable position among 
the honorable men of his community. 

The l>inands were, as the name suggests, of French origin. The 
paterniil grandfather of Napoleon Durand was a native Frenchman who 
settled his family in New York state where Brazil, the father of our 
subject, was born. The latter came to Illinois when a young man and 
located near Kankakee, where he married Catherine Detour, an Illinois 
lady of French parents. In 1874, his wife died leaving three children: 
Oatherine, wife of Lee Detour, of Guide Rock, Nebraska; Napoleon, 
of this notice and Edward. Brazil Durand demonstrated his patriotism 
by his enlistment in an Illinois regiment for service in the (Jivil war 
and saw much of the hard fighting of the first three years of the war. 
He belonged to Rosecrans' army and was in the fight at Stone River 
and on the Atlanta campaign. When the war was over he returned to 
the work of the farm and left Illinois in lS7!t to become a citizen of 
Kansas. lie settled a piece of railroad land five miles northwest of 
Humboldt, in Allen county, and for live years labored, almost without 
resources, in the improvement and cultivation of his place. He sold 
out in 1884 and located in Coffeyville, Kansas, from which point he made 
ii prospecting tour of the northwest in search of a more favorable 
location, and while in Helena, Montana, died, at fifty years of age. 

Before his departure from Illinois, Brazil Durand married Jennie 
Beck, a French lady, by whom (wo dauglilers. Bertha and May, were 
born. The former is Mrs. Tingling, of Chicago, and the hitler Mrs. 
Edward (i. Snvder, of Oklahoma. 



720 HISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

At the iit;(' i>(' lliiiiccii y<'!it'f* Niijiolron Diiiand iiiidcrioolc the 
i'i'8pnnsil(ilit.\' of liis own .sii|>]k)I'I. He \v;is a good stout hoy, witli a 
good iiKMital halaiicc and iiiaiily bcai-iiig, but with education greatly 
neglected. Farm work was what he was e(|uij)ped for and this he 
went at with a vim. His monthly stipend was not very large Iiut it 
served to give him encouragement and good clothes for his hack and 
some money in liis pocket. Wherever he worked he was liked as 
one of the family and he always left his jdace wiili his employer's 
regret. For several years he remained near the towns of Humboldt 
or loia but in IS'.H, he went to Colorado and sitenl two years on a I'ancli 
in the San l.ouis Valley. [Fe returned to Kansas in ISM."',, was maiiied 
soon after and began married life on a farm ni^ar Havana in Mont- 
gomery county. In Iwo years he felt able to venture to buy a farm 
and he did so, owning and cultivating it until 1S!)S, when he s(dd it 
and moved to ('herryvale where he has since made his home. 

His twelve years' ex])erience as a hired man were of value to him 
in gaining knowledge of men, and in the transa<ti<in of business in 
latei' life has enabled him to co]ie successfully with his peers. In the 
Farmers" Oil and (ias f'ompany of Cheriyvale. he is a stocklnilder 
and the develo|)ment of (heir leases lias jnnven Iheii- holdings to have 
a substantial value. 

November 26, 1893, Napoleon Durand and Nettie Kobinson were 
married. Mrs. Durand is a daughter of the Kev. Joseph J. Robinson, 
of Sedan, Kansas, who brought his family to the "Sunflower StaFe" 
in Sept., IST."), and settled in Montgomery county. Mr. Robinson was 
born in Pennsylvania, August 10, 1827. and mari'ied, in Ohio, Ruth 
Ann :Markley, i)orn in Ohio, F<-bruary i:!. 1820. Abcmt 18(itt, .Mr. and 
Mrs. Robinson moved to HIinois where their daughter Nettie was born 
July 2, 1870. Mr. Robinson engaged in the ministry in the prime of 
life and continued it till his superannuation in recent years. His home 
was on his farm near Havana for many years and there he brought tip 
his family, as follows: Cecil C, Charles H., John T., A^'illiam O.. and 
Nettie A., Mrs. Durand. 

Two children have been boiai to Mr. and ^frs. Duiand, viz: Charles 
Earl, who died at three and one-half vears. and Calvei't A., born Nov. 
9, 1901. 

Like his father Mr. Durand is a Re]iublican. He is ambitious only 
to be known as a good citizen and is without aspirations in the political 
arena. 



WILLIAM R. WOOLDRIDGE— One of the recent settlers of .Mont- 
gomery county and a gentleman who has entered on his career here 
with earnestness and enthusiasm is W. R. Wooldridge, of Independence. 
He is familiar to Kansas for he has lived within its boiders since 1884, 
when he settled in Elk county and engaged in stock raising and farm- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. •J21 

iiig. Having followed this for some years and then having; eiilered 
mercantile pursuits at I^onjjton, he became one of the well Utkiwh and 
at the same time one of the substantial men of tlie county. 

Mr. Wooldridge was born in Knsscll county, Kentucky, February 
17, 1S.'?:5. His father, ^^'illiam \\'(i(il(lri(lg(-. was b(u-n in the same cuuiily 
in ISOl and died in Hopkins, .Missouri, in ISS'.t. The laltei' was a son 
of Richard \\doldridge, of ^'irfiinia, who sell led in Kentucky bcfcnt? 
its adnussiou into the uniiui of stales, \\illiam W'ooldridf^e };rew up in 
the wilds of Kentucky and took for his wife A}^n<'s Allen who died in 
Iowa in 1857. They went to Iowa in l.Slfi and lived in Davis county 
and were prosperous farmers and hi}j;hly respected citizens. The chil- 
dren born to them were: Margaret, Samuel, ^Slaifha E., .loliii, Nancy B., 
^\'illianl U., Dicy A., Mary, Baxter, of Hopkins, Missouri; .Julian F., of 
IMioenix, .\riy.ona, and Emily, deceased. 

^^'. l{. Wdoldridge ac(|uired a comnuin school educalion and began 
life as a farmer. He was married Ajuil 7th, isr)7, his wife tieing 
Susan, a ihiughter of John Jessee, originally from Tennessee. This 
union resulted in the following childn^n: ^^'alter and Hooly, b(»th 
deceased; Margaret, who married John (i. Clark and died leaving two 
children; John, deceased, likewise Kenneth; Lena and .Matlie, deceased; 
Esca, of Oklahoma, and Riley, of Independence, Kansas, who married 
Iva Cra\\ford and has a daughter, Crystal. In the iiumth of Sept., 
1898, Mrs. William R. Wooldiidge died, afler a man'ied life of forty- 
one years. 

August 9th, 1862, in Ringgold county. Iowa. Mr. AVooldridge 
enlisted in com]i;\ny "0," 29th Inf. and served in the l)e]iartment of 
the \\est uiidei- Cenerals Curtis and Steele. He took part in the battle 
of Helena and left for Little Rock, Ark., Aug. Kith, reaching there 
about ten days later. I'.roke camp at Liltle Ro<k in .March to meet 
Ranks on Red River and during that march he had his left arm shot off 
by a twelve pound shell at Spoonville and was left on the field as dead. 
He was taken by the enemy and was a prisoner at Camden, Ark., for 
five months and about Sept. l.-jtli was marched to Tyler, Texas, in 
which j)rison he was confined till Feb. l.'th. ISti.l, when he was taken 
to New ()i-leans. where he was furloughed for ."{O days. He ]u-oce(>ded to 
Davenport, Iowa, wliei-e his discharge fiom (he army occurred June 
22nd. I8(i."). Resuming civil jiuisuits he re-engaged in farming and con- 
tinned i1 until 188:>, when he disposed of his Iowa interests and came to 
Kansas. He spent the winter in Winfield and in the .sjjring of 1884 
moved to Longton. He maintained liis residence in and business rehi- 
tions with Elk county f(U- KJ years and then removed to Montgomery 
county, his future home. 

In his pidilical action Mr. Wonldi idge was an Indeiiendent. with 
unfriendly feeling toward the dominant ]i(ditical jtai-ty. \\'lien the 
several elemeuls of the opposition crystali/.ed into a new party he Joined 



722 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTYj KANSAS. 

forces with the Greenb.ack party and hiter became a factor in Peoples' 
Parly affairs. He was a deleg;ate to the Populist convention of 1896 
at St. Louis. \Miile not a I>eiiiocrat, he believes tirnily in the political 
tenets as announced by 5Ir. Bryan. 



IRA HADLEY — The settlers of Montgomery county of the year 
1882 number among its band the substantial farmer and splendid 
citizen of lioltou, Ira Iladley, of this brief review. He came in response 
to the general movement of the time and place toward Kansas and 
emigrated from Parke county, Indiana. He was born in the latter 
county and state August .SO, 1845, where his father, Simon Hadley, 
settled in 18:U and where he maintained his residence till his death 
in 1896. Simon Hadley was born in Chatham county. North Carolina, 
in 1810 and was, conse(|uently, twenty-four years old when he took 
up his residence in the wooded country of western Indiana. There he 
aided by ])liysical effort the clearing up of the county in which he lived 
and was one of its moderately successful farmers. In his northward 
and westward journey he came through Ohio where he sojourned 
temporarily working as a farm hand and doing othcn" manual labor as 
the necessities of the occasion required. He was a son of Jacob Hadley 
who died in North Carolina, and was one of the following children: 
Jonathan, who went into Iowa; William, who remained in the Old 
Noi-th State; Thomas, who died in the state of his birth — North Caro- 
lina; , a daughter who died in Hendricks Co., 

Indiana, and was the wife of Joseph Konsley; Eleanor, wife of Owen 

Lindley, died at Prairie Center, Kans.; Susan, who married 

Harris, of North Carolina; and Eunice, who became the wife of 

Marshal! of the old Carolina home. 

Simon Hadley married Eunice Hobson who survived until 1902 and 
died in I'arke county, Indiana, at the age of seventy-nine. Their 
children were: Eliza, deceased; Ira, William, of Bloomingdale, Indiana; 
Narcissa, of Marshall, Indiana; Elwood, of the same county; Rhoda, 
who died at Rockville, Indiana, was the wife of M. W. Marshall; Samuel 
and Ruth, of Marshall, Indiana, and Albert and Mahlon, of the same 
county and state. 

Ira Hadley, our subject, passed his life on his father's farm, iu 
child\iood and youth and received a country school training. He brought 
his limited accumulations of fifteen years of independent effort with 
him to Montgomei-y county, Kansas, and puicliased land in section 19, 
township .3•■^ range 1.5, where he owns one hundred and forty acres. 
For some years he was engaged in the nursery business, having several 
acres of his farm devoted to the production of a large variety of horti- 
cultural plants, with the promotion of which industry he was occupied 



HISTOItY 01'' MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 723 

until l.S!t(i. As a fanner, Kiain raising claims liis allcndon and he 
goes about his daily task in a modest, iinassuniint; way. 

In the month of Jan., 1S7L', Mr. Iladley was mariied in Fountain 
county, Indiana, his wife being Ruth fl. Towell, a daughfei- of Isaac H. 
Towel 1 and a sister of Ira N. Towel! mentioned on another iiage of 
this volume. The issue of (his marriage is as follows: Oliver ().. born 
in 1875; Claia 10.. born 1ST7; Kuuiee A.. iMiru lS7!t; .loliu \\'.. born in 
18S.3; and Floyd S., born in Kansas in ]S8!I. 

Without fuss or show Mi-. Hadley has gone about the alfairs of 
life and has merited and won an enduring position in (he estimation 
of his fellow citizens. He has Iteen true to his family, true to his 
neiglibors and trtie to his jiolitical ])arty. He has been a He])ublicau 
all his life and the isms and side-issues of designing politicians have 
not altracted hJTn ov caiiied him awav. He is a .Mason. 



T. C. TKIMAN— i'joniinently identified with tlie business life of 
the city if Independence for three decades and connected with the 
governing body of the municipality ovei- half of (hat period. Mr. T. C 
Truman, juoprietor of the city's leading ice mannfactory and cold 
storage plant, well r(>])resents a type of citi/.ens whose Imsdiiig r|uali- 
ties have not only bi'onght success to the individual, but ju-omiiience 
to the city as well. 

The year 1871 found Mr. Trueman on a virgin claim in liudand 
Twp., where he for two years tried the virtues of a farmer's life. This 
not being to his taste he sold out and moved to town, where, in pai'tner- 
ship with .T<dni Hebrank, lie began the manufacture of beer and car- 
I)onated drinks, later adding the ice factory and cold storage ])lan(. The 
business has grown with (he city and is now one of the most e.\(ensivo 
in southein Kansas. Mr. Truman has always taken an active interest 
in the welfare of the city. He is at present a member of tlie ("onimon 
Council, his first connection with that body beginning in 187."), when 
he served continuously for eleven years. Again, in 19(10, he became 
a member of that body, the date of his {)resent incumbency. During 
these yeais the Council was called u]>on to make the jmblic improve- 
ments necessary in (he early growth of a munici|iali(y, and much of 
this iiii])or(ant service was rendered b\' our subject. He is a valuable 
uiembei- at the present time as he knows the city "like a l>0()k"' and can 
give the location and liistorv of aTiy public improvement. 

.Mr. Truman succeeded in getting a fair education bet<M'e I'lesident 
]-iucc)ln"s first call for troops. On the 2'Mh of June. 18fil. he enlisted 
as a private in Co. "'K". 2d W. ^'a. \"ol. Inf.. in whicli he served until 
Xovembei' of 18()t, participating in many of the battles and skirtnishcs 
in and abimt the famous Shenandoah \'allev. At this date, while at 
New Creek, he siitfereil capture, togetlier wi(h live hundred odiers. He 



724 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

was taken to r.ihby Prison and for four months experienced the horrors 
of tliat noted institution, tlie date of his exchange being Feb., 1863. He, 
however, recovered rapidly from the rigors of prison life and in thirty 
days was again with his company at Fredericksburg. The assassina- 
tion of the President caused his company to be detailed for service 
iu the cajiture of Booth and his co-cons])irators, and for several weeks 
our subject scoured the country about Washington. After particijiating 
in the iJrand Review the regiment was ordered to Ft. Sedgwick, Col., 
to take part in discipliuiug tlie Indians who had given such trouble dur- 
ing the war. After a year of such service, he, with his regiment, was 
mustered out May 1st, 1800, his record for faithful service to his coun- 
try being one of which he may well be proud. 

On his return home Mr. Truman embarked in business as a mem- 
ber of the firm of ^^'ells & Truman, lumber merchants, which con- 
tirued successfully until 18GS, when he came west to Kansas City. 
Here he continued in the nmnufacture of rough lumber until the date 
of hi.-s coming to Montgomery county. 

Mr. Truman's home life began November 28, 1807, Ihe date of his 
marriage to Elizabeth Dewey. She died in 1883 in Indej)endence at 
the age of forty years, leaving no children. He married his jtresent 
wife December 14, 1880, iu West Virginia, her maiden name having 
been Miss Columbia A. P.urk. She is a lady of much good sense, aii 
actiV'^ member of the Presbyterian church, and a leader in the social 
and charitable work of that organization. 

In thi." busiu(-ss life of the city he has been an important factiu'. 
He is a Dii-ector in the Commercial National Bank and a member of 
the Busin'^;ss Men's Commercial Club. In the fraternities, Mr. Truman 
finds great delight, as he is a thorough believer in that idea. In 
Masonry ho has passed through the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery 
and Shrine, and is now Treasurer of St. Bernard Commandery. He 
became an Odd Fellow in April of 1872, and filled all the chairs 
through the Encampment. Our subject is also a helpful member of 
the Woodmen, Elks, G. A. K., and of the affiliated bodies known as the 
Order of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs. In political matters Mr. 
Truman is a staunch Republican and is one of the wheel horses of the 
local organization. 

Passing back into the family history and earlier life of our subject, 
his birth occurred in West Virginia, September 21, 1843. He is the 
son of Absalom and Serena (Diltz) Truman, the father a native of Cal- 
houn county, Va., a farmer by occupation, and both he and his wife 
members of the M. E. church. They died within a year, both at 70 
years of age. Their family consisted of five children — Elizabeth, Tlionias 
C, Henrv D., Almira, and Francis M. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 725 

MARY ANN CLIFFORD— A fjimily which lins liad a ]nii<;- and hon- 
orabh> career in Jlontsonier.v c(tuiil.v is that ol' which .Mis. .Mary .\nii 
Clifford is now the liead, lier liushand, William <'litl'<ii(i havin},' died in 
1.S77. They settled on a claim of 114 acres in Sycamore lownship, 
section 8-31-15, in 1871, where slie now resides with her son, John 15. and 
his family. 

William Clifford was born in I'eiin.sylvania, the son of Thomas and 
Catherine (Lawson) Clifford. The names of llu'ir nine other children 
were: .John, Sarah, Betsey, Charles, David, Mary .1., .lane and Thomas. 

Mrs. Clifford comes from Westmoreland county, Vi\., where she 
was horn November 10, 182tt; the danj^hter of Koherl and Doiotliy 
(Decker) Irwiu. Robert Irwin was the son of Kdwaid, who married 
Martha McGatta, and reared: Robert, Polly, Jeremiah, -lohn, William. 
Henry, Thomas, James and Margaret. Of the children of Robert Irwin 
and l)oi'othy Decker, Mrs. Clifford w-as the eldest. Those younger 
were: Martha, .lohii, lOlizaheth, .Marj;aret, Sarah, Moria, .Vle.xander and 
Robert. 

On the tenth of December, 1844, .Afary \. Irwin became the wife 
of W'illiam Clifford. He was a youufc man of consideriible prominence, 
having prior to his marriage been a Captain of militia in the "Keystone 
State.'' He, later, left that state and became a resident of Rush county. 
Ind., from which point he, for many yeai's, operated in produce alon/j; 
the Ohio and ISrississiiij)! Rivers. To llie mariiage of Mrs. ('lifford were 
born: Thomas 1'., who married Jlary Flack and resid(>s in .Montgomery 
<j0., Kas.; Sarah, wlio married (Jeorge Sharj) and lives in the Indian 
Territory with her one child, Rali)h; R(d)ert, now (hn-eased, married 
Olive Bonty and left three children, Ida, (/harles and Bert; Charles has 
one daughter, Olive E., and Benton, a son, Robert E.; Gordon, the fourth 
child, has not been heard from for twenty years; William H., who 
married Mary .1. Ilatt, I'esides in ChauhuKiua county, Kansas, and has 
two children — Harold and liyron — and is an artist of note. .John P.. 
Clitt'ord lives on the homestead wifli his mother. He was born in 
Westmoreland county. Pa., June !», 18o."), and was first mariied to 
Marv Verbryck. whose childien were: Irwin T.. Clayton H.. and Claud. 
His present wife was Addie, daughter of Jidui and Elizabeth (Scott) 
Kington. She is a native of Illinois and lier parents are of Virginia 
and Oliio, resix'ctively. She is the mother of .1. Raymond and Paul V. 
("haih's L. the seventh child of .Afi-s. Clifford married Sarah Jane Ver- 
bryck, lives in Iiideiieudence and has six children: Lela, Pearl, (!uy. 
Homer, Waltei- and (ilenn; the youngest, Cirrilda Clitfoi-d, married 
David Hoojier and lives in Montgomery Co. with her children: Myrtle. 
Mable, Clyde, Bessie and Lee R. 

Mrs. Cliffoid is a woman of many strong attributes of character, 
greatly beloved by lier children, and hold in loving veneration by her 



726 HISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

friends and iieighbois. Her children are all men and women w"- > 
«?xliibit lier careful traiuinj; in lives of jMobitv and iii>rigbtness. 



J. A. lil{0^^■^■ — The lionorable and responsible [losiiion nf Mayor 
of Elk ("ity is held by one of the leadinj; business men of the tow n, J. 
A. Brown, now servinji his second term, and one of the most jiopular 
otticials the mniii(i]ia]ity has ever had. Me is a man of the most careful 
business habits, and insists on conductinj; ]iublic Imsiness on the same 
lines. 

Mr. lirown's native state is that of New ^dik. where he was born, 
iu Erie county. Au};ust 1. 1847. He was a sen of William and Elizabeth 
Brown. His father was a native of Enjiland. while the mother was 
b(M-n in New Jersey. AVilliam Brown came t<i this country in 1841, 
.iuid settled in Erie Co., X. V.. and then went to (Jreen ("o.. Wis., iu 
1850, where he has pa.s.sed all his active business life. He was. for long 
jears, a large dealer in grain, and was also connected with the banking 
business, but is now living in retirement. Mrs. Brown, his wife, died 
nt the age of sixty-tive years, in Monroe, Wis. They reared a family of 
five children as follows: J. A., Ellen, dec'd. Maria, Nettie and Henry. 

Our subject was taken to Wisconsin by his jiarents when three 
years of age. In his childhood his father followed farming and the 
son gi'ew to love a rural life, though having passed the latter part of 
his boyhood in town. \Vhen he ai-rived at years of maturity he began 
farming for himself, and after his return from the war, continued in 
that line, iu Wisconsin, until his coming to Kansas, in 1870. He took 
lip a chiim, first, in Howard county, cultivated it for several years, and, 
in lS8li, sold out and embarked in the business he now conducts in 
Elk City. Beginning on a modest scale he gradually added to his stock 
and floor s](ace until he is now one of tlie leading merchants in the 
city. He has a handsome two-story building. lOOxli.") and 80x25 on one 
floor. Both floor and basement are tilled with a choice stock of general 
merchandise, and he caters to a very large trade. 

Mr. Brown has always been an interested worker for the advance- 
ment of the city of his a(lo])tion and has served in nearly every oftice 
of trust in its gift. He was tirst elected Mayor in 1897, served two years, 
and, a year later, was again elected. He has held tlie office since that 
time to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. In the social and 
religious life of the community he and liis wife are potent factors, and 
are leaders in every enterprise that promises to advance the moral tone 
of the ])eople. They are both members of the Christian church, in 
which oiganization Mrs. Brown is a deaconess and consequently a 
leader in the work of the clnirch. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were joined in marriage January 1, 1SC8. Her 
maiden name was Kate McVean and she was a daughter of Peter and 




MRS. KATE BROWN, WIFE OF J. A. BROWN. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 727 

Eliza bet li McVean of Wiscousiu. Her mother resides at liroadliead, 
\AMsconsin, the father being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hi-own are the 
l)arents of six childreu— Lihby B., wife of J. W. Love, of Kansas City, 
with one child, Homer; Lorena, who married F. C. Strawu and resides 
in Alva, Ok., has one cliijd, Josephine; Nettie J., Mrs. L. V. Coleman, of 
roplar Hlntf. Missimri; Edna E., Frankie and Ilenrie are children still 
at home. 

Mr. Brown is a nn-niber of the G. .\. K., earning his right to belong 
to that grand organization by service on the field. He was not old 
enough to enter the army at the breaking out of the war, but as 
soon as he could "pass muster" he became a private in Co. "K," 16th 
Wis. Inf. His regiment arrived at the front in time to participate in 
the Atlanta campaign. Its first taste of battle was at Big Shanty. 
whence it followed "I'ncle Billy" to the sea, up into the Carolinas, 
where it saw secession's banners lowered, and the stars and stripes 
again floating over Ft. Sumter. The hearts of its loyal members 
welled with pride as they participated in the Grand Review, the grandest 
exhibition of fighting men ever held; and then home, to take up the 
thread of life where it had been snajjjjed asunder. 



F. E. TAYLOR — County Commissioner Taylor caiue to Kansas and 
settled in Montgomery county in 1884. He emigrated from Muncie, 
Indiana, in which state he was born in Putnam Co., Octolx;r 13, 1845. 
His ]>ai-cnts, U'illiam and Catherine (Tracyl Taylor, wei'e native Ken- 
tucky peoi)le who moved into Indiana about 1S4(I and passed llieir lives 
on a farm. The fatlier was born in ISOt! and died in 18.")(J while th(? 
mother was born in 1S0S and died in IS.jl. Tlieir childreu w'ere ten in 
number and were tlii' following: Eliza, who married James Burris and 
died in Illinois in lltOl at seveuty-three years of age; Susanna, wife of 
H. Seward, died in 18fil) at twenty five years; Georgianna, who married 
Perry McGombs, died in IStJO at about twenty-two years of age; John 
W., of JIarshall Co., Kansas; .Vmelia, who died very young; Jlary .V.. 
who also died in childhood; Elizabeth, who became ^Irs. .lohn Robin- 
son, died at twenty one; F. E., of this I'eview; Zachariah. who died 
in babyhood; and Mrs. Catherine Baize, of Newton, 111. 

The district schools of Indiana fui'nished the educational e(]ui])- 
iiient of F. E. Taylor. He accepted the occupation of his fathers and 
became a farmer on beginning his life work. In July, 1862, he enlisted 
in Conijtany "C," 1st Indiana Heavy .Vrtillery, which was assigned to 
the Dejiaitment of the Gulf. He seined in Banks' Uoi] River Expedition 
and was with tlie expedition sent to llie i-educlion f Foi'fs Blakely and 
Spanish and the capture of Mobile. I'pon the expiration of his enlist- 
ment he veteranized and remained in the service till January, 1800, 
thus seeing thi-ee and one-half vears of service without casunltv to 



728 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

himself. Ecsiiiiiinji bis occupation in civil life he contiuucd farming 
in his native state until his dei)aitviie for Kansas, lie established him- 
self on a new farm in Kutland townshij). Mont<;oniery county, of one 
hundred and sixty acres. His efforts were rewarded as the years 
jiassed and (wo hundred and fifty acres more were added to his domain 
and tliis, and his residence jiroperty in Indejiendence constitute the 
major jiortion of his estate, llis success iiidicalcs that he has taken a 
lively and active interest in Kansas a^iicnlture and when he retired 
from the farm in IttUU it was in resjionse to a wish to relieve himself 
and wife of the work and responsibility of the farm. 

Soy. 17, 1867, Mr. Taylor married .Malinda ,\. Smith, a (liiuj;hter 
of Jonas and Kosanna (Cooper) Smith, both deceased. Five ciiildren 
are the issue of this marriaf^e. namely: William H. .of Inde])endence, 
once a mer<hant. and an ex-teachei- of the county, nuirried to Dessie 
Atkiu.«on and lias ciiildren: I'ansie and Jewel; .Mary K., wife of J. 
K. Mo(ue, who resides on a faini m-.u- Tyro, has children, Mennie, 
Emmett, Harry and Kubie F.; Jonas E., sin;;le and a farmer; Aaron G., 
also a farmer and unmarried, and .Mary K., who died at three years. 
The i)arents and children are members of the Christian church. 

Jonas Smith and wife, natives resjiectively of Tennessee and South 
("aroli!ia.eachaccom]ianied his jtarents (o .Martin Co.. Ind.. at an early pe- 
riod and were married in that counly. They owned and ojtei-ated a farm 
all their lives. Jonas Smith died in IS77, aj;'ed IS years. His wife died 
in 18.~)0, aged 45 years. The names of their children are: Benj. F., 
,\melia, Susannah, John, dec'd; Malinda, Casandei-, -Vmanda, and Docia. 
All except John lived to be well up in years. Crandfather Cooper lived 
to be its years old and Grandfather Smith was S7 years old at the 
time of his death. 

Mr. Taylor holds a membership in the subordinate and encamp- 
ment of Odd Fellows, in the Grand Army and in the Republican 
party. He was elected County Commissioner from the 2nd district in 
18!(7, was reelected in IflOfl. and will have served six years on the 
board when his term expires in January, 1904. 



W1I,LL\]M ACSTIN— The younj^er element of the old settlers of 
Montgomery county is worthily rei)resented in the person of William 
Austin, of this brief sketch. He has resided in the county since 1872, 
which year his parents established the family one mile west and four 
miles north of Cherry vale. Mr. .\ustin was born in Knox county, 
Illinois, January 22, ISCd. .Vbel .\ustin was his father and his mother 
Saiah T. Scott, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. 
Farming was the life occu]iation of .Vbel Austin and he died at forty 
years of age in 187."). The mother i-eturned to Illinois with her large 
familv on tlic^ eve of this misfoitune, where she remained till her sons 



HISTOUY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 729 

were of that a^t' sntiicicnt (<> (MiKivalc Un-ir Kansas farm whin the 
family ri^tnnied hitlicr and af;aiii tdok up flic (Icvcloimiciil of a lionio. 
She passed her life in the coiiiiiaiiv of Imt iliijdicn and died in Mont- 
gomery county- in 1S!I7. 

Altel Austin was a widower when he nianied Saiaii T. Sedll. His 
first wife died leaving- liini two sons, H. T. and < '. I. Austin, and he 
was tlie father- of the children b.v his second niariiaf^c, naniel.v: Wil- 
liam, Fianlc, Elmer, Hoaner and Alma. 

William Austin has been identified with .Montn'omei'v connty con- 
tinnonsly since twenty years of ajic Frem 1SS4 to 1S!»2, he remained 
an imixntant adjunct to the dmnestic circle and he trained his initial 
experience on a Kansas farm. In ISitli, he married Amanda L. >\'hite, 
a dauRhfer of John X. Wliite and Jane A. (Snod}irass| White. Mr. 
White came to Kansas from ^\'est ^'ir<>'inia in 1S04, and settled in 
Montgomery county where they still reside. 

At the opening of the Sac and Fox land Mr. .\nslin made the 
race for a claim, seemed one and fulfilled his obligation fo the gov- 
ernment by jiroving u|) on the same. At about this jnncfui'e his two 
brotheis on the family home died and our subject sold his ()i<lahoma 
possessions and returned fo ^^onlgomerv county, buying the home 
of liis boyhood and youth. His is a fertile farm, well situated and 
well adajifed to the jini'iioses of stock and grain farming. 

The family of Jfr. and Mrs. .\ustin consists of four childi'en. viz: 
Florence. Oma. Viola and Elmer. 



WILLIAM P. A\'.\LL.\rE— William P. Walla<e. ice deah-r of 
Cherryvale. Kan., was born in Lincoln county. Mo., .^[arch 7, IS")*;. His 
father was John W. Wallace, a mitive of Logan county. Ohio, and his 
niothei' a n;ifive of Kentnck\. John W. Wallace was a wagon maker 
in ^[issonri. wlieic he located in IS')'2, and he followed that trade all his 
life. He died in l.s!)i:, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a con- 
sistent member of the M. E. church. His wife is a member of the 
Christian Church and resides in Claiksville, Pike county. Mo. 

William P. Wallace is one of six children as follows: Hatlie. Mrs. 
John Duke who died in TS78; William P., Harriet M.. wife of Frank 
Carter of Hannibal, Mo.; Victoria, wlio died in \H(t4; John H., a resident 
of Ft. Afadison. Iowa; and (ieorge A., in tlie mercantile business at 
Clarksville, :\Io. 

Mr. ■\\'allace was edui'ated in the scl Is of < •lai]<sville. Mo., and 

during (he winters, fi-om 1S72 fo IS7S, he assisted his father in the 
shop and worked at the ice business in the sunuuer. He has handled 
ice summer seasons ever since he was twelve years old, and has ront- 
pleted many a wagon wifhout assistance, having become expert in the 
trade of wagon iiiakint; while a( woik with his father. For a time, in 



730 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

1880, be ran an engine in a tobacco factory, returning to his ice busi- 
ness in tlie summer. In 1892 — his father having died — he returned to 
work in the wagon factorj-, where he spent two winters. Then he 
worlied for a cider and vinegar Co.. the largest concern of the kind in 
northeast Missouri. After five years, he came to Cherryvale, 1899, 
and bought out J. V. Baker, who liad been in the ice business here 
seventeen years. 

During the years Mr. A\'allace lias been in business here he has 
handled thousands of tons of ice, and has done well at the business, 
as he understands it in all its details. Since coming here he has seen 
many come and many go, but he has gone on without interruption. 

His marriage to Miss IS. Estelle Baldwin took place in 1884, his 
wife being a native of Marengo. la. She was a daughter of M. D. 
Baldwin, a native of Springfield, ]\Iass., and Palmira Arnold, a native 
of Oneda county, N. Y. Mr. Baldwin was a fai-mcr by occupation. He 
was born in 1822, and died in 187.5. He and his wife were members of 
the Christian church. They weie married in 1S4!I. his wife dying 
April ISth, 1863, at the age of thirty-two years. Mrs. A\allace was one 
of six children, four of whom were: Eliza J., deceased; Estelle, and an 
infant who died at birth, and Owen, of St. Paul, Kansas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have seven children; \Mlliani 1'., who died 
in 1SS5; Jolin Ainold, Howard W., I>eslie V.. Bay KiiigsbiM-ry , 
Rudolph, deceased, and Bal])li .Adoljth. This family of children is an 
interesting and well-ordered one, in which the parents take a jiai-donable 
pride. The parents are members of the Christian dnn'cli, the father 
being assistant superintendent of the Sunday School and its secretary 
and treasurer, for twelve years. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and 
also the Modern Woodmen of America and he votes with the Republican 
party. 

He is honorable and most reliable, and has tlie pluck, jnish and 
per.severance tliat are needful in a successful business caicer. 



WIIJJ.VM S. HOT'OHTOX, i.liariiiacisi and druggisi of Cherryvale, 
was born in Kosciusko county, Ind., .Inly 91 li, ISfil), a son of Tilden M. 
and Susan (Sarberi Houghton, the foiuKM- a native of .Massachusetts, 
the latter of Indiana. The father was a graduate of the Uoston Con- 
servatory of Alusic and was a musician and vocalist of high class, 
having just started on a career of atlluence and honor when he died 
at the early age of thirty-nine. Our subject's mother died but a short 
time before, and he was left to the care of his maternal gi'andfather. 
Christian Sarber. 

Mr. Houghton was educated in the county schools and in the high 
-school at Warsaw, Ind., afterward taking a couise in the State Normal 
School at \'alparaiso, hid. He followed teaching foi- three years, but, 



IIISTOKY 01' MONT(;0.\IEUY COUMV. KANSAS. 73 I 

later, went into a drug store in Warsaw. In 1882. he came to Kansas 
and engaged in tlic drug business at Altaniont, but lie sold out later on 
and was a))])(iinle(l postmaster of that city, under President Cleveland. 
On retiring from othce he became a traveling .salesman for a drug house. 
Following this, he clerked four and one half years in a drug store in 
Cherryvale, and in May of 1!)I»L', went into business for himself there. 
He is an eftiicient and safe |)rescrii)l ion clerk and holds a druggist's 
diploma from the Kansas Stale I'.o.ufl of Pharmacy. 

In 1878, Mr. Houghton was joined in marriage with Minerva A., 
daughter of Tallman and Kachel (Warren) Blue. Her father was a 
native of Ohio and a tanner by trade. He, later, moved over into Kos- 
ciusko county, Ind.. where he died. Mrs. Houghton is the eldest of tliree 
children, tlie others, Uoseila and .lohn. being deceased. Her father was 
married a second lime, Xellie, a minister's wife, being the child of this 
marriage. She i-esides in Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Houghton 
have been liorn seven children: .Muriel K., clerk in the store; ('harles 
F., who \\-orks in the jiress brick deiiartment of the vitrified brick com- 
pany; Grace E., Lee H., Pearl E., William and Howard 1). 

In a social way Mr. Houghton is a member of the Masonic order and 
of the A. (). r. W'., and in politics su])i>orts the policies of the Democi'atic 
party. His cit i7.<'iislii|t is of that clean and liealiliful variety which 
secures the respect and esteem of all. 



GEORGE ELLIOT ('<>.\ is om- of the large hind owners of Mont- 
gomery county, being in contlol, at the |)resenl time, of a ilomain of 
eleven hundred and lifteen acres. He hits been a resident of th" county 
since 18li!l, in which year he settled with his ])arents in Louisbtirg town- 
ship, wliei-e his father purch.ised a large body (d' land. u|i<ui a ])art of 
which this son now i-esides. William Henry ("o.v, fathei- of George E., 
was an Ohioan by birth, born .Ian. l.'7, 1821, a son of William Cox, who- 
locatei' in Hartholomew county, Indiana, the year of Henry Cox's birth. 
Here William Cox continued to reside until his removal to Johnson Co., 
in 184!t. where he died twenty years lalei'. His wife died in is:{4, at the 
age of I hilly seven .\cars. 

\^'m. Henry Cox, in 1S.~)4, married Xanc.\ Colletl. a native of .Johnson 
count.x. Ind.. and a daughter of .lanu's Colletl. Prior to this, he married 
histirst wife. Levena PJIiott, whose three children were: Elizabeth, widow 
of F. ]M. Coleman, of Elk City, and Penjamin and Emma, deceased. By 
his second nmri'iage were born: .lames .M., who married (Mara Blair 
and i/<)w resides at Oak N'alley, wilh children: lOthel. (iladys, Bernice, 
Herman, Victoi', ,\lberfa and .lames; Geoi-ge E., the esteemed subject 
of this review; .lohn L., who married Laura L. Little, and resides at 
(^■aTie, Kansas, with children: Ivssie, Hazel and Herbert; .Mbert T., who 
married Ella Jones and resides in Inde|)endence, being editor of the 



732 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

"Star and Kaiisan;" their four children are: Audra, Earl, Paul aud 
Nannie; Ira, who married Gertie Myers and resides in Anadarko, Okla- 
homa, where he is cashier of the First National Bank. Their two chil- 
dren are :P.urnell and Maxiue; Annie Jlay is the wife of Kay Dirst, and re- 
sides at Independence, Kansas; Chester C, who married Lillie May Har- 
mon of Elk City; their two children being: Orlis and Nannie; Silvia 
Gertrude married William Johnson and resides in Columbia. Missouri, 
with one child, Lorin. The j)arents of this family cfintinned to reside 
on the old homestead for many years, but have given up the active life 
of the farm and are now residents of Elk City. 

The Collett connections are Kentuckians, and giandfather Samuel 
Collett and Elizabeth Whiteacre, his wife, having been early settlers 
in the "Blue Grass State." 

James Collett settled on a claim of one linndred and sixty acres near 
Indianapolis, and became a man of much ])romin('nce in that portion of 
the state, where be grew quite wealthy. His estate, at his death, 
having been rated at .|G(l,0()0. The Collctts are of English descent. 

George E. Cox was born in Johnson county, Indiana, in the year 
1862, and there he took his first steps toward an education. He con- 
tinued it in the district school of his home neighborhood — after his par- 
ents removed to Montgomery county and has been a resident of the old 
homestead since, with the excption of three years spent on a farm, a mile 
northwest of Elk City, wlien he traded for the old home jilacc of two 
hundred acres. In 1801, he bought of his father three linndred and eight 
acres adjoining him; in 1S!»."), he purchased one hundred and Ihirty-two 
acres adjoining this; in liJOl, he added one hundred and fourteen acres 
more and in 1002, purchased of his brother, I. E. Cox, thirty-six acres on 
Elk river, eight miles from his home place. As stat(>d. he is one of the 
most extensive farmers in the county, and the manner in which he con- 
ducts his laige interests clearly marks him as (me of (he most progres- 
sive and efficient members of the agricultmal class. 

On the first of .Tnly, ISS."), Mi-. Cox took nnio hinisclf a wife in the 
person of Fannie Allen, daughter of IMnkney and Marl ha Jane (Free- 
man) McDowell. Mrs. Cox is one of four <'hildren; James Alexander, a 
farmer, of Louisburg township, elsewhere reviewed in Ihis volume; Mary 
Susan and \^'illiam Thomas, deceased, and Mrs. Cox, the youngest. The 
mother of this family is now an inmate of the home of James ilcDowell. 
To the mariiagt* of Mi', and Mrs. Cox five children luive lieeii boi-n, viz: 
Claude L.. born October U. lSS(i; Grace Inez, born December 12. 1SS7; 
AMUiam Allen, born September n, 1880; Cecil May, born Novendier 24, 
1893, and Anna Faye, born October 4, 1804. 

Mr. Cox is regarded as one of the jirominent spirits of Louisburg 
townshi]) and indeed of the whole county. He gives a large part of his 
attention necessarily to his extensive l.inded interests, bill finds time to 
take a good citizeirs part in the administration of att'aiis in his com- 




G. E. COX. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 733 

iminit.v. In [lolitical belief he ascribes to the teuels of the I'opulist 
party. He is a meniber of the A. O. U. W., and in matters of religion 
is a worthy supijorter of the Baptist church, of whidi he and his wife's 
family have been members for many years. 



.TOSKPII ('HANl)LEK, deceased— The well known subject of this 
memoir was a citizen of Jlonlfjomery county from its pioneer days to hi.s 
death. He followed the profession of Ihe law, and as a lawyer appro- 
priate mention of him ajipcars under the chapter on "The I'.ench and 
P.ar" in this volume. 

Mr. Chandler was boiii in Wyduiinj; ("o., N. Y., May 4, 1,S4(), of par- 
ents Hazen and Paulina (Stowe) Chandler, the father a native of Ver- 
m')nf, and the mother of \\'ethersfield, X. Y. Hazen Chandler was a 
carpenter, wagon-maker, and also carried on 'fai-ming. He migrated to 
Wisceiisin in the late forties and still later, to Shirland, Ulinois. His 
first wife was Lncinda Emmons, of Shirland, 111., who bore him a son, 
S(iuirc Emmons, born September, 1832. He latter served in Company 
"({." "."'.Sth" Iowa, during the Pebellion, was carried from Vicksburg to 
Jefferson P>ariacks. St. Louis, sick, and died there Aug. ."SO, ISti,"!. He left 
a wife and two children — Hazen and Burns — in Iowa. Jlay 1 tj, 1842, 
Mrs. Lncinda Chandler died and by his second marriage Ilazen Chandler 
was the father of: Judge (leorge Chandler, mentioned in '"The Bench and 
Bai" of tills work; Mary A., deceased wife of Fayette (r. Steele, of Shir- 
land, Illinois, who died leaving three childi'en, and Josej)h Chandler, of 
this review. Ilazen Chandlei', boi-n February 4, ISOT. died in I'.oston 
November 28, 1878, aged neaily 72 years. 

Joseph ('handlei' graduated frtuu Beloit ColU^ge at Beloit. Wis., in 
1872, and in 1875, took the degree of \. M. For two years he had diarge 
of a graded school at Clinton, Wis., and of the Yankton, South Dak., 
acadfuny the year 1873-4. He then came to Independence, Kansas, and 
studied law under his brother and was admitted to ])ractice in 187."). 

June2(t,187ti.iIr.Chandl(u- mnrii<'d Libbie .M. Chaiiin. a native of Jef- 
ferson, A\'is.. and a danghtiM' of Josiah S. and .\nna (Tomplcins) Cliai)in, 
of .Massachusetts and New York, respectively. Her i)arents \\-ere niar- 
lied in N(>w York City, and lived together till 1870, when Mis. Cliapin 
died in Jtemjthis, Tennessee, aged about fifty years. Mr. Chapin learned 
the cabinet-makers trade, but laid it aside in 18.^0, and went to the 
gold fields of Califoinia. He remained theic three year's profitably em- 
])loyed ill the mines, and, on his return east, established himsf'lf at 
Janesville, Wis., and engaged in the gi;iiii and commission business. He 
removed, later, to -Madison, the state caiiilal, where he was engageil ex- 
tensively in the grocery businss. Ketiring from this, he engageil in the 
(christian Commission work, paying his own expenses for one yeai'._ -At 
the close of the Civil ^^'ar he took iij) his residence in Memjdiis, Tennes- 



734 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

see, whpic he w;is S"'n''''!il Jifi'i'nt for tlie Nortli ^^'estel•n Life Tiisnraiice 
Co., for the States of Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas. Leavisg Mem- 
phis ho located briefly in Kalamazoo, Michigan, whence he came to Inde- 
pendence, Kansas, in 1S72. While in this city he conducted a hardware 
and im[)lemcnt business and on leavinji here took charjie of a store at 
Palmer, Kansas. This store and stock he traded for a farm near Salina, 
Kansas, and thei-e he died December 20, 1882, at sixty-two years of age. 
He and his wife were active meiiihers of the Conjiregational church and 
were the jiarcnts of an only child, .Mrs ('luiudlei-, widow of the subject 
of this notice. 

To Mr. and ^Irs. Joseph Chandler were born five children, viz: 
Geoige Oliapin, a graduate of the Valparaiso, Ind., Normal College, 
mari-ied (lerfriidc Fairjeigh. in Independence. .laiiuary 14, 1!)()0, and 
has a daughter .Marion; Edward Hazen, a law student in Indejjnedence; 
Alice, a graduate of the Jlontgomery Touiity High School; Charles Halli- 
day and William (J., pupils of the city schools. 

Mr. ('handler maintained political relations with the Rejiublican 
pai ty by which he was honored with public office. He died in Independ- 
er.ce' October Iti, 1!»0L'. 



F. D. BKKWSTKH is one of the leading building .ontracfors of In- 
dependence, a member of the ('omnion Council from the Second AVard, 
and a gentleman whose usefulness as a citizen causes hira to be most 
highly regarded. His handiwork is seen in many of the city's prominent 
buildings and is of a character which marks him a ''woiknuin that 
needeth not to be ashamed." 

Mr. Hreswtei' is a son of J. H. Brewster, who has lived four miles 
east of In(le])endence for the past twenty years, and is, himself, one of 
the leading contractors of the county. The father is a native of Penn- 
sylvaria. He learned the stone-cutters' trade and followed if for some 
years in the east. He married Jane Newton in 1865 or '(')(>. and lived in 
Tuscarawas county, Ohio, until his coming to Kansas in 1884. He has 
since cultivated the farm on which he now resides, and. in addition, has 
carried on an extensive business as a general contractor in the county. 
Many of the larger public buildings are of his construction, notably the 
last two school buildings built in Independence. His citizenship during 
his residence in Montgomery county has been of the higliest quality and 
the large family which he has reared reflect credit upon the different 
communities of which they are members. The ])arents are both life- 
long members of the M. E. church, and are held in high esteem by a 
large circle of fiiends. Their childicn are: Henderson .\., a contractor, 
at Coffey ville; F. ]>., subject of this sketch; Caroline, .Mrs. Harvey Wil- 
son, of P.urlingame, Kan.; Maggie, wife of John Dreher, of Montreal, 
Canada; Jesse B., contractor, Bartlesville, I. T.; Flora B., Mrs. Frank 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 735 

Stovall, of Guthrie, Ok. Ty.; Minnie X., wife of F. (!. Wilson, of Inde- 
pendence; Miles ()., deceased, in ]!((»2, at twenty-lhree rears; Emerson 
W., a brielvlayer, of Olda. City; Jennie, sinj;le, and Daisy, wlio died in 
infancy. 

F. 1). Hi-ewster is a native of Tuscarawas counly, Oliio, where he 
was born April 18, 18(JS. He came with the family to Kansas, and, 
after securing a good common school education learned the bricklaying 
trade with his father. He was his father's right hand man until 181)1, 
when he began contracting for himself. The Baden warehouse in Inde- 
jiendence was his first contract, and his success in this instance has been 
dui)licated many times. Some of his larger contracts are: several school 
lious(>s, th(> Masonic Temple, Carl-Leon Hotel, and the Hoilingsworth 
residence. The secret of his success is possibly in the fact that his word 
is as good as his bond, and when he enters into a contract to peiform cer- 
tain work, the specifications will be followed to the letter. 

Mr. Hrewster and his family are active members of the M. F,. church, 
while he affiliates with the Masons (Blue Lodge, Chapter and Cominan- 
dery), and the A. O. I'. \\'. He votes the Republican ticket. 

'Mrs. Brewster was Miss Mattie Flack ]>rior to Marcli .St(. 1802, the 
date of their mairiagi^ She is a native of Iiuliana. a daughter of John 
and Nancy Flack, deceased. Tavo children have been Ikm-ii to her. Ivan 
Elsie and James Russell. 



INHLTON r)A^■IS— The family of which Milton Davis, a worthy rep. 
resentative of the agricultural class in Cherokee lownshij), is a member, 
originated in Wales. In the year Kirilt, four brothers crossed the ocean 
and cast their future with the peojde who had founded the colony of 
Maryland. From this family quartette sprung the foivfathers of our sub- 
ject and thus the head of the family re]>i-esented by the subject of this 
review. From Maryland to North Cai-olina Iheir jtosterily spread and 
our National history is tilled with the names of iiatriots and statesmen 
who have added lenown to the already brilliant achiex eTuents of our re- 
juiblic. Cajitain Isaac Davis, who fought \aliantly for our freedcuu from 
British rule, was a descendant of this and a grand ancestor of our sub- 
ject. 

Milton Davis was born in Berry County, Illinois. December 24, 1840. 
His father was Joel Davis, a native of Tennessee, born .March 2nd, 1,S18. 
His mother was Millie U()bertson, a native of the same stale, born Maich 
18, 1S2(I. The maiT-iage ceremony was perfcuined in \\asliiiigt(Ui Co., 
III. The ])aternal grandparents of our subject removed, in 1S22. to Illi- 
nois, where Joel Davis was reai-ed to manhood on the farm and resided 
until 1870. when he came to Montgoniejy county, and settled in Chero- 
kee townshiji, five miles east of Coft'eyville. There he died .\ugnst "ith, 
1802, aged seventvfour vears. His wife died in June, ISOO, at the 



736 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

age of seventy veais. Eleven cluldren coniposed tlie family, four of 
whom died in infancy. Newton died at tliiity-one and there are now 
six living: Frank M., William, Joel, ("liatles, Milton and Mrs. Saiah 
<;raliam. 

Mr. Davis secured a district school education and was still at home 
when the call was made for troops to jiut down the rebellion. In the 
early part of 18()2, he enrolled as a private in Company "A," 101st. 
111. Vol. Inf., and served his country to the close of the struggle. He 
was with "Incle Hilly" Sherman at Vicksburg, accompanied him across 
to ("lialtasooga, to Atlanta and to the sea. up through the Carolinas and 
to the Grand Review of the battle-scarred veterans a1 the Nation's 
('aj)itol. During these years of peril, he had many narrow escajies, but 
leturned in coniiiaratively vigorous health, and with no serious wounds. 
He was struck several times by spent balls and pieces of shell, but never 
lost a day by reason of his wounds. He was discharged on the l22nd of 
Ji'ne. 18(i5, at Springfield. 111. 

Mr. Davis i-emained in Illinois engaged in farming until 1S7I, the 
date of his settling in Cherokee township, ^lontgomery county. He re- 
sided there for three years and then bought Hid acres of the land on 
which he n(»w resides. He has redeemed this land frt)m its wild state 
and iias it in a high state of cultivation. To the original quarter, he has 
added another, the farm now comprising .'520 acres. He is engaged ex- 
tensively in the raising of cattle and hogs. 

During his i-esidence in the county, Mr. Davis has taken an active 
and lieliiful |iai-t in building u]i the institutions of society which makes 
Montgomer\ county a desirable jilace of residence. Four terms has he 
seived as trustee (d' his townshiji and he has acted as treasurer, also, 
foi' a numbei- of terms. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Masonic lodge 
at Coffeyville. and is also a member of the Comnutndei-y at Independ- 
ence. His vote is always counted in support of the principles of 
Democracy. 

November :'.r(l, IStu, was a day to be remembered in the lives of 
oui' subject and his wife, for, on that dav. the latter changed her maiden 
name of Klizabelh Kobinson to that of Da\is. She was liorn in ^^'llite 
county. 111., on Septendier 12, 1845. Her father was (Jeorge Kobinson. 
her mother, lOlizabeth Overfield, both natives of Virginia. To the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Davis, five children have been born: Charles 
E., a farmer of this townshij); Berdella. wife of H. .\. Rrown. a farmer 
of the township; Kichard. who lives at Coffeyvilh^; Nellie. Mi-s. O. A. 
Oreen of lii(le]ien(lcn( c. and .Mvitle. Mrs. KJbeil Di\<len of Ft. ^^'orth, 
Texas. 



WILLIAM L. HOLTON— February 12. 1802. William L. Bolton was 
born in Cedar count v. Iowa. He was twelve vears of age when he ac- 



HISTORY OK MONTUOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 737 

compiiiiicd his parents from his nativo stalo into Kansas and became a 
citizen of Kntler Co., later of Montf^omery <'onnly. Here he came to 
maturity and was educated and has achievi'd liis material success. He 
is recojinized as one of the men of promise in the a;;ricnltviral and gra/.- 
in<; worhl of ('lierry towiishiji and is pursuinj; liis callini; witii a mod(!Sty 
and fran]<ness Itecominji tlie man. 

Mr. liolton is a son of -Janu's ]><>llon, a native of \'ir};inia. and of 
Elsie Thorn, also of that state. In 18r>4, 1h<^ parents moved out to Iowa 
and passed many years in Cedar county. Tliey also resided in the State 
of Missouri a short time and, some years later, resided in Butler county, 
Kansas. The\' finally came to Montgomery county where the father yet 
lives and wliere the mother died at the age of si.xty-eight years. Six 
chihlren were the issue of their marriage, viz; Mary, Nancy, Ellen, 
\\'illiam L. and James; Namy ami ^Villiam l>. being the sole survivors 
of the issue. One child died in infancy. 

The country schools of Kansas supj)lied William L. BoKon with a 
fair education and equipped him to cope successfully with his fellow- 
niau. He was married in November, 1885, his wife IxMUg P^nu'line Estes, 
a daughtei- of Edmond Estes, and widow of E. S. Estes from North Caro- 
lina. .Mis. Itolton came to Kansas with her first husband in ISS.*?, and 
located on l>rum creek, tive luiles northwest of <'h<'rryvale. Their 
energy and industry im|)roved this farm, brought it to a high state of 
cultivr.tion and made it one of the splendid estates in the Drum creek 
valley. Since his nmrriage, Mr. Bolton has assumed chai'ge of the affairs 
of Ihis farm and its cultivation and nmnageTuenl, together with that 
of his own farm adjoining, consumes his time and givi's him ampli- lati- 
tude to demonstrate his jirowess in (he bailie of life. The homestead 
and its adjunct coiuiuise a tract of three hundred anil four acres and 
constitutes one of the best wheat and stock farms in Cherr.\- townshij). 
A new residence has sj>rnng up and other substantial improvements 
mark the progress of its dual and worthy ownei's. 

Mr. and Mrs. B(dton"s Tuarriage is without issue. They are hospi- 
table and happy in theii' home life and ari' wilhout ambition i)ey(uul good 
citizenship and a fair lemnneiatiim for their honest cITcuts. Mr. Kol- 
ton suiiports the cause of Kcpublicanism at the polls and does this bit 
of |iolitical wtu-k from purely patriotic motives. 



F. W. (JAKLINCHOrSE— It is said that a man's character is much 
affected by the work in which he engages-Tlhat (he masoirs fieiiuent 
use of (he plumb line, the caipentcr's use of his square, the farmer's 
efforts to run the jtlow in a straight line across his fiehl -that all these 
exerl an unccmscious inlluence uiion (he character of (he individual. If 
this be true, it accounts, in some ineasui-e, at leas(, for (he uprighl char- 
ac(ef of the gentleman above mcutiom-d. Mr. «iarliMghouse is a worker 



738 HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

in marble, and the reputation which he sustains in his home town of In- 
dependence would seem to indicate that there is something iu the above 
theory — he is as clear cut and upright as the shafts which show his 
handiwork. 

Mr. Garlinghous is following the trade of his father, George C. Gar- 
liughouse, now a. resident of Oklahoma, but for a number of years in 
business in Montgomery county. He and his wife, nee Helen Salisbury, 
removed to Montgomei-y county from McDonough Co., HI., with their 
family of five children. They resided in the county until 1894, when the 
parents removed to Oklahoma. The names of the children are: Eva 
E., now Mrs. C. Gibson, of Chanute, Kas. ; F. W. the subject of this 
sketch; Opal, Mrs. I*. E. Voyles, of Independence; Clyde, at home with 
his i)arents; Avis, of Independence. 

F. W. Garliughouse was born in McDonough county. 111., November 
16, 1S<37, and came to Kansas with the family. He was given a goo9 
education in the common schools, after which he learned the trade of 
marble-cutter under the watchful and experienced eye of his father. In 
1891, he began business for himself in Canoy, with his father as a part- 
ner. The firm continued three years, when F. W.. bought his father's 
interest, the latter having determined to go to Oklahoma. In 189.5. Mr. 
Garliughouse moved his business to Inde])endence and purchased the 
marble yard of Wm. Dawson, whei-e he has since been engaged success- 
fully. An evidence of the satisfactory character of his work is in the 
fact that although he covers a huge field, no competitor has been able to 
establish himself here. 

The married state was entered into by Mr. Garliughouse in Fort 
FcwW, Kansas, the date being October 30, 1900, the contracting party 
being Flora J. Atkins, daughter of William Atkins, the whole family 
natives of New York state, where the father still resides, the mother 
being deceased. Two childrn have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Garling- 
house: Donnie F., and Freddie J. Mrs. Garliughduse is a lady whose 
influence for good is felt in M. E. church circles, she being an active mem- 
ber of that organization. Mr. (Jarlingiiouse affiliates with the Modern 
Woodmen and the Knights of Pythias, and is Republican in political 
belief. 



J. F. WISE — Wise & Sinnet are leading hardware merchants of 
Cherryvale, also large jobbers in tin and i)luuibing work. Mr. Wise is 
a native of Illinois, born in Green county, April SO, 1S(!G. His parents, 
W. .1. and Susan Wise, were natives of the same state. In 1867, the 
family removed to Ottawa, Kan., and canu' later to Cherryvale where 
the mother died in IS77, at liie age of thirty-seven years. She was a 
devout member of the M. E. church. The fathci-, now resides in Mound 
A'allev, Kansas, w here his two oldest scuis arc in business. 



? 



f, HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 739 

Mr. \\'is(>, Sr., rc.'^iKnulcd to tlic'oiill (if liis coniiliv in (lie days of tlie 
liebellioii, lu'coiniiif; a iiii'iiihcr of ("oiupiiiiv "<!.'' nillli. 111., \'<il. liift., in 
whii'li ho served faitlifiiliy for the entire period of the war. During his 
early residence in Montgomery, he lived on ('herry creek, one and one- 
half miles north of Cherryvale, and then moved to the city in 1873. 

J. F. \Yi.se, the subject of this sketch, is the third of fonr children. 
L. H., the eldest, and J. A., the next youiif^er. live al Mound Valley and 
are partners in business there. The youngest, (i. E., being in their 
employ. J. F., was born in Illinois, but reared and educated in Kansas. 
At eigliteen, he began his active business career as a clerk in the drug 
store of Kichart ^: Ilockett, of this city. Thence to Mound \'alley. where 
he passed seven years in the employ of F. P. Dims & Co. In 1895, he 
entered the hardware business for himself at Motind \'alley and there 
gained valuable experience in the conduct of such a business. Three 
years later he came to Cherryvale and bought a half interest in tlic- Cash 
Hardware Comjiany. The tirm has one of tlie l)est locations in the town 
and carries everything in the line of heavy and light hardwaic, also 
plumbing and gas fixture sujiplies. Thougli absent for a considerable 
period, Mr. Wise is really one of the oldest settlers of tliis locality, as he 
came here at six or seven years of age, and tinis miglit be called a product 
of Cherryvale. He is a keen business man and the city may well be 
proud to claiiu him as a citizen. He tias seived one term as a member 
of the common council of the city and held tlie same ottice for a like 
period in Mound ^'alley. 

In 1S!HI, Mr. ^\■ise was happily joined in marriage to Ida F. Hill in 
Mound A'all(>y. Mrs. Wise is a native of Missouri, the daughter of 
Thomas Hill, of Audrain county, that state. Slie was for four years 
connected with the firm of F. P. Dicus & Co., in Mound Valley, a portion 
of whicli time Mr. A\'ise served the same firm. To Mr. and Mis. Wise 
have been born three chilrden: Paiil K.. Ahbie |)i<-us. who died at the 
age of foui'. and Kalidi J. Both parents are mcmbeis of the I'resby- 
teriaii church, of which .Mr. A\'ise is a dea<-on and a( one time iiiling elder 
of the Mound N'alley chui'ch. He is a m<'mber of the K. and L. of 
Security, being treasurer of the same. He is treasui-er of the Aetna 
Buililing and Loan Association of Top<*ka. and is a mi'mber of the school 
board of Cherryvale. In political belief Ik; af<cribes to the (irinciples of 
tlw^ I)arty of Lincoln and McKinley. 

Ml-. \\is(*'s iH'other went to Mound \alley in 18S4. forming the part- 
nership of F. r. Dicus i*!;: Co. The tirm name is now AN'ise Pios., they 
having purchased the interests of the Hicus Ur.os. in the year l!l(l(l. These? 
gentlemen are well and favorably known in tlieir county, having been 
in business since 1884, at Mcmnd Valley. Mr. J. A. Wise has been 
mayor of the city and lield other public ofTic'es of trust. L. li. is a mem- 
ber of the ((jiincil and treasurer of tlie school board, also an active 



740 IlISTOKY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

worker, and elder In the Presbyterian church. J. A. has two children 
and L. H. has three. 

Mrs. J. F. Wise came to Mound Valley iu 18S3, to assist iu the 
office work of F. P. Dicus & Co., being a niece of the Dicus Bros., and 
afterward became one of the principal salesladies of the dry goods de- 
partment, giving universal satisfaction to the Ann and general public 
and counting her friends by the score. 



JOHN FADLEK — In the subject of this brief article is presented 
one of the more recent settlers whose identity with Montgomery county 
matters, dates from 1882, when he became the owner, by purchase, of a 
body of land in sections 11 and 12, township 3.3, range 15, upon which 
he has since made his home. He is one of the progressive farmers 
of Independence township, has prospered in keeping with his efforts and 
has become one of the substantial men of the agricultural class. He has 
erected a modern residence, barn and other improvements necessary for 
the symmetrical and well-balanced development of his estate and is the 
owner of three hundi'ed and thirty-seven acres of land in the county. 

John Fadler was born in Perry Co., Mo., March 5. 1840. His father, 
Adam Fadler, settled in that locality as a young Cennan, fresh from 
his native land and was identified with it as a successful farmer till his 
death March 4, 1,S!»0, at the age of seventy-five. Adam Fadler left Ger- 
many in company with a brother at the age of seventeen, and what 
little personal effects he possessed, were lost by the burning of their ship 
at sea. Day labor was the channel through which he acquired his first 
capital, and this he invested wisely in real estate as the occasion offered. 
He married Easier Meyers, and tlie two ])ut forth the toil and the exe- 
-cutive ability in the accumulation of a valuable estate. Mrs. Fadler 
■died in 1801, and two of her children, only, grew to maturity, viz: John 
and Solomon. The father of these sons was one of the leading citizens 
of his community. While he deemed his province to be a laborer in the 
field and emjjloying himself with his own affairs, he gave patriotic atten- 
tion to his duty as a citizen. He allied himself with the Republican 
party in politics and was' an active member of the Lutheran chuich. 

Mr. Fadler, of this r-ecord, came to maturity on his father's farm. At 
about eighteen, he started in life as a hand, working for wages. He was 
in the lead mines in St. Frances Co., and in the coal mines of the locality, 
and for several years spent his wages as he got them. His marriage 
induced a s])irit of econcimy, aiid from ISTfi till 1880, his ]>roflts as a miner 
were carefully guarded. The proceeds of six years labor he brought 
with him to Kansas and they formed the iiiirleus about which later ac- 
cumulations have centered. 

December 12,1870, Mr. Fadler married Maggie C. Conkle. a 
daughter of Reuben and Elizabeth ((Mine) f!onkle, foinierly from Alle- 




JOHN FADLER. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 74 1 

gheny Co., I'a. The Toiiklcs reiircd a fiiiiiilyof U'li cliildicii, si.\ of whom 
arc liviug: Alary, wife of Jotsi'j)h (iiavcs, of Cancy, Kansas; Flany, of 
Sullivan Co., Indiana; Hnfus, of Montj^'oniory Co., Kansas; Elizabeth, 
wife of R. E. Roberts, of Monl.u;oinery Co., Kansas; Mrs. Fadler and 
Frances, deceased wife of Will Fronient, of Sumner Co., Kansas. Mr. 
and Mrs. Fadler"s children are: Eli/.alx'th H., who died at three years; 
Charles W., born May 22, 1S,S0; Jesse CI, born December 2!t, 18.S2;' Johu 
Harrison, born ^"()venlber !), ISSO; Kufns Evert, born .Vpril !», 1S88; Flos- 
sie E., born January 2.^, l,S!t2. and Howard ()., born August 2!), 18!».^. 

Mr. Fadler is a l{e])ul")lican, an Odd Fellow and the family hold 
allegiance to the Christian church. 



JOSEl'H R. DARLING — The name introducing this brief personal 
reference is one familiar to both the old and the new settlers about 
Cherr\', West Cherry and Drum ('reek townships, and i(s owner and his 
pioneer wife have had to do with the sei-ious development affaii's of their 
community. AVhile thirty years is embraced in the ])eriod of residence 
of Mr. Darling within the limits of Montgomery county, his wife counts 
five years more aiul begins her experience wiih (he first settlers of the 
county. 

Josejdi R. r>arling was boiii May 22, 1S4!), in .Jacivson coun(\', Ohio. 
His parents, Janu's H. and Rachel (Howe) Darling, were born in Ohio 
and jKissed their lives there till 1885, when they came to Kansas and <Vhh\; 
the father in November, 1894, at eighty-three years, and the mother in 
1892, at eighty-two years. James H. Darling and his son, (Uiarles, 
.served in an Ohio regiment during the l{ebeili(>ii. lOiglit cliildren were 
born to this worthy pair, namely: I'etci- 15. and ("harh-s .1.. of Labette 
<"()., Kansas; William \j.. Henry <\. \liginia <\. and Malinda S., all of 
Ohio; .Joseph R. and Tai-y, deceased. 

The common schools of his native state jirovided Josejih R. Darling 
with a fair ediication, and at twenty-one years of iige, he .set out for 
Knox Co., Illinois, where he worked on the farm by the montli until his 
advent to Kansas in ISTd. lie first stopjied in Ijabette county and made 
a hand, for wages, till aftei- his marriage, which occurred Oct. IS. IS72. 
He bought the family homestead, where his wife was brought u|). and 
has jiassed through more than one crisis while reaching the ])osilion of 
financial indcp<Miden<-e which he now enjoys. The winning of his sncces,s 
es was not attended without many domestic haidships, and during the 
early seventies, there were jieriods when corn bread twenty-one times a 
week was felt to be a luxury. Slock and grain have constituted the 
bone and sinew of his prosiieiity, and it is a cau.se for congrat ulal u)n to 
note that, in the possession of one of the best little farms in Drum 
("reek li)wiishi]i, his years of labor have been, in a fair measure, re- 
warded. 



742 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Mr. Darling married Alice C. Huff, born in Davis Co., Iowa, July 23, 
1855. Her parents were Thomas G. and Barbara (Greenough) Huflf, the 
father a native of Ohio, and the mother of the same state. Mr. Huff 
went into the army in 1861, from Iowa, and died of the measles, in St. 
Louis the same year. He left six children, as follows: Mrs. Darling, 
Amanda, Alvin, Austin, Sarah and Mary. Cyrus J. Pond became the 
second husband of ilrs. Huff. He was an Iowa man and brought the 
family to Kansas in 18C7. He settled a claim two miles northwest of 
Cherryvale, as since located, and died the next year, leaving three chil- 
dren : James. Charles and Kosa Pond. •!. S. MuUin became the third 
husband of Mrs. Pond. He was a New York man, came to Kansas in 
18(59, and died at fifty-two years of age, leaving three children, namely: 
"William K., Ira and Mattie J. Mrs. Mullin moved to Colorado in 1881, 
and died there in 1882. 

When Mrs. Darling began her life ni Kansas, coyotes, Indians and 
prairie chickens moiioiioli/.ed the country. Tlieie was only one white 
family within si.x miles of where her mother lived, and the first Indians 
she saw, gave her a scare that she never forgot. .\s all children, she 
had heard stories of "scalping by the Indians" and she feared the same 
dire consequences at sight of her first Red Man. 

Long and slow trips to Humboldt, for supplies, had to be made, and 
the scarcity of money on this frontier compelled this frequent journey 
and at times the travelers were snow-bound, oi' water-bound, and while 
thus awaiting the favor of the weather, almost starvation was often 
taking ]i]ace at home. The ])rayers of Mother Mullin often went uji, aji- 
pealing tliat jirairie chickens might be ensnared in the family trajis, so 
that the household hunger might be a])peased. Later on, other em- 
barrassments were visited upon the family. Hoppers and chinch bugs 
scourged the country and the little substance that the family liad gather- 
ed together was well nigh consiiuied by these i)ests. 

The treaty for the Osage Diuiinislied Heserve had no! yet been made 
when Jlrs. Darling came to .Montgomery county. On that day, some five 
thousand Osages gathered in camp near lndei)endence and they, with a 
few white settlers, witnessd the pi'oceedings which eventually opened 
their vast reserve to w^hite settlement. 

Mr. and Mrs. Darling are the i)arents of: Joseph R., Pearl A., Rachel, 
wife of Joe McDaniel ; Stella, who died at six years; Barbara, Ellen^ 
Hestei- A.. Lewis ]•>., Calvin P... lOllia .\., Revilo N., Henson, deceased, and 
Edna .Mari(>. 

]\Ii'. Darling has taken a somewhat passive inteiest in polities, 
although h(> has participated in his township affaiis. He is a Republi- 
can and has served as Justice of the Peac<> for a number of years. He 
is a member of the M. W. of A. 



; HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 743 

JAMES HELMS— JuiiL- :!, 18;!3, the subject of this notice was bora 
in Clinton county, Indiana, and in infancy, his parents removed to Ii'o- 
(jiiois Co., 111. On coniinf; of age, he returned to Indiana and ]>ur(;liased a 
small farm in Xewton Co., where his efforts were concentrated till the 
outbreak of the Civil war. 

November 15, 18(il, he joined Co. "]?," .^ilst Ind. Vol. Inf., Col. 
Able I). Strai};ht's reffinient. ln'loniiinj; to the 4th Army ('orps. From 
its rendezvous at Indianajxilis, the re<;imen( was ordei'ed to Louisville, 
Iventucky. where suliject was taken sick and sent to Itardslown, Ky., 
and placed in the hospital. In thi-ee months he was able ajjain for travel 
and he was ordered to Jlumfordsville, where he convalesced, rejouin}? his 
regiment in Alabama after the fight at Corinth, Mississippi. He partici- 
pated in the battle of Murfreesboro and accomj)anied four regiments 
down thrcuigh (Jeorgia to Day's (iap, on Crooked creek, where their 
ammunition gave out and the whole command was taken in and sent to 
Kome, (ieorgia, as jirisoners of war. They were removed, later, to 
Atlanta, and finally to Kichmond. and ]ilaced on Hell Island, where they 
were exchanged seventeen days latei'. Mr. Helms was then ordered 
to Baltimore, thence to Columbus, Ohio, and on to Indianapolis, where 
for seven months, he was detailed to guard Hebel ])risoners. He was 
then sent to the front and reached the field at Nashville, Tenn. He took 
part in several skirmishes and snuill tights and did what he could toward 
winning the battle of Nashville itself. His regiment was then detached 
and sent to San Antonio. Texas, where, Dec. l."j. l,S(;."i, oui- subject was dis- 
charged after a service of four years and three motitlis, a veteran volun- 
teer of a great civil war. He was promoted to be a coritoral, and to duty 
sergeant, and reached home .lanuan' !.'{, lS(i(>. 

He cultivated his little Indiana farm till 1S7!I. when lie brought his 
family westwai-d and settled, for the time being in Woodson county. 
He came to Montgomery county in 1S.V2. and located on his ]iresen1 jtlace 
of one hundred and twenty acres in section 11, townshi)i .■':'.. rani,re 14. a 
place without improvements and as untamed as nature left it. His first 
residence was the jiroverbial log cabin, with dinuMisions ]4xl(), and this 
served tlie family as a domicile until gi'catei' atlluence could piovide a 
better home. 

James Helms was a son of .lames Helms, a farmer, who died just 
prior to our subject's birth. The latter was the oldest of three sons, 
the other two Ix'ing William and Tli<imas. James married Kaclu'l 
Taylor, a rennsylvania lady, and their cliildren were: Mrs. Kii/al)eth 
Sherrel, Mrs. Sarah Davis. .Mrs. Nancy Sherri'l. Thomas. William, 
George and James. 

In the year 1S.")!I. Elizabeth M. Tiniiiioiis hecaiiie ilie wife of .lames 
Helms, our subject. Her- native place was .Newiori <'o.. Ind.. and hei* 
parents wer-e Hasset and Sarah (.lohnsonl TimriKUis. The cliildr'en of .Mr. 
and ills. Helms are: .Mrs. Martha fi-osson. of KIk <'ity, Kansas, and 



744 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mrs. Sarah Erown, a resident of this couiitj-. By a former marriage to 
Ann Eliza Kainey. there were born two children: Eva, who died, aged 
about 21 years, and Ann Eliza, who married Joseph Egbert, and resides 
in Bates Co., JIo. 

In his political beliefs ifr. Helms is independent. He is a member 
of the Methodist Protestant cliurch and of the A. H. T. A. 



JOHN FRP^XCH — The gentleman here named is one of the enter- 
prising and thrifty business men of Oherryvale, senior member of the 
hardware and grocery tirm of French & Raynu)ud. His birth occurred 
in the State of New Hanii)shire, February 25. 1838, his parents being 
Jesse and Ann iChamberlin) French. Tlu» father was, in his earlier man- 
hood, a successful school teacher and later a farmer. He was a man 
of parts in his locality, there being scarcely a jieriod in his life when he 
was not an incumbent of a public ofHice. He served with distinction in 
the legislature of his state, a coincidence being that he and one of his 
sons were membeis of the body at the same time. He was born in the 
year j800, and li\ed to the age of ninety-six years, his wife dying in 1899, 
at the age of seventy-three. They were the parents of ten children, 
eight still living. They were intensely devoted to their country's wel- 
fare and gave three sons in time of need, whose service aggregated 
seven and a half years. Of these, Henry served three years as a private 
in the 11th X. H. Xo]. Inf., our subject and his twin brother, Elias, 
enlisting at the same time. Tlieii- tiist battle was at Fredericksburg, 
where Henry was wounded and suliseciuently s])ent four months in the 
hospital. Returning to the army, he served to the close of the war, 
as did Elias. Jlr. French served some 18 months, was twice wounded, 
and was finally discharged for disability. 

Our subject learned the machinist's trade prior to the war and in 
1865, came out to I'earson, Ind., where he worked four years; thence 
to Cliicago, where he entei'ed the emj)lov of I'alnier & Fullei'. sash and 
door manufacturers. Ho was a faithful emi)loye of this firm for a 
period of fifteen years, and in all that time never lost a day. Ijnbette 
county, Kan., was then his home for ten ^ears, where he put in a fine 
state of cultivation, a half section of land. In 181)4, he came to Cherry- 
vale and began work in a modest way, in a gun rejjair shop. 
On Jan. 1st, IIIOI!. the ]ireseiit firm was formed, and purchased the Tuttle 

building, a large brick. 2Sxl(t(t. and with three r<> s on the ground 

floor. Tlie\- added a stink of groceries and geneial hardware. By close 
attention to business and handling none but the best goods, they have 
built up a fine trade, and are increasing their business yearly. 

Marriage with Mr. French was an event of October 14, 1800, his 
wife's maiden name having been Libbie Perkins, a sister of Hon. B. W. 
Perkins, for long vears one of tlie state's honored members of Con- 




FRANK D. HOLLAND AND FAMILY. 



HISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 745 

gress. This i'iuiiily were oiifriually I'loiii .Miissiu-hiisctls. (In- children 
having been leaied in Ohio. To tlic inaniage of Mr. French (here was 
born a daughter, who died in infancy. 

Hohling nienihersliip in no se( i-el order oi- climcli, .Mr. French con- 
tents himself witli looking after his business and enjoying Ihc r<'slfnl 
quiet of his home, lie cares nothing for the emoluments and honors of 
public otlice, but is ouis]iokeii and enthusiastic in his support of the 
j)arty of IJncoln and (iarlield, which has recei\('d his vote almost since 
its inception. 



FRANK D. H0LL.\X1>— We ])resent in this article the career— in 
brief — of a gentleman whose New England origin has e(iui|)])e(l him with 
a jK'rsonality i)eculiarly his own, and in striking and favorable contrast 
to the native sons of Montgomery county, lie has been identitied with 
the west for liie past eighteen years, and thirteen years of that time, he 
has passed in the vicinity of his jtresent home. He owns two hundred 
and ten acies of section ',», townshij) :{."!, range 10. and has been occupied 
during his domicile here, with the business of ac(iviiring and i)re|)aring 
his family and himself with a modest and unincumbered h<ime. His 
efforts in this county have shown him fo lie jiossessed of the s])irit which 
achieves worthy and substantial results, and it is such settlers who con- 
tribute the best elements of our citizenship. 

Frank D. Holland comes from Androscoggin Co., Maine. He was 
born in Lisbon, that county. January 20. 1S47. and his ancestors were 
of the pio-neer settlers of tlie "Pine Tree'' state. His father was Capt'. 
Henry I. Holland, a venerable, wealthy and retired citizen of Lewiston 
and his grandfather was ('apt. Daniel Holland, commanding a licet of 
fishing vessels on the New England coast and lost at sea about 181."). 
The grandfather left a family of sons, as follows: Uaniel, Richard, 
Micliael and Henry. Henry Holland was a self-made man who h-arned 
the tanner's trade in youth, at Danville — his bii'thplace — and when he 
acquii'ed the means with which to engage in business for himself, he es- 
tablished himself at IJsbon where he conducted his leather factory for 
many years. He was ever an active man in his county, was a ^^'llig and 
then a Republican in ]H>litics, and rejjresenled his county in the Maine 
legislature of IStiO. Towai'd the evening of life, he invested largely 
in real estate in Lewiston, which lioldings grew into money rapidly witli 
the growth and i)rosi>ei'i(y of the city, and in lime he was numbered 
among the wealthy men of the place. He married Jane M. Thompson, 
who was born in Newlield, !Me., in 181(i, — tliree years after his own 
birth — and die<l in IStiC.. leaving the following issue, viz: Charles, who 
died in Maine, and has a son iti I'aris. France: Frank D., of this mention; 
Saiah J. and Edith ('.. both ])rincii)als of schools in Massaclms(>tts. 

Mr. Holland of this leview acquired a fair education in the jinblic 



746 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

schools of liis native county. Superior iidvaniagi's were offered him for 
acquiring an education, hul his inclination was foi' play and fun and not 
for books. He played truant many a teiin wlien his parents thought him 
to be delving into liis lessons, and not until it was too late to mend mat- 
ters did he discover the misfortune he had brought on himself. He was 
not concerned seriously with the possibilities and resjionsibilities of life 
- — having a wealthy parent- — till above forty years of age. He picked up 
some points of value about carpenter work and, being handy with tools, 
and when the ])aientai contribution was williheld, he applied himself 
industriously to the car])enter trade. He remained in the State of Maine 
till 1884. when he came out to Kansas and resided foi- a short time in 
Osage county. He next went to Eiitporia, where he took charge of a 
hotel, and while here met the lady who is now his wife. Leaving Lyon 
county, he came to Montgomery county and began his career here with 
"one black team'" as a starter. A judicious investment in real estate has 
enabled him to solve the ditficult problem of finances, to a limited extent, 
for the ju-esent. He and his energetic and industi'ious wife and sons 
are causing substantial improvements to be made in Iheir new home 
and a herd of cattle and other stock is growing up around them. A 
Jersey stock farm is contemplated and, with favoring fortune, and with 
the assuring elements of pei'sonal .'success present in the family, their am- 
bition will be achieved. 

February .'ird, 1880, Mr. Holland married Mrs. Kva E. .\ney, a 
daughter of Andrew J. Aney, formeily of Oswego, X. Y. Mr. Aney was 
a butcher— ;as was his father, also, Michael .\ney. The Aneys were old 
residents of New Yoik state and of (Jernian antecedents. Andrew J. 
Aney married Louisa O. Marble — originally written De Mai'ble. Mrs 
Aney's father was a shoe dealer of Syracuse, New York and she, her- 
self, resides in Fhnj)oria, Kansas. Her husband died in 1880. He was a 
soldier in the (^'ivil ^Var in the 10f)th. HI., Inf., and served four years and 
three months. He died at Sedalia, Mo., leaving the following children: 
Mrs. Holland, born in Monroe Co., Wis., Seiit. 2:5, 18.^.5; Jennie, wife of 
J. Weatherby, of Birmingham, Ala.; Oharles, of Portland Oregon; Kate, 
of Emj)oria, Kansas, is the wife of Robert Sims; Annie, who died at 
Kingfisher, Oklahoma, was the wife of David King, of Kingfisher, Okla- 
homa; Dow, of Emporia, Kansas, and Grace, now Mi's. Oharles Frisby, 
of Kansas City Mo., wife of the son of one of the well-known engineers 
on the St. Fe Railway. Mrs. Holland was reared in Logan county, Illi- 
nois, and resided there from 1857 to 1885, when she came to Kansas and 
located in Emporia. She and Mr. Holland are the parents of three sons, 
namely: Leroy, Addis and Doron, aged sixteen, foiu'teen and twelve, 
respectively. 



JAMES M. WILSON — Twenty-five years have elapsed since James 
M. Wilson established his residence in Montgomery county. He first 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 747 

located iu iDdepeiulcncc towiislii]) anil, after passiiif; ten vcars as a 
tcnau'., bou<;ht a fai-m near .IctlVrson, wliere lie i-emaini'd sonio eleven 
years, conuiii; to Rutland townsliij) in 1S!»<>. He owns one linndicd and 
twenty acres in section 1'. lownship ;!:{. laniic 14, and is a plain, imassuni- 
h\<i "grower of ^lain. 

Mr. Wilson was born in Lawrence county. Indiana, October 1'", IS.")!, 
from wliicli place he was taken by bis (larents to \\'oo(lford Co., 111. 
There he came to matiirit.y and receiyed his elementary education. He 
was inured to the varied affairs of his father's farm and learned no other 
occupation well. He married Sarah E. Hattan, a native of Marshall 
Co., 111., and a daufrhfcr of John and Eli/,al)et]i CMcKinneyi Hattan. 
Their lives have been (lassed in aj,'ricultural channels and ei;iht children 
have come into the home since their weddinj,' day in 187G. In order of 
birth they are: Francis lO., Hirhard, Mrs. l)olly (lordon, of Chautau- 
qua Co., Kansas; Guy, John H., Sylvia E., Elsie E., and Opal. 

Our subject was a son of Mark Wilson who was born in Tennessee, 
but passed his active life in Indiana and Illinois. His death occurred 
in Montfromery county, Kansas, in 1805 at the ajie of 71 years. He 
served under Gen. Taylor and <;ien. Scott in the Mexican war and fought 
at Buena ^'ista. When the war of the Rebellion came on, he enlisted 
in August, ISGl', as a private in Company "A," 129th., 111., ^'ol., Inf., 
under Capt. Culver. He participated in every engagement of his com- 
pany during the service and was neitlier wounded nor captured. He 
was mustered out in Chicago in June, 18C5, a veteran of two wars. 

The grandfather of James M. Wilson was Samuel, also a native of 
Tennessee. His children were: John, Mrs. Elizabeth Whalen, Mrs. Mary 
Hulbert, Mark and James. Mark married .\nna Ileddeu, of Lawrence Co., 
Indiana, a daughter of Jerrad and Olive (Spratt) Hedden. The issue 
of this marriage were: Mrs. Sarah E. Moultou, James M., our subject; 
Mrs. Olive Scriveus, of Livingston county. III.; Mrs. Nancy J. Hodges, of 
Montgomery Co., Kansas; John H., Emma G., Furry, Mark, D. William, 
of Montgomery county, Kansas, and Keatus of Illinois. 

Ill his citizen relations, ^Mr. Wilson owes fealty to the Democratic 
party. He was allied with the F^usionisfs in opposition to the Repub- 
licans in the closing decade of the ninetenth century and has done public 
service in the ca])acity of constable and member of the school board. 



W. A. CURTIS, jeweler and ojttician of Clierryvale, was born in 
Gene^eo county. New York, Feb. L'8. I8t!8. His parents are George 
A. and Elizabeth Curtis, the latter of whom died in 1871, aged .'i.") years. 
She was a native of New York, and was a consistent and devout member 
of th(_' Methodist church. The father is now seventy years old and lives in 
Newberg, X. Y. He was a farmer in early life, but in later years lias* 
followed other business. 



748 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. " 

\\'. A. Ciiitis was an only child, and while still a boy, removed with 
his parents to Dakota, where he attended the coninion schools and assist- 
ed his father on the farm. He graduated in 1888, from the Winona 
Horoli)j;ical School and has since worked at his trade. He is also an 
optician, holding diiilomas in both lines of work. He came to Cherry- 
vale ii' lS!)(i, and was at lirs( connecled with his fatherin-law in the 
hardware liusincss nnder the nanu' of (he "("ash Ilai-dware Company." 
After two years, he sold out and then opened his present business 
under the name of the "Watch Hospital.'' He keeps a full Tine of 
watches, clocks and musical instruments. In one of the worst fires 
the city has known, his business place was destroyed, with many 
otheis. This occurred in 1!M)1, and the [iroperty v\as only partially cov- 
ered by insurance. 

Mi-. Curtis is a self-made man in the truest sense of that oft-used 
term, having begun life with nothing but his trade as his capital. He 
is a practical workman and takes pride in giving his customers the best 
there is in finished work at reasonable prices. He is one of the enter, 
prising business men of the city. His work is of a good grade and he is 
thoroughly identified with his adopted county, and is numbered among 
lier most worthy citizens. 

Mr. ('Urtis' marriage occurred in 1S0.5, his wife having bcnm Alice 
Odil, a native of Tennessee, and a daughter of J. H. and 8. E. Odil, who 
are residents of Cherryvale. To them have been born Erma Ursula and 
Irene Elizabeth. Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and members of the choir. Mr. Curtis is a member of the Ma- 
sonic (uder, also the A. O. V. W. and the Modern Woodmen of America. 
In political matters he uses his judgment in the selection of the best 
men on the ticket, regardless of party. 



GEORGE W. A^^AGGONER—One of the busiest men in Montgom- 
ery, the gentleman to whom the reader is liere introduced, is a dealer in 
horses and mules, farmer and general contractor. Not to know George 
W. Waggoner is to argue one's self unknown in the county, for there 
is not a nook or cianny within its corporate bounds with which he is not 
I)erfectly familiar. Since 1875, he has been carrying on business in the 
county, and much of that time he has lived in Independence. 

Dipping somewhat into the Waggoner family history, the birth of 
our subject occurred in (himberland county, I'a., in 184.j. He is a son 
of Jacol) and Mary (SIrohm) Waggoner, both of whom were natives of 
that stale, and were foi' long years prominent and influential in the 
affairs of Cumberland county, especially along religious lines. They 
were devout (Jhristians, members of the Evangelical Association church, 
in whose interests they were constant workers, and to whom that or- 
ganization owes much for the substantial character of their su]>port. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 749 

The oarliesl rocollection of our subject is of the itineraut jui-aclicr and 
his hearty welcome at all times in the Waf?},'""'''^ home, where, in the 
earlier days, services were always held. Later, a church \\as huilt by the 
family and a feAV neighbors. The parents lived to a ripe old age, the 
father dying at sixty-five, and the mother at seventy-seven years. They 
Avere the parents of seven children, five of whom now survive. 

Our subject was reared on a I'enn.sylvania farm and in ISOS, came 
out to Decatur, 111., where for a numbei' of years he was engaged in the 
grocery business and other lines. His father having been a large dealer 
in stock, Mr. Waggoner had learned much concerning the business, and 
upon his coming to the county found the knowledege of much service in 
connection with his farming interests. The county has no l)etter judge 
of horses or mules than our subject. He owns and operates two tine; 
farms in Drum ('reek Twp., and is also engaged in furnishing shale to 
the brickyard. 

Mr. M'aggoner's ideas of citizenshij) do not carry him into the field 
of politics, though be takes delight in furthering the interests of the 
Republican party, an organization which has received his support siuc(; 
he began exercising the franchise. He is a prominent member of the 
Knights of Pythias, and he and liis family are active, members of the M. 
E. cLurcli. His family consists of wife and two children: (iertrude C. 
is at present with her parents, while Karl Donald is a so])homore at 
Haker University, where he has made a most, enviable and creditable 
record as a public speaker, having won several prizes in debate and 
oratory. His future has much of promise in it. Mrs. Waggoner is a 
native of Decatur, HI. I'rior to September 2!), 1874, the date of her mar- 
riage to Mr. Waggoner, she was Miss Kate M. Stickle, daughter of John 
Stickle, who reared and educated her most carefully. She was gradu- 
ated at Jacksonville Female College and for. years was a successful 
teacher in the schools of Decatur. In the social and cliurch life of Inde- 
pendence she is a potent factor, her early training .being such as to make 
her competent to fill any position to which she .is called. 



SIDNEY A. PRATT— For the past two decades the soil of Mont- 
gomery county has been the richer and the moral tone of her society 
strengthened by the presence within her borders of the family whose 
honored head is here mentioned. In an unobtrusive and (jiiiet, but none 
the less effective manner, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt and their family have 
exerted a most wholsome influence along lines of. good citizenship, and 
deserv(\ as they receiv<', the heaily good will and esle<'m of their many 
friends in tlie county. 

Kansas is indebted to the old "Iloosier Stale" for this contribution 
to her population, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt both being natives of Parke cotin- 
tv. Mr. Pratt was born there on the 28th of Deceinbei', l!^.*};"), and is the 



750 IIISTOUY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

•son of James and Olive (I'ratt) I'lall, tlie jtareiitis being first cousins. 
There were seven eliililren in their family — Sidney A., Myron J., of In- 
deiteiidence.and lOniily, Hannah, l^orinda. I'hoebe and an infant, deceased. 
The parents of this family were of the thiifly farmer class of Indiana 
and fiassed their enlirc lives at tilling of the soil, the fathei- dyin*; on the 
old homestead at seventy-six years, and the niollier at the ajie of fifty- 
six. 

Sidney I'ratt followed the occupation of his father imlil 1S84, in 
I'arke county. In that year he purchased the fariu where he now re- 
sides, three miles east of Indeiiendi-nce. and has since participated act- 
ively, not only in the cuUivation of Monltjomery's soil, but in sustaining 
her educational and lelinious inslilulions, and in every movement cal- 
culated to elevate the tone of society aliout liitii. 

The maiden name of Mrs. Pratt was Hetty A. ('onm-r. Samuel and 
Elizabeth (Deal) ('ouner, her parents, were pioneers of I'arke c(mnty, 
the father having been a carpt^nter and farmer by occupation. Their 
family consisted of eight children, two of whom died in infancy. The 
living are: Susan, wlnt married David Stever, and now lives in Georgia; 
Louisa, wife of James Davis, of Coal City, Tnd.; Mis. Pratt, Allen, of 
niedford, Ind. : Mary, deceased, was the wife of (leoi-ge Carson, of Mo- 
inencp. Ills.; Nancy Jane, died at 18 years. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Pratt have been born seven children, now men and 
■women taking their jdaces creditably in the society of the different com- 
munities where they reside. Myron Allen is the eldest; a carpenter in 
the emjjloy of the ('. & E. I. railroad in Illinois. He tnarried Jose])hine 
Pilkington, who has borne liiin four children — CoUlie, (^loe. Alitia and 
Hernnin; Edson A. is aji engineer on the <". & E. I., living at Dalton, 111. 
His wife was Emma IMiodeidtaugh and his children are: Clyde and Hattie 
Ellen; Zina A. is a carpenter living at Kansas City. He nmrried Dora 
n. Wilson, a native of Ohio, whose four children are: George C, Clara. 
Mabel and Charles L. ; Hiram Wilson, a stenogiaj)her in the National 
Hank of Commerce in ■Kansas City, married Mattie Cordes. of Inde- 
pendence, of (ierman parentage; his bo.\'s mime is Merwiii ^^'. ; John 
S. chose the occupation of his ancestry and lives on the home farm; 
James is stenographer and assistant cashier in the Union National Bank 
of Manhattan, Kan. The youngest is Olive W^, who married Fred Bru- 
ington and resides on the home farm with their one son, George Sidney. 

The above will serve to note briefly the essiMitial iionts in the history 
of this excellent family. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are members and liberal 
supporters of the Methodist church. While oar subject has never sought 
office, he has at timex fllle<I positions of trust in his local community, 
and is a loyal supporter of the principles of government taught by Jetter- 
son, the sage of Monticello. 




JACOB E. MENSCH. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 75 I 

JACOB E. MENSCH— Onr attention is directed in the iufrodiiction 
to this sketch to one of the recent setUers and successful fanners of 
Independence township, Montpiniery coiint.y. He owns a body of four 
hundred and forty-seven acres of land, situated <ui both sides of the 
Independence and Fawn Treek townshi]) line, and his residence is on 
section iV.i, township 3:?, ranjj;e 15. In February, 1K!)4, this substantial 
farmer identified himself with this county by actual settlement and im- 
mediately besan a career of usefulness and honor. He was a settler 
from Whiteside county, Illinois, where his birth occurred Sept. 14, 18{i4. 
His father, William Mensch, settled in that Illinois locality anions; the 
first and was an active and successful tiller of the soil until advancing: 
ajje forced his retirement to private life. The latter was born in Lan- 
caster county. Pa., in 1826, and is of German iextraction. He married 
Catherine Leibe, who died in 18!)3. at the aj^e of sixty-seven years. The 
issue of this union are: Martin .1., of Oklahoma; Alfred, of Illinois; Eva, 
of Omaha, Neb., wife of "Hij;'' Yates; John, of Whiteside county. 111.; 
Alice, who married Milton Miller, of Carroll county. 111.; Harriet, wife 
of Royal Pitman, of the home county in Hlinois; Jacob E., of this notice; 
Clarence, of Mason City, la.; Laura, now Mrs. John Chalmers, of White- 
side county. 111., and Ida, wife of Caleb Shultz, of the same county and 
state. 

Jacob E. Mensch has known no work but that of the farm. His 
early traininj; for it was etlicient and his enerfjy and industry stand 
sponsor for its successful continuation. He was schooled fairly in the 
rni"il school and befjan life independently at about eighteen years of age. 
His first efforts at farming wei'e put forth on "five dollar land,'' rented 
from a farmer in his native county. He left Illinois after about a dozen 
years of independent effort there and with the requisite means he pur- 
chased his holdings in iMontgomerj- county, Kansas. (Jrain and stock 
laising const itiite his farm operations, and his success in these have war- 
ranted his ]K)si1ion as one of the substantial and reliable farmers of his 
t<>\\ iiship. His improvements are convenient, commodious and comfort- 
able and were partially made at his own behest. 

August 21, 1883, Mr. Mensch married Carrie E. Kingsbury, a daugh- 
tre of Silvus and Alice (Pond) Kingsbury, the fatlier from New York 
state and the mother a native of Ohio. .Mr. Kingsbury died in 1800, at 
sixty-nvo yeai'S of age and his wife passed away in 1878, at the age of 
forty-two. Their childien weie: -May, wife of (Jeorge Edson, of Mont- 
gomery county, Kansas; JJrs. Mensch, born on the 2d day of December, 
18f)2; Emma, who married Cliarles Kennedy, and resides in Montgomery 
county, Kansas, and Josejih C, of West Plains, Mo. Mr. and Mrs. 
Mensch's children are: Cmiy C, born Jan. 1, ISStJ; L<>ster F., boin Oct. 
4, 1SS7: Hay S., born Feb. 7, 18!»3. and Lauren H., born Oct. 23, 18!t{t. 
The Modern ^\'oodmen holds our subject as a mendier and he and his 
wife have ccrlilicales in the Roval Neighbors. He is also a member of 



752 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY', KANSAS. 

the A. II. T. A. He and wife arc inciiihcis of the M. E. clniich at Jeffer- 
son, Kansas, and In- is a nicniliiT uf scliodl b<iard X<i. l!S. 



HEX. SAill'KL lIKMvV — Tlic vcncnihlc subject of Ihis review lep 
resents a calling, tlic efforts of which are destined to evangelize the 
world. Its sacredness and its potency for good are universally conceded 
and the flower of oiii' civili/.ation l)econie the agencies for the propaga- 
tion of the seed. A\'orlhily bestowed was the nianlh* which fell upon our 
subject and consecrated him to the cause of the Master, for the harvest 
time has gatliered much fiuit from his vineyard and great good has been 
accomplislied in the name of the Lord. 

After forty-five years spent in the ministry and with health im- 
paired. Rev. Henry retired to the (piiet of his country liome and became 
a citizen of Montgomery county. Kansas. On his son's homestead o* 
eighty acres, in sccticuis 1 and :>1.', townsliiji :!:!, i-nige 14, he has passed 
the yeais since IHKd, occu])ied with the varied duties of active citizenship 
and with the more commonplace, yet seiious, duties of tlie farm. For 
five years ])astor of the ('edarvale Mission church in ("hautautiua county 
and for two years a representative to the legislature from his own coun- 
ty, constitute, in substance, his variation from the routine of monotony 
on the farm. He owns KiO acres adjoining his son's farm. 

Samuel Ht-ni'y was born in Abbottstown. Adams county, I'a., ilay 
3, 1828. He remaineil a citizen of that county till lie was twenty-two 
years of age. He attended the New O.xford Collegiate and Medical Insti- 
tute and afterward took the degree of A. M. in the Pennsylvania College 
at Gettysburg. He then took up theological work in the Seminary of 
the General Synod of the Lutheran church, where he graduated in the 
full two years course in 1S.")0. Entering the ministry, his first ])astoi'ate 
was at Dillsburg, I'a., where he was in charge of the w(u-k of the Luth- 
eran church. Three years later he was transfei'red to the same church 
in Westminster, Cai'roj! county, Maryland, where he labored six yi^ars, 
and was then commissioned to the church at Littlestown, Adams county. 
Pa. At this point he served the people for ten years, and his effoits re- 
sulted in the erection of St. Paul's Lutheran church at a cost of .fl.~).0()(). 
His next call was to I'hillipsburg, New Jersey, as pastor of St. James 
Lutheran church, and in this field he remained twelve yeais. going 
thence to Alifiinsburg, Pa., and lM»ing four years in charge thei-e. .\t the 
request of the P.oard of Home Missions of the deiioiiiinati(ui he was .sent 
to Ottawa, Kansas, where he established St. I'aul's T>utheran church 
in 188.3, and built the house of worship there. His ett'oi'ts in this field 
continued successfully for three years, when, owing to failing health. 
be resigned his pastorate and retired to his IMontgomery county faiin. 

Having relinquished the work of the ministry, largely, except as a 
iiupply and in the Mission church, as above stated, his mind naluially 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMRRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 753 

•diverted to (lie serious affairs of citizeiisliip and lie liecaiiie interested in 
tlie new |iolieies of fjoverniiieni as iireimscd and advocaliMl liy ttie I'"aiin- 
ers' .Vlliani'e. He esiioiised tlie cause of Hie refornieis and lieranie their 
s1and;;i(l-heai-er for tlie lej;islature in IS'IO. and was easily idected. He 
served one term in I lie lower Ikuisc and was naiui'il Utv I lie State Senate, 
bnt was defeale(l by a Hejmbliean. 

^^'llile filling- liis jiastorate at Lit t Icstown. I'a., Ilie liatllc of Cetlys- 
bui'S' was foiiijlit and lie acted as chaplain of the 14.")tli I'a. troops, spend- 
in;; niiicli of his time for some days in the field hospital there and in 
adjacent territory under the auspices of the Christian ( "ommissiou. 

Kev. Henry was a sou of Joseiih Jv. Henry, of .\danis county, I'a., 
who passed his life largely in the drup; business. His father was (leorge 
Henry, witli (ierman and Scotch-Irish blood coursinj; throiifjli his veins. 
The grandfather married .lulia N. Eosenmiller. a blood relative of Com- 
modore Porter. She was a native of Adams i-oiinty. I'a., and was the 
mother of an only child, .Joseph K. Henry. 

ilary Ickes liecame the wife of .Tosejih 1\. Henry. She was a daugh- 
ter of I'eter and Dorothy Ickes, .\dams county people. Two children 
resulted from the union of Joseph K. and .Mary Heury, viz: Smauel and 
Mrs. Dorothy Graflf, now deceased. 

Nov. 2dj 1850, Rev. Henry married Klizabeth S. Weaver, of Gettys- 
burg, Pa., a native born Peunsylvanian and a daughter of Jacob and 
Margaret (Eyster) A^'eaver. Tlie children (d' this marriage were ?Irs. 
ISIary E. Shinier, of Easton, Pa.; -Joseph Iv.. deceased, and AVilliani. .Mrs. 
Shimei-"s children are: lOlizabeth. .Mberta, lOnima. Henry, lada and 
John. The children of Josejili, deceased, were: William. Sarah JO.. Catli- 
eriue M.. Ellen M. and Samuel. 

By a singular coincidence Kev. and Jlrs. Henry were boi'u on the 
same day. May 3d, 1828. he being eight hours the older. They have 
])assed fifty-three years together under the most sacred vow and the 
wife has been an ever-jnesent aid to her liusband in liis labors in active, 
as well as in retired, life. Kev. Henry was ])roniinent in the administra- 
tive affairs of his church while in the vigor of life and held the offices of 
I'resideut and Secretary of the East Pennsylvania Synod of the l^iith- 
erau church four years, was President of the Central Synod of Pennsyl- 
vania for one year and was a delegate to the (General Synod at Hai'ris- 
burg. in ISCiT. 



JOHN F. KINCEE— One of tlie v.-iliiable farms of Cherry (ownshij) 
is owned and ojierated by John F. Kingle of this i-eview. It lies less than 
three miles fi-om the city of Chei'i-yvale and is. in a|ipearance and jiro- 
'liictiveness, a resultant from the ett'orts of its dual owners. John F. and 
<-'liarlotte Hiiigle. These worthy settleis came to Montgomery county 
in ISTS, and ]niicliase(l a I'ariii, paying out nearly all their means for a 



754 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

title to the land. In their circumstances it required some ingenuity to 
keep their littl(> ci-aft afloat, but the combined efforts of husband and 
wife weathered tlic storms of drouth and tlood and chincli bugs and ac- 
complished tlie task of improving tlieir home. This is the farm they 
have passed twenty-five years of their life on, and it is one of the desir- 
able and commercially valuable ones of the county. 

John F. Ringle was born in Westmoreland county, I'enusylvania, 
Sept. 22, 1845. John and Sophia (Boarts) Ringle were his parents, the 
father of Westmoreland county. Pa., and the mother of Ohio birth. 
After their removal to Stark county, Ohio, in 1848, the father learned 
the stone cutter's trade, at which he worked for some .years, but becom- 
ing ultimately, a farmer. He died in Stark county at fifty-three years of 
age, whih' his wife still survives, there, and is aged seventy-nine years. 
Nine of thcii- family of ten children were: Albert, John F., Daniel, 
Amos, Obediah, who died at four years; Elizabeth, Emma, who also 
died unmarried; Mary A. and William. 

The district schools of the country provided our subject with the 
rudiments of an education and he made his liome with liis jiai'cnts till 
he was past his majority. January 4, 1S70, he married Charlotte Kep- 
linger, a native of Stark coiinly, Ohio, and a daughter of Jesse and Re- 
becca (Heim) Kepliuger, both natives of the Kej'stone State. The Kep- 
lingers went to Ohio as cliildren and were married there; Mr. Keplinger 
being a miller in early life but later a farmer. He was born in 1799 and 
died iu 1855, while his widow survives him in DeKalb county, Indiana, 
at seventy-thiee years old. Mrs. Ringle was born Xov. 4, 1848, and is one 
of four children : I'riscilla, who died in infancy; Charlotte, Rebecca, who 
died at eleven years, and Josephine. 

Mrs. Keplinger married, the second time, Charles Baughman, who 
died leaving nine children, namely: IMrs. Caroline Panton, Sarah C, 
Mary A. and Florence E., deceased; Charles, Allen, Marion, Tabitha, de- 
ceased, and Magdalena. 

After the marriage of John F. Ringle he jjurchased a sixty acre 
farm in Stark county, Ohio, and was employed with its cultivation till 
he set out for Kansas. In their climb upward in IMontgomery county 
Mrs. Ringle's efforts were as valuable in the field as in the home. The 
misfortunes of the early years added greatly to her distress of mind and 
such real home-sickness as she experienced never afflicted mortal man. 
But she nerved herself to the inevitable and in the end found much 
pleasure in the sacrifices she made. 

The Ringle home comprises KiO acres, is adorned witli beautiful 
trees siirrouuding a comnmdious two-story residence. Gas serves the 
household for fuel and it comes from the bowels of the earth just be- 
neath their own possessions. 

Two of their three children Mr. and Mrs. Ringle still have with 
them ; (he other having died in infancy. Those living are : William Edgar, 



IIISTOItV (U- MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 755 

-a sduk'iu of the Baptist College at Ottawa, Kansas, for two years, and 
a graduate of the State University of Kansas. He is now Supt. of the 
('oft'eyville schools and is married to Lillian Xewton. Ida Josephijie is 
the youngest cliild of Mr. and Mrs. Rinj;lc and is the wife of Trarl Austin 
Darling and resides on the Kingle homestead. She is a graduate of the' 
Cheriyvale high school and was a teacher for four M-ars liefore she mar- 
ried. Emma So]diia is I lie deceased child and was t lie first ho:;:. 



A. (J. McCOKMK'K — In the idienomenal develojunent which has 
been going on in the southern Kansas gas belt, the town of ("herryvale 
has been a potent factor. It has kejit pace with events and. thanks to 
her euterpi'ising citizens, has reaped a golden harvest. To none more 
than the gentleman herein named is due a greater degree of credit for 
this advancement. Mr. McCormick, as I'resident of the Cherry vale Gas 
Company, and a stockholder in the brick plant, lias been instrumental 
in building up many euter])rises in the city, and has shown in nuuu'rous 
ways that he has Cherryvale's interests at heart. 

He was born in I'erry county, Ohio, A])ril 7, 1.S44, a son of William 
and Elizabeth (Johnson) McCoiniick. The father was a native of I'enn 
sylvania, the mother of \'irginia. He was a farmer and limebnrner, and 
started the town of -Maxville, it being built on his land in I'erry county. 
He was widely and favorably known over his part of the state, and died 
in 18o.">, at the age of fifty-two years, his wife preceding him. They were 
members of the ^[ethodist church, and one of the oldest families in the 
state, being related to the "Harvester"' .McCcuuiick. 

A. (I. McCoi'uiick is one of nine children, six of whom are liviiig. He 
was educated in the common schools of tlie liuckeye State, hut his edu- 
cation was cut short, as in the case of nuiny other loyal boys, by his en- 
listment in Company "C," 6lid O. V. I. He, later, became a member of 
("ompany "G,'' 184th O. V. I., serving two years in the two enlistments. 
He was discharged at Nashville in ISO.". 

At the close of the wai- Mr. >[cC(U-miik came to ColTey county. Kan- 
sas, where he worked on a fariu for two years, then took up a claim fin 
Elk river. After fifteen years residence on this claim he came to Cheii-y- 
vale, and engaged in shi])ping stock, also operating a coal and lumber 
yard. He sold out in 1886, and then — 188!) — became connected witli the 
< 'herryvale Gas Com))any, since when he has devoted his energies to the 
conduct of that c<uiii)any"s atl'airs. Mr. McCormick is one of the leading 
business men of the city and takes an active interest in any enterjirise 
wiiich has f<M' its object the luiilding up of ("herryvale. He is a leading 
member of the Grand .\ruiy of the Republic, and he and his family are 
active nu-mbers of the Methodist Episcojial church. 

The domestic life of Mr. McCormick was initialed on the Tilh of 
•lanuarv. ISTl. when he was joined in marriage to Sara E., daughter of 



756 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

J. H. and Sarah E. Reid. To this marriage have been born four (-liildren 
— Moily F.. Mrs. Frank E. Shnniard, of Cherrvvale; her children bein{> : 
Lucile and Mark; Minnie May died in infancy; Bertha M., wife of S. M. 
Steifer, with residence in Xinishew. ('al.,;nid Stella M., a student in the 
high school. 

Mr. and Mrs. McCorniick and family are most highly respected in 
Cherryvale, where they iinmber their friends among the most exclusive 
circles. 



DANIEL O. PARKS, JR. — As a seventeen-year-old boy, to whom 
the world was just opening up a career, the subject of this sketch set- 
tled with his mother on a farm on Elk river, in Montgomery county. 
This was in the year of the great immigration to the county in 1S71. 
Daniel I'ai'ks has been a resident of the county since that time, and his 
character for probity and uprightness are such as to make his name one 
of the honored ones on the roll of the county's population. 

In the year 1854, on the loth of February, Mr. Parks was born in 
Blair county, Pennsylvania; the son of Daniel J. and Susan (Ropp) 
• Parks. He was one of eleven children, eight of whom are now living: 
Mary, the wife of farnrer William M. Eddy, lives at Crane Station, Mont- 
gomery county; John is deceased; the third child was Daniel <J.; J;icob 
lives in Chautauqua county, Kansas, and is married to i\Iinnie (iarst 
and has tlii-ee children: Fannie, Lou and ^^'illiam; Ellen, married Will- 
iam Rop]), an Oklahoma farmer, and has four children: Julius, Walter, 
Maud and ]\[ary; George married Bessie Blackmore and resides on the 
home farm and has three children: Claudia, James and Mattie; Julia 
married Jolin Thom])Son, a farmer of the county, and has six children : 
James, John, Lula, Margaret, (^rover and Emmet; Samuel L. is a farmer, 
residing in Sycamore township. He married Stella Goodwin and they 
have five cliilrden: Rose, Bessie, Nellie, Daniel and an infant; Nettie is 
the wife of William Rennert, a farmer of Rutland township; their 
children are: Ona, Orval and Ella. 

Tlie members of this family are all respected factors of the different 
communities where they reside and are filling useful positions in life. 

The jiarents of Daniel G. Parks remained in the east until after the 
war, when they removed with their family, in 18(>u, to Woodson county, 
Kansas, where the father died Sept. 11, 1871. The father and husband 
in Coffey county, Kansas, was a veteran of the Civil War, having served 
gallantly as a private soldier of Company "K," .35th Iowa Vol. Inft. He 
was a man of many good traits of character, industrious and honest. He 
died as a result of a breaking down, consequent upon the liardships of 
army life. After his death his widow removed with her family to Montj 
gomery county, as above stated, where she ])urchased the farm upon 
which our subject now resides and which he purchased from the heirs 




DANIEL G. PARKS. 



IIISTOIIY OK MONTfJOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 757 

after her deatli in 1S!»2. Tliis fanii consists of U7 aeres, wliieli is de- 
voted to {;eiu'iai fariiiiiifi. lie is a iiiember of that vigorous .vouiig fra- 
ternal society, flie Modern Woodmen of America, and in political belief 
is a supporter of the party of Ji'llerson and Jackson, lie combines many 
of the best qualities of citizenship and is held in hij^h esteem by his 
manv friends. 



J. J. WINE — At tile corner of Si.xlh and Myrth; streets, Jndci)end- 
ence, lives this native of the Buckeye State, a much respected and hiffhly 
esteemed citi/.en, whose influence alons the lines of fiood i;overnment lias 
been a living factor in ]>lacinj;- iiis home niiiniciiiality among the well- 
governed towns of Kansas. 15y ocrupalion a contracting' cai])enter, he 
reflects credit upon the craft by the excellence of his work, flnished 
samples of which may be seen in every jiart of the city. 

He is one of a fanuly of ten, children of John and Margaret (Tharp) 
Wine, natives of Ohio, the grandfather, James, being from the "Key- 
stone State." Six of the ten cliildrcn survive, but the parents are de- 
ceased. 

Mr. Wine was born in Hocking couiily, Ohio, March ."il, 1S40. They 
were of the self-resi)ecting farmer class, whose struggle for existence 
in those pioneer times precluded much in the way of an education for 
their children, so that our subject came to nianliood with practically 
nothing in the line of book knowledge. His ambition in this line was 
such, however, as to cause him to su]>i)ly the deficiency after he left 
home by burning the "midnight oil"' after he had finished his day's work. 
He had learned his trade thoronglily under two dilTerent contractoi's, 
and in 18(i(!, he set up for himself in .Ma|>letiiii. Kan. He j)assed shoi't 
])eriods of time at that place, (lirard and ('heloi)a. thence to .To|)lin, Mo., 
where he remained for six years in the eni])loy of a smelting concern. In 
January of 1S85, he came to Indei)endence, wliere he has since resided. 
For a time he was engaged in the confectionery and bakery business, 
and for several years acted as night watch of the city, but, latterly, he 
has been devoting his entin- time to the trade he learned in his youth. 

When the tocsiti of vvai' sounded its shrill note in IStil, it f(uind our 
subject ready to enlist foi- the cause of fre(>(lom. Since boyhood he had 
been in a section of country where he saw much of disloyalty by the 
slave-holding class, and his blood had been stirred by the fiendish deeds 
of the border rurtians during the fifties. He was on<» of the first to vol- 
unteer, becoming a member of t'ompany "I," fith K;in. ^'ol. ('a v. This 
regiment acted as a i)ati()l between Kansas and Missouri during the 
war, .Mr. Wine l)eing on duty the entire time. n(Mer having lost a day, 
except by th<' measles. 

The maiiied life of our subject began in 1S(i."), the lady whom he se- 
cured having had an experience which made her es[)ecially attractive to 



758 HISTOUV OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

I he joiiiifi soldier, in that it showed the true worth of her character. 
I'revioiis to her luarriajie to .Mr. Wine she had been the wife of Kicliard 
j^roomis, one of the loyal Free-State men of Lawrence, Kan. On the day 
.■of Quantrell's raid on that town, Mr. Ix)ooniis refused to leave his family 
to the tender mercies of the drunken mob which liad possession. His 
house was fired with the rest and he was forced to leave with his family. 
He was met at the sate by a stpiad of the fiends, ordered to lay down his 
baby son, and as he sprang back inid the buiiiinji building, fell jiierced 
by bullets, his body bein^ found after\\ard in the ashes of the home he 
had thoushl to defend. Mrs. Loomis secured the child and escajied. The 
boy was given the hont)red name of his martyr father and was reared in 
the home of Mr. AA'ine, and, singular to say, within half a block of the 
fiend who led the baud who miiidered his father. He now lives in Jop- 
lin. Mo., a miner by occupation, lie married Lucinda Myers, and has 
two children — Maud and .Itdm. A dauirhter was born to Mr. \\"ine's 
iiiarriase, Lillie M., now 5Irs. Alva Clark, of Indejiendence. whose two 
(laushlers are: Jane F. and Harriet Irene. The wife of our subject passed 
jiway June lli, 18!»;», at the age of fifty six years. She was a true wife 
and mother and a consistent member of the M. E. church. Mr. Wine is 
iin ardent Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic fraternity, ot 
the (t. a. R., and of th(> Sons and Daughters of Jtistice. 



J. A. CLAYTON, moving spirit of the Clayton Saddlery and Man- 
nfacturing Company of Cherryvale, is a notable example of what the 
American boy can do in this country when coupled with plenty of en- 
ergy and a fair amount of brains. Just eleven years ago he came to 
Cherryvale, bought, at Maple City. Kansas, his first hill of goods for 
fl7..35, and with three cents still jingling in his pocket turned to wait 
<iu his first customer. 

The above manufacturing comjiany is one of the leading houses of 
its kind in the west, and is fast becoming the chief source of supply to 
all the adjacent territory. It occupies one of the best business sites in 
the city and now requires three large warehouses to manufacture and 
<lisplay the goods in which the lirni deals. One of these is devoted to 
wheeled vehicles of all kinds, another to oils, greases, harness dressings 
4ind prej)artions, and the third to heavy hardware and supplies. In the 
conduct of the business Mr. Clayton has the aid of his father, who owns 
one-third of the stock. He, himself, being a practical harness maker, 
gives close supervision to every piece made, and nothing is allowed to 
leave the shop unless perfect in every detail. Besides the manufacture 
of all kinds of harness there is a de])artment devoted to buggj- tops, and 
still another to the manufacture of cloth mittens and leather suspenders. 
Two competent traveling salesmen push the sale of these goods, all of 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 759 

whicli liavo hccomc ii sliuuini'd iuticlc \vi(li (liosc who liaudle saddlery 
goods. 

Touching bricll.v (he pioiits in I lie career of tliis enterprising young 
Napoleon iu business, <be biograplier notes that lie was born in DeWitt 
county, 111., July 10, 1S71, and is the sou of S. I{. and Arietta M. (Jlaytou. 
natives of Ohio aiul Illinois, respectively. The parents are res[)ected 
residents of Cherry vale, the father, as stated, being a member of the 
firm. To these parents wei-e boi'u a family of two sons, Robert F., the 
youngest, being in the saddlery busiu(»ss in St. Louis. 

J. A. Clayton was brought to Kansas by his jjarents in 1874. They 
settled on a farm in C<»wley county, whei-e the children were reared and 
given a good common school education. At the age of eighteen, Mr. 
Clayton entered upon a« aiiiueuticeslii]) to the harness trade in Emporia, 
Kansas, and in 18!)1, began business for himself at Maple City. In 18'Jli. 
as stated, he came to Cherryvale, and, as may be inferred, is one of the 
"strictly business'' kind of men. fie has found some time to devote to 
civic duties, and, as iu his private aft airs, these duties have been performed 
with energy and fidelity. He was a memlier of the common council for 
four years, during one of which he was honored by his associates with 
the juesidency, in which position he was acting Mayor of the city. Both 
he and Mrs. Clayton are earnest workers iu the Presbyteiian church, in 
which he is an Elder. In the fraternities he is a prominent member of 
the Knights of Pythias — in which he has occupied all tlie chairs — and 
of the Modern Woodmen. Politically, an ardent Kepublican, he is a 
valued worker during the campaigns iu Ihe interest of (hat jiarty's prin- 
ciples. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clayton's marriage was an even! of Xovembei' L".', 180:^, 
at Arkansas City, Kansas. She is a native of Iowa, and is a daughter of 
H. and Mardia E. Ferguson, now i-esiding at Maple City. To the Clayton 
home there has come one bright little son, Hubert Lee, who is the joy 
and pride of the household. 

With material success already assuicd, a hai)py domestic life, and 
with the ai)pi'oba(iou of business and social friends, it would seem that 
there is little left to be desired by our subject. His career should be (he 
source of gieat pride, and an object of emulation to others. 



JOHN MASON — Two of the largest individual farmers in the coun- 
ty and gentlenuMi who have made farming a great success, financially, 
are John Mas(ni and his l)rothei' Edward. The farm of (he f(U'nu^r con- 
sists of 1'40 acii's, and lies in Kntiand townsliij). These gentlemen are 
vigorous aud industrious workmen and show by (he successful conduct 
of their farms what may be done by industry and economy in southern 
Kansas. 

John JIason was Ixuii in Devonshire, Isngland, in December, 1834. 



760 HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

He remained in his native land until lie was twenty-one years of ap;e, 
when he crossed the Atlantic o<ean and located at I.eavenworth, Kan- 
sas. There he engajjed with tiie Inited States gjovernnient as a team- 
ster for two years. He remained at this ])lace nntil 18(i(t. when, in the 
month of July, he located on his ])resent faini, where he has since con- 
tinned to reside. 

During the war and immediately after. Mi-. ^lasoii was confidential 
scout and messenger for the famous cavalry leader, '•I'hir' Sheridan. 

A brother of our subject, Henry .Mason, located in ('heiokee county, 
where he subse(|iiently died, white still aimther brotlu'r, .lames, located 
in and died in Kutland townshiii. The jiaients of these sons died in 
England, as stated in the sketch of Edward Mason elsewhere in this book. 

John JIason married in the county, in 1S7;^, Emily Howard, a native 
of Indiana. She came to Montgomery county, Kansas, with her parents 
jind settled in the town of ("aiicy. She is the mother of seven children, 
but two of wIkuu are now living, viz: .Minnie ^lay, who married Claud 
Kim;-, of ( "otl'eyville, with her two children: Ethel and Willie. The sec- 
ond child, Thomas Edward, now resides on the home farm. He married 
Mary Lolly, of this township, and they have one child. John, named in 
honor of his grandfather. 

Mr. Mason is a man who attends studiously to his own affairs, con- 
cerning him.self very little with matters of public interest. He, how- 
over, can always be depended ujion to su])]iort measures which have for 
their object the betterment of conditions in his neiglib(uhood. educa- 
tiimally, religiously or otherwise. }le is a consistent member and liberal 
supporter of the Friends church and votes the Democratic ticket. He 
and his family are looked upon as one of the most substantial residents 
of the township, -where all unite in giving them the esteem which they 
deserve. 



CJIAKLES A. EV.VNS — The life of the extensive farmer mentioned 
iis the subject of this sketch almost began in Montgomery county, Kan- 
sas. He is a native of the Empire State, but was only five years of age 
Avlieii his jiarents cast their lot with the new country of Kansas. He 
Mas born January 1'^. IStl."), in Oneida county. New York, and his father 
was (he late <!eorge H. Evans, who jiioiieered to ]Montgomery county in 
lS(i!», took a tract of land as a (-hiim in sec-tion 21, township :'.l, range 16, 
returr.ed east and brought out his family the following spring and 
housed them in the rude cabin provided for them by his own hands. 

(ieorge H. Evans was born in Oneida county. New York, also, his 
birthday being January lili, 18.'i0. His father, Thomas Evans, was born 
in Tenby, England, .\ugust 1, ISdl. and his mother. Elizabeth l^ailey, 
was originally a subject of an l-higlish king, and was born in ^^■ichwicll, 
l-;iid.. Oeiolier tij, 1812. 'Jlie jiarents established the family iu 




C. A. EVANS AND FAMILY. 



HISTOUY OF MONTCO.MEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 76! 

Peterslioro. Mjiilisoii (oiiiit.w New York, and in 1S2:^>. in Oneidii 
county, New York, wlii'ic llicii cliildicn, (icorjic 11., Tlionias ('., Mrs. 
Eliziibt'th Sliaw and Iloiat io ■!., were horn. Tlionias Kvans was a prom- 
inent luiTclianf and held the oHicc of .J. I*, for twenty- four years, was a 
member of the Lej-islature in ISC.O, and died Deeeiiiber i:'., ISS."). Thomas 
C. and Horatio .1. are still resichMils of I'^lorence, that coiiuty. The former 
visited ^[ont.iidiiiery counly, Kansas, in (he latter sixties and entered a 
(|iiarter of hiiid in section "JS, townslii|» ;'.l, raiijic 1(1, which tract now 
forms a ]>art of the extensive landed dominions of the subject of this 
review. 

After four years sjient in the lof;' cabin home the Evans' occupied 
their new and more modern dwellinj;', still the abidin}i; jilace of the only 
survivinj;' child. The family was dev(Med to iiidiistr\-. was successful in 
its accumulation of lands and now the estate of Charles A. embraces 
fourteen lniiidi-e(l aeres of land, one jirincely in its ]iroportions and in a 
fair nie.isure compensatory for the effort which it cost. Its orifjinal 
owner was a leading citi/.en as well as a leadinj; farmer and bore his 
share of the roujiii-and-ready service in the develo]iment of his county. 
He had dealin<;s with the leadinj; ()sa<;vs — White Hair, IJeaver and Chou- 
teau — and paid them occasion;! I tribute for the lo»s with which to make 
his ru(h> imjirovemeiits of the itioneer da.\s. He died Auji'. 1st, 1!)()(), and 
his wife jtassed away -Inly l!;!d, 1S!t:!. The latter was Sarah .\nn Coin- 
stock, a New York lady, who bore him three sons, viz: Georjfe H., de- 
ceased; Charles A., of this notice, and Kdwin !>., also deceased. Mrs. 
Evans' parents were Abner and IMozella (Harney) Comstock, nati\cs of 
Connecticut and N'ermont resj)ectively. 

Charles .\. Kvaiis had the advantafics of a cnimiion .school educa- 
tion, wliil(j firowinn up, and became an intelligent and successful farmer 
under the diiection of his father. He lieired the family estate u]ion 
the di'atli of his jpareiits ami lias maintained it intact and is probably 
now the largest \oiiiij; farmer in his coiint\-. His farm is well stocked 
with one hiniilred and lifly head of cattle, with ti\e hundred head of 
liofjs and is one of the larj^esl corn-prodiicinj; tiacts in Montijoniery 
county. 

April IS, IS'.i:;. Mr. I^vans married Cecelia F. (irover, born in Chani- 
paif;u county, Illinois, October '27. 1S72. Her jiai'ents weie .Vrtliur and 
Ann (Coylei <lro\ei-. natives of l.ombm and Dublin, resjiectively. in 
the British Isles. I'^ive children resulted from their mairiatie, viz: 
Edwin H., the eldest, died Feb. Kith, 1S!H, an infant of one iiimitli; 
I^Iozella (!., ^lyrl .\iin and (leorti'e \\'., twins, and Arthur C. 

Besides beiii'; a leadiiifi and iiiHuential fanner, Mr. Evans is occupied 
with wliatevei- atfects the welfare of his community or his county. 
He manifi'sts a litlzeii's interest in politics, beiiij;- a l{epiibli<-an. is a 
member of the school board of his district, is a .Modern Woodman. ;t 



762 

meniber of the A. H. T. A. and a Trustee of the Chouteau Methodist 
church. 



MRB. GEORGE ■^^^ KERR— Gnc of tlie most respected families of 
Libert.y township is that represented hy the hidy whose name initiates 
this review. For over two decades they liave been leading members 
of the agricultural class in that townshij). where the husband died in 
1897. Mr. Kerr was a native of Indiana, his father having been a 
farmer living near Terre Haute, where he married Mrs. Kerr, whose 
parents lived in the same neighborhood. 

George W. Kerr was a man greatly respected in Montgomery 
county, and had many of the best (jualities of citizenshij). He was 
industrious, attended stiictly to his own ati'airs and bv thrift and 
economy accumulated a nice ])ro(ierty. which descended to the family at 
"his death. 

Mrs. Kerr, as has been stated, was born and reared near Terre 
Haute, Indiana. She was the daughter of A. D. Dailey who. in early 
life, was a farmer, but later entered the ministry of the Christian 
church, with his pastorate located in the city of Terre Haute. She 
"was joined in marriage to George W. Kerr in 1S70. Her husband was 
a farmer in the home neighboi-hood until 18S2. when they onme to Mont- 
goniei-y county and purchased the farm in Liberty township on which 
Jlrs. Kerr now resides. This farm contains one hundred and sixty 
acres and is one of the best in the township. Mrs. Kerr, herself, looks 
to the management of the farm, though she is aided by Harvey J. Martin, 
a son-in-law. 

Mrs. Kerr is the mothei' of eight children, six of whom are now 
li-ving, viz: William P., a farmer, mariied JIary Feltz. daughter of 
W. I"). Feltz. a farmer of Liberty township; Delia, married L. M. B. 
Tole, a farmer of Liberty townshijt; Etta, wife of Harvey J. INIartin, on 
the home farm, with their two children: Clarence, born Sept. 24, 1899, 
and Leota Beatrice, born January 11, 1!M)1. The fourth child is James 
Harvey, who married Bertha James of Liberty township. They have two 
children: Nellie, born Novenil)er 2!). 1!)()1, and Minnie, born January 
21, 1903. George and Orval are young men assisting in the cultivation 
of the mother's farm. 

Mrs. Kerr and her family are highly respected residents of the 
township and are potent factois in the social and religions life of the 
community in which they reside. They deserve, as they receive, the 
high esteem in which they are univeisally held. 



GEORGE W. QUIGLEY— Berhaps f.'w farmers of Montgomery 
.countj' are more permanent lixtures than (ieoige ^V. Ciuiglev, of Cherry 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 765 

townshij). (ho suhjocf of this hi'ic-f skctcli. He sclllt'd Ikm-o from Indiaiiii 
in 1885 and, until ISilT, rcsiih'd on his farm six mih-s noi'th of ( "licrr.vvarc. 
He has lu-otifcc] by his cxiiciicncc in Kansas where tiie jtrodnctiveness 
of Montjionier.v eonnl.v's soil lias materiali.v added (o his financial stand. 
ing. 

Our subject is a native of the eastern shore, havin"- been born in 
Sussex county. Delawaic, Sept. 18, 184(1. .I(din (inigley, his father, 
was born in Philadel])hia, Pennsylvania, and was married to Afargaret 
Valance, a lady of that city, .^bont 1848, (he i.ai'en(s moved wes(ward 
and located in LaPorte county, Indiana, where (hey died; the father 
passing away at seventy-four years of age and the mother at sixty- 
two years. Of their old-time family of eighteen children, nine lived 
to maturity and only four yet survive, as follows: Thomas L., George 
W., Mary .\., and Leonard. 

(icorge W. Quigley attended the country schools of Indiana 
irregularly from his eighth to his nineteenth year. He was yet with 
his parents when the Ivebellion of 18(!1 came on and he enlisted in the 
call for three month's tioops in the Itth Indiana icgiment. He re-en- 
listed for thre(> yeai-s. aftei' the expiration of his first (erm, in com- 
pany "F." 2!lth Vol. Inf. The war not yet over when this enlistment 
exjjired, he veierani/.ed and snjiitorted the foi-tunes of the Union 'till 
its last foe lia<l laid down his arms. His division was commanded by 
one of the McCooks and among some of the engagements in wliich 
he ])artici]ia(e(l were: (he siege of Knoxville, Stone River. Lookout 
Mountain. Missicuiary Ividge and (iettysburg. He was cajitured thre(> 
times but always uuide his escaiie; at one time overpowering the guard 
himself and enabling foit.\' prisoners to get away. The most severe 
of his three wounds he received at (he batde of Stone Itiver, where a 
bayonet ])assed through his wrist and came out under his thumb. 
He was knocked down three* times within ten minutes by bullels graz- 
ing his skull, on a cerlain batdetield, and (he Pebels contribuied a 
ball to his riglil hip which he will caii'y (o his grave. No matler how 
hot the figlil oi- how severe his wounds he kep( his face to (he enemy 
and stayed (he ba((le (hrough. lie was discharged a( Indianapolis, 
Indiana, with a service of foui' years, nine mondis and four days to his 
credit, which service has since had (he effect of dimming his eye-sight 
almost to the point of blindness. 

In 1S7'_'. Mr. (Quigley married Mary Ann Tale, an Indiana lady who 
died in ISiC!. leaving (wo children: Maggie, wife of .VIexaiider Phebus, 
and Jennie, who died sni.ill. In I81I7, Mr. (Quigley mai-ried Hattie 
Plunger, who came to Kansas young wi(h her i)arents from the State 
of Illinois. Millie, (ieorge Dewey and May ai'c the product of the mar- 
riage of Mr. and Mis. (Quigley. 

Th<' (Quigley family home is situated six miles north of Cherryvale 
where they own one hundred and twenty acres. ^Ir. Quigley has been 



764 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

constable of bis townsbip and wbile be was bronubt up a Democrat 
bis political opinions bave cbanped and bo now gives bis support to 
tbe Eepublican party at tbe polls. 



W. D. VANDEKrOOL, M. D., physician and surgeon of Cberryvale, 
Kansas, was born in Ray county, Missouri, July 2()tb, 1852. On the 
father's side the Yaiidcrpools are of Holland Dutch extraction and 
on tbe mother's, pure German. (Jrandfalbcr Anthony Vanderpool came 
from Tennessee to Missouri in IS.'JO, and died there at the age of sixty- 
five years. His wife was a dest-endant of tbe Youut family of Ten- 
nessee. 

Our subject's parents were S. C. Vanderpool and Husan (xreen. 
They were both native Tennessi'C people. The father was a farmer 
and at the age of seventeen years came with his parents to Ray 
■county, Missouri, where be settled, entered land and liecame one of the 
pioneers of the state. He was a prominent and devout member of 
tbe Baptist church, as was also his wife. He died at the age of eighty- 
one, while his wife died at the age of fifty years. 

Dr. Vanderpool was tbe eldest of four children, all of whom are 
living. The second child was Amanda, Mrs. Bteijheu Lybarger, of 
Homestead, Kansas. The third child is Mrs. C A. Cowley, who lives 
at Cottonwood Falls. Her bnsbaiid is a merchant and served two 
terms as Treasurer of Chase fonnty, Kansas. While the fourth child 
is Dr. J. E., a practicing jdiysician of (irctvc City, Kansas. 

Our subject received a common school education in the locality in 
which he was reared. He taught school for seven years in the country, 
with great success. While emjiloyed at this work he began reading 
medicine, as he could find tinw. Foi' a year he read under J. 1). (Jant^ 
of Knoxville, Missouri, and later attended the Missouri Medical College 
of St. Louis, where be graduated in 1SS2. He began prai'tice the same 
year at Plymouth, Missouri, where he lived for four yeai-s, afterward 
moving to western Kansas, where he jtracticed a short time at Leota. 
After that, for fourteen years, in Arlington, Kansas, whence he moved 
to Cberryvale in l!Mt2. He is the jiioprietor of the best e(]uip])ed drug 
store in the city and has other substantial interests. 

He was mairied in 1SS!». to Miss .May H. Hehir, a native <>f Illinois, 
and a daughter of James Hehir, who was a native of Canada. The 
father was a farmer, at one time a miner and was a soldier in the 83rd 
111. Vol. Inf. He served several years, returning at the close of the 
war with health badly impaired by rigorous service in tbe field. His 
death occurred in 1880, at the age of forty-eight, his wife having died 
two years previous at the age of thirty-two. Tbeii' one child is Mrs. 
A'anderpool. 

To the marriage of Doctor and Mrs. \'anderi)0(>l has been born 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 765 

one cliild, ('land TT., who is now a fjflli j>r;ulo shulcnt in (he city school. 
Mrs. Van(UM]io()l is a nienibcr and h-adin^^ woikcr of tlic I'rcslnlcrian 
chur(di, while the Doctor holds a nicnibcishiii in the Modcin Woodmen 
and the Ancient Order of I'yrainids, his wife also beiiiji a member of the 
latter and at jnesent Secretary and Treasnrer of the order. 

The snccess which has attended ])r. Vandejwol is particularly 
gratifying, in that he is a self-made man in the truest sense of the 
word. He taught school to procure the means to secure for himself 
his medical education and began at the lowest "round"' of the ladder. 
He and his wife, who is a valued assistant in the drug store, are popular 
citizens in Chei'ryvale and aie jiotent factors in the city's business life 
and the esteem in which they are held is g(>neral and unifoiiu in this 
part of the county. 



OYRUH <'. I'.VXSON. M. 1).— In 18S4. the snhject of this personal 
fiketcli united his fortunes with the jieojile of .Montgomery county 
and became a citizen of Kutland township. \\'hile his jirofessional 
duties have liniit(>d his sphere of action in the direction of the public 
welfare, yet he has crowded into the intervals of |)rofessional inaction 
many acts promotive of the publico weal and conducive to the well-being 
of his locality. 

('yrus (1. I'axson is descended from N'irginia antecedents, his 
paternal grandfather having come out of the Old Dominion and settled 
in Belmont county, Ohio, in the first years of the nineteenth century. 
He was twice married and reai^ed a family of twelve children. His 
name was Benjamin Paxson and the mother country of his European 
ancestry was England, f'harles Paxson, the youngest child of Benjamin 
Paxson. was born in P.elmont county. Ohio, in 1S1I), came west into 
Indiana as a young man and died in Howard county in IS,")."',. He was 
a farmer and was united in marriage with Louisa, a daughter of Paul 
Coffin who emigrij^ted from \orth Caiolina early and was a itioneer 
settler of Indiaim. Cyrus C. was the oldest and is the only surviving 
heir of ('harles and Louisa Paxson. His mother died at the age of 
thirty-seven, leaving him an or]>han at the age of sixteen years. Neces- 
sity compelled him to seek the field of industry to suppjy the necessities 
of life and he turned his attention to farm work. He labored as a 
monthly wage earnei- 'till ]iMst his majority- when he engagi'd in farm- 
ing with a degree of independein-e. yet as a renter, lie continued this 
som<' ten years and then took uj) the slud.N of mediciiK' in Howard 
county, Indiana. His old ])recei>tor was Dr. Holiday, of I'arke county, 
Indiana, and when he had coni])leted his preliminary reading he entered 
Bush Medical <"ollege, at Chicago, where he conipleted his course, 
graduating in l.StiT. He loc.-ited foi- jiractice at Hidge Farm, Illinois, 
in ^'(•rmillion county, where he ministered to ihc |iliysical ailments 



766 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of its citizcnsliij) some twenty years. From this point he transferred 
bis family and liis interi-sts to Montgomery county. Kansas, where lie 
is one of the esteemed and lionored citizens. 

l)i'. Paxson was l>orn in H(Mirv county, Indiana. October 1. IS.'id. 
The rural schools furnished him with his elementary education and the 
activities of the farm and field, his physical exercise and development. 
He was first nuirried in Indiana in IS^f!, his wife beinji Matilda Carter, 
who died in 18(>4, leaving; one child. Flora A., wife of .John Yates, of 
A\'hitinji', .Iowa. Xi)vembci' l!l, 1S()7, Dr. Paxson mariied Louisa .Mack, 
who moved into Indiana fr(MH Ohio in an early day. ]iy his second 
marriage the doctor has a son, Charles M. Paxson. btun Nov. 11. 18GS. 
The latter is Fnder SheritT of Montj>omery county, Kansas, and mar- 
ried Addie ^^■iley. Their children are: Orville, Flora, Lloyd, Vada and 
Frank M. 

Dr. Paxsou manifests no interest in jiolitics save as a iiatriotic 
citizen of his county. His ancestors were Whigs and when he came 
to choose a party he jiinned his faith to the Keimhlicans and lias 
proven a tiiiu and steadfast friend. He is a blaster JLisoii and a mem- 
ber of Fortitiuh' Lodge of Indej)endence. 



ANDREW JACKSON lUSBY, M. D.— In tlu' ii(rs(m of Dr. A. J. 
Busby the ](eo])le of ilontgomery county are presented with on(> of the 
ancient landiiiarks of the (h'pailed frontier. The emblems of civiliza- 
tion have obliterated all evi<h'nces of the primitive border, save the 
hoary-headed j)ioneer whose halting speech and heavy tread mark the 
near apjiroach of the final day. AX'eighted with years yet filled with 
hope and enlivened by the consciousness of duty done, our subject 
awaits the inevitable summons with resignation. Having sjieiit more 
than a third of a century in identificutiiui with the develo]Miieiit woik 
of a n<'w c(mntrv. partici]»ating in its toil, ministering to its atllicted, 
encouraging its dejected and rejoicing in its successes and achievements, 
he ofy'upies an unusual |)osition as one of the characters of his county. 

During the year 1800, Dr. Busby brought his family and effects 
from Cosjiocton county. <1hio. joui'neying two months enroute to the 
Osage lands of Kansas. Two teams transjiorted the household of si.x 
and the little band was unloaded at the (loor of the Chouteau cabin, 
occupying their half section of land which the Doctor had |iurchascd. 
A claim of one hundred and sixty acres was also taken and within six 
years the tract of four hundred and eighty acres was under board 
fence from the saw-mill of Dickerscm and Reeves nearby. As the 
country .settled up, the Doctor reduced his realty holdings, reserving 
only the farm in section 34. townshij) .'U. range 10. 

For a few yeai's the Indians and whites occupied Montgomery 
county jointly. The white man was there by sufferance and it occa- 




A. J. BUS3Y, M, D. 



Ri;7/ 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 767 

sionally liappcned that the Osapre became displeased with liis pTogrossive 
neighbor and at times threatened to order him away. On a certain 
occasion the order . actually issued bnt a conference of the two 
interesis reached a compiomise and troubl(> was thus averted. Dr. 
Busby had less ti-oiible with the Indian than n^my of the settlers 
because he treated their sick and gave them medicine aud the big 
Chiefs Xopawalla, ^Vhile Hair, Big Hill Joe aud Mad Chief were all 
liis personal friends. 

During the first two years in the county the Doctor did little medi- 
cal practice, devoting his time rather to the develo])nient of his fanns. 
When he did eugage regularly in the work he pursued it with vigor and 
enthusiasm and in his declining years his professional work is limitedly 
carried oij. 

In his home life Dr. Busby is especially interesting. He has reared 
three families by as many marriages and his children and grand- 
childi'( ii number flfty-six. They are scattered "throughout the four 
winds'' and are taking their places as worthy citizens of our broad land. 

Andrew J. Busby was born in Harrison county, Ohio, June 27, 
1827. His father was John W. Busby, a native of the same county, 
whose father, John Busby, settled there as a pioneer from F^ngland. 
The grandfather married Agnes \Yisner and thirteen children resulted 
from the union, of whom the following are mentioned: Dorcas ("ona- 
way, Mrs. Nathaniel Baker, Deborah Singhaus, Jane Strausburgh, 
Edith Baker, Harriet Thompson, John W., and Isaac. John W. Busby 
niaiiied Ann Jlerryman and was the father of: Johnson, of Iowa; 
Andrew J., our subject; Abraham, of Nebraska; Elijah, of Iowa; Mrs. 
Nancy Dunlap, of Ohio; Mrs. Elizabeth Cordell, of Jfissouri; Isaac H., 
of Iowa; Mis. .Fulia A. Conaway, of I()wa; Mrs. ]Mary .Xndctson. of Spo- 
kane, ^^'asliingtcul, and John ^I., of Missouri. 

As a boy and youth hard work was his lot. and the a(l\antages 
of school were almost unknown to A. J. Busby. Nine months was all 
the time he spent in a country schoolhouse and six months in a graded 
school. He was amiiitious to learn, however, and he applied himself 
diligently at spare intervals and alone. After attaining his majority 
he took up the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel Stocking in Hagers- 
town, Ohio, but finished reading with Dr. Kevelle and began practice 
without the advantages of college training. lie relinquished his ])rac- 
tice in four years and entered the rniv(>rsity of Pennsylvania, where ho 
took a course of lectures and received the degree of M. D. He took 
u|) professional work again in Coshocton county. Ohio, and followed 
it 'till his de])arlure for Kansas in ISfiil. 

Dr. Busby was first married in ISofi, his wife being Sarah Noric, a 
daughter of .Tosejdi and Mary Norie. Ohio settlers from Pennsylvania. 
The chihlren and grand-children of this union ai-e: Mrs. Mary Laughlin, 
of Oklahoma, with six children, viz: Bay, Iva. Loy. Nora and S\lvia; 



768 HISTORY OP MONTGOMKRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Pearl, wife of Homer Busby, is the mother of 8_vlvia ami ^Mary C. ; Johir 
Busby, of iloutfjoiueiy Co., has childi-en: May, Bessie. Fkiyd, Nola, Eva, 
Leona and Meile. For his second wife Dr. Busby married Mary McCain, 
daujihter of Charles and Catherine (Morgan) McCain and their chil- 
dren and yrand children are: Mis. Emma J. Stout, of Oklahoma with 
chiliiieii : Bertha. .Viina, <"le<), Addie. Injiersolia, John. (Jladys and 
Maun; .Varon I)., of Mont<;omery Co., has children as follows: Flossie, 
Andrew J., Cymbel, Ethel and Lee; Homer, of Oklahoma, has: Earl 1)., 
Charles, Sylvia and Mary Ola; Mrs. Ida Carter's children are: Claud — 
by her tirst iiunriajje — (Claud married Lola Holf and has a daughter 
Theln; Fern) and as ^Irs. Ida Summers has: ilaud. Odessa. Homer. How- 
ard, Frankantl L. Z. ; Mrs. .Vlice II. I liusliy) Orr has three children by Mr. 
Busby, namely: Homer, Pearl and Dwijiht. and by Mr. Orr, one child, 
Glenn C; Mrs. Lura B. Orr, ()n(! child. Lee; .James F. Busby, of Col., 
concludes the second family. The third time Dr. Busby married he 
took for w-ife .\manda Kelly, an Illinois lady and a daujrhter of 
Jackson and Sarah Kelly, natives of Indiana. The three children of this 
marriar>(>, Leon. Harvey and I\al]ih, are all with the family circle. 

With our limited S])ace the life of Dr. Busby can barely be touched 
up^n. The thousand-and-one little things which he has done to con- 
tribute to the contentment and hai)j)iness of his community can only 
be hinted at hero, but enough has been brought out to show to posterity 
that his life in our midst has not been spent in vain. 



THOM.VS B. CLIFP'OKD— -V familiar date with the old settler 
in Montjiomery county is the year 1871. Probably a ftreater jiortion of 
the families now resident in the county settled here in that year than 
any other single year in its history. Prior to that date the county had 
been given tip i)retty much to the lawless cow-puncher and the more or 
less worthless Indian. But the large number of law-abiding and ]iro- 
gi'cssive citizens who in that year staked ont claims on her virgin 
soil, soon brought Montgomery into the civilized class and started her 
on the I'oad to inospcrity. One of the ])roniinent families of the county 
to take up land in that year was the Clitfords. now rcjiresented by the 
gentleman whosi- name appears above. 

Thomas B. Clifford is a son of William and Mary (Irwin) Clitt'oi'd. 
His birth occurred in the old Ke\'stone State. >\'estmoreland county, in 
the year 1^4"). Tiiomas Clilford, giandfathei' of our subject, was one of 
the early jtioneeis of that count.N', having taken up land in what was 
known as (he "Tomahawk Survey"' in the early part of the Nineteenth 
cen(ur.\-. William Clifford was a farmer by occujiation and spent the 
greater jiortion of his life in his native county. He came to Montgomery 
county with his family in ISTl, and took up a claim in Sycamore town- 



HISTOUY OF MONTGOMKUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 769 

ship, near Table Mound. Here the fatlifi- died a few rears later, the 
mother still re.sidiiifj; on the old homestead. 

Mr. Clifford was reared and educated in liis native county and con- 
tinued to reside with his i)arent8 six years after liis tnajorKy. lie then 
engaged in farniin<; on his own accoiinl and in IHHH. |>ur<hase(l the i)iece 
of land he is now cullivaling. ll lies in Independence township, three 
and one-half miles southeast of the county seal, and consists of ei}j;hty 
acres of fiue land, well watered and in a >;ood slate of cultivation. The 
intellifrent methods used by Mr. Clifford on this farm has placed him 
in the front rank amonji; the successful aj^ricuKurists of the county. He 
is looked upon as an authority in all matters poi'taining to i)roper crop 
I'otation and is an excellent judge of farm animals of all kinds. In 
his social relations Mr. Clifford is most hajipy, numberinf; anionj; his 
friends the leading men of affairs in the county. He is not inclined to 
politics, but can always be counted on to sujtport by his vote the party 
of Jefferson and Jackson. 

Marriage was contracted by our subject, November 12, 1S!)0. Mary, 
daughter of John and Nancj' Flack, was the maiden name of Mrs. 
Clifford. Her father was a resjx-cted farmer of tlie county, his death 
occurring in 1S82, hi?i wife passing to her I'cst soon after. They were 
natives, respectively, of Woi'cester, Ohio, and I'ittsbui'g, Penn., and 
they reai'ed a family of seven children — Frank. Mary, JaTiies, Gardner, 
Mattie, Jolin and Ella. 

The problem of life is well on toward solution when we have found 
an occupation to suit us and have health of body and mind to pursue it. 
The problem is being solved successfully because of these conditions 
being met by our subject, and he and his good wife are enjoj'ing the 
deserved esteem of a host of friends and neighbors as tliey travel along 
life's journey. 



PATRICK C. CLEXXEN— Had the rulers of «;reat Britain been as 
wise in the early part of the 19th century as King Edward of (he present, 
the Emerald Tsie would now be in the hands of a loyal, home loving and 
honu'owning people. Hut 'tis an "ill wind that blows nobody good,'' 
and Cireal P.ritain's loss of so many tine citizens pioved the (ireat Re- 
](ublic"s gain. 

From County Tipperary, Ireland, there came to this country in 
18:50. Pierce Clennen and his son, Patrick C. r|(>nnen. an honored 
residfiil of Wesl Cherry township, being then a 1\\ clvcyear-old lad. 
Pierce was the son of Patri<-k, and one of live children, the other mem- 
bers of the family being: .lames. Patrick. Petty and Mary. Pierce had 
niai'ried in his native county. .Maigaret .McLaughlin (dauglitei- of Pat- 
rick), who l)ecanie the motliei- of: .John. Patrick C. (subject of this 



770 HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

sketch) William, James, Pierce, Margaret and Katharine. The family 
settled in Huron Province, Canada. 

Patrick C. Clennen, the gentleman whose name initiates this review, 
left Canada with his family in the fall of 1870, and came out to the 
Sunflower State, where he took up a claim near Girard. This he 
relinquished the following spring, and, coming to Montgomery Co. 
purchased of William Tinker his right to IGO acres of section 17, range 
16, township 32, paying therefor $800. This has since constituted his 
home, though hy his skillful hand it has been greatly transformed in ap- 
pearance. Since his coming to the county, Mr. Clemmen has been a po- 
tent factor in shai>iiig its institutions, and he and his family which he 
has reared stand second to none in the county for reliability and integ- 
rity. 

V.r. Clennen in 1859, was happily joined in marriage to Margaret, 
daughter of Daniel and Bridget (Downey) Moran, the parents being 
natives of Kings county, Ireland, while she was born in the Province 
of Toronto. The fruit of this union has been seven children, as follows: 
John, who 'married Ann Young and who.se children are: Maggie, Mary, 
Lizzie. Bertha, I^ena, Leroy and an infant; John lives in CofEeyville; 
Thomas, living in Denver, Col., nuirried TiOuise Trout and has two 
children — Margaret and Howard ; Patrick resides in Montgomery 
county; his wife's name was Clara Squires and she is the mother of 
Mabel and Thomas; Jasper, of Montgomery, married Ollie Little and has 
one child, Howard; Mary, is a single lady at home; Maggie is Mrs. 
Joseph Kelley, of this county; her two children are: Selva and Clara. 
The youngest of the fannly is William, who is single and resides in 
Denver. 



E. B. PENN — The gentleman here mentioned is one of the leading 
contracting carpenters of Independence, and sustains an excellent repu- 
tation as a workman and citizen. He was born in Highland county, 
Ohio, June 22, 184!>, the son of Lloyd and Mary (Core) Penn, natives 
of Ohio. Lloyd Penn was a well-to-do farmer and influential citizen 
and jiassed his life in the aforesaid county, dying in July of 18(34. He 
was twice married. After th(> death of our subject's mother, in 1852, 
he took to wife Mrs. Harriet Heiser. T(i the first marriage there were 
five children — John W., who died in 18(31; Esther A., Mrs. W. H. Head, 
of Hillsboro, O.; William, of Leesburg, O.; James, of Mt. Carmel, O., and 
E. B. Of the second family there were: Stei>hen, of London, O. ; Spencer, 
of Cynthiana, O.; Ruth, Mrs. John Shipton, of Kainsboro, O. , and 
Joseph, of Pike county, Ohio. 

Our subject was married in 18()!1, to Kebecc.i .^. Canter, who is the 
mother of: John !.., a bookkej.cr of St. L(mis, married LilJie Heed, whose 
children are: Euth and Hester; Hose O., Mrs. Jerrell Otwell, a farmer 




JACKSON GRAY AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 77 I 

near Independence ; one child, Jei-aldine; Cora, a milliner of Pittsburgh, 
Kan., and Dora, a successful teacher of the connl.y. Mrs. Penn was 
born in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, the daughter of Rev. John 
M. and Mary (Pitman) Canter. Her father was a pnimineut uiiiiister 
of the V. B. church for long years prior to the war in that section 
of the "Old Dominion'' state, and, later, in Ohio, and was noted as a 
most successful worker in "revival services. The Canter home was 
unfortunately in the path of both armies as they passed up and down 
the valley and became the rendezvous of each in turn. Rev. Canter 
was a Union synii)athizer. hut took no part in the fighting; he and his 
family confining their attention to caring for the wounded of both sides. 
During the noted battle of Fisher's Hill the Canti'i' home was between 
the contending lines, but while cannon balls fre(|nently struck near the 
house, no one was injured. The family finally found it necessary to 
refugee into Ohio, where they found a welcome in the home of Mrs. 
Penn's grandfather, John Canter, who lived near Hillsboro. Rev. 
Canter continued his labors in the ministry in Ohio until his death at 
Athens, .June (>. 1SS8, the inolhei' having passed to lier reward in 1878. 
There were seven daughteis in tlie family, as follows: Mary E.. Mrs. 
Jacob Hayse, of Independence, Kansas; Hester, S., Mrs. Henry Cantor, 
of Independence; Martha C, of Jones Tropp. Ohio; Mrs. E. B. Penn, 
Emily -J., Mrs.. A. Neel, of Lawrence county, O. ; Rosanna, who died at 
nineteen, and Eve F., INIrs. Charles Lake, of Independence. 

E. B. Penn received a fair education, :ifter whiih Ik^ was apprenticed 
to the carpenter's trade, iiis first efforts for liiinscif beginning in 1871, 
in Highland county, Ohio. He continued oijeialions there until 1884, 
when he settled in Independence. Kansas, since which time he has been 
identitied with the progress of the city. His work during this time has 
been of the highest character, many of the best residences and busi- 
ness buildings of the city having been erected under his supervision. 
He is a member of the T'nited AVorkmen and of the Select Knights, is a 
Republican in i)o]itics, and he and his familv are leading workers in 
the M. E. church. 



JACKSON GRAY— In the early spring of IHfi!). Jackson Gray, iu 
company with the settlers, Sylvester Cray, (J. W. Leedy and Alfred 
Catron, with families, drove through from Carter Co., Kentucky, and 
each head of ;i family took a claim in Monlgoiiicry co\in(y. Kansas. 
A wife and three children and a few household goods, together with his 
team, constituted the Jackson (iray possessions and he cstalilished 
himself on one hundred and sixty acres in section 4, town.ship 'M, 
range KJ, whei"e he erected a small cabin, 14x14 feet. This ntodest and 
rude dwelling was of short duration for it was fired by the torch of 
one of \Miite Hair's band of Osages and the family was left homeless, 



772 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

and even ordered not to rebuild in this country. The band absented 
itself from the county soon after this and while it was away a new 
house went up on Jackson's quarter and its owner treated the 
returning band so kindly and dealt with them so liberally that he 
won their friondshii) and remained undisturbed in Uie peaceful posses- 
sion of his claim. 

The tribe so ingratiated itself upun the eoutldeuce of the Gray 
family as to warrant the parents in permitting their son, Samuel, 
then just large enough to run about, to visit the village of White Hair's 
people, near by, and play with the little papooses and be thrown up in 
a blanket just as the Red Man was wont to do. But while Mr. Gray 
was unmolested in his residence he was not allowed to cultivate more 
than a small tract of land until the Indians were removed from the 
county in accordance with the arrangements made in the treaty for the 
Osage Diminished Reserve. 

When the county was left in undisputed possession of the white 
man, the settlers engaged in earnest in the jieaceful pursuits of agricul- 
ture and grazing. Mr. Gray, among others, was encouraged to exert 
his best efforts in behalf of his family and to the end that, today, his 
farm embraces, instead of a single quarter of land, five hundred and 
forty-five acres, mucli of which is under and yielding to the magic touch 
of its intelligent and practical owner. The second pioneer cabin gave 
way, in ten years, to a modern and comfortable farm residence, then one 
of the best in the township. Barns came into existence as fast as they 
were needed for the accommodation of the grain and stock, and the 
decoration of the landscape with trees and shrulis during all the years 
produced a pleasing and civilizing effect and marked the Gray settlers 
as substantial and progressive citizens. 

Jackson Gray was born in Wythe Co., Virginia, Se|it. i;^, 1840. 
He received a meager education in the schools then common to the 
state and was employed, as he neared manhood, as a brick-moulder. 
In 18G1, he went to Garter Co., Kentucky, where he purchased a farm and 
was occu]iied with its cuKivation "till his removal to Kansas in the 
spring of ISCl). 

Elizabeth Gray, niolhcr of our subject, was a native of \\'ytlie Co., 
Virginia. 8he had four children, viz: Sylvester, of Neodesha, Kansas; 
Mrs. Eliza Xewnian, of Smith Go., ^Mrginia; Jackson, and ]\Irs. Mary 
Leedy, of Montgomery county. Kansas. 

Jackson (iray mari'ied Gatherin(> ShcKon, a native of U'ytlie Co., 
Virginia, and a daughter of Creed and Mary (Ilauncliell) Shelton, of 
!North ('arolina and X'iiginia, res]iectively. Mr. and Mrs. (^ir.iy ai-e the 
parents of ^\'illiam S., of Montgonu'ry county, with children, Samuel 
and William; Samuel Gi'ay, of Montgomery county, with children, 
Edward and Howard, and Miss Ijicy Gi'ay, yet with the domestic 
circle. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 773 

In his political relations Jackson Gray is a Democrat and he holds 
a membership in the Methodist chnreh. 



MRS. MARY M. DAUGHERTY— Introducing this personal record 
is a West Cherry township settler of the year 187(i, who, on Sept. 13th 
of that year, came to iNIontf^otnery county wiUi her late liushand Samuel 
W. Daujrherty, and purchased the Murphy claim tor .1i!(>.")(», near the north 
line of West Cherry township. .\ pole shan1,\ seived the lai'iiier family 
as a dwelling for a time, but a frame house took the place of this and the 
primitive hut was installed as the Daugherty's "Ivansas barn." For 
five years Mr. Daugherty lived on his original settlement and then 
added by purchase one hundred and si.xty acres in section 16, township 
31, range 1(5, the present family abiding j)lace. 

Samuel W. Daugherty was one of the well-to-do modest farmers 
of his township. Industry and good management nmde him thrifty 
and when death removed him in September ISI'T, a good and worthy 
citizen was taken away. He served as a public otticer in his township, 
both in Ohio and Kansas, was a Democrat in politics and an Elder in 
the Cumberland Presbyterian church. 

Mrs. Daugherty was born in ('oshocton Co., Ohio, April f>, 1848, 
and was a citizen of that county until her removal to Kansas, with 
the exception of three years, when she resided in Btii'(>aii county, Illinois. 
She was a daughter of John ^^'. and Susanna (.McLary) Xoi'uian, 
natives of Ohio and grand daughter of Isaac Norman ami .\braliam and 
Sarah (Miller) McLary ;tlie JIcLarys, of Maryland and I'ennsylvania, 
respectively. The Normans had a fiMniJy of seven children, as follows: 
Mrs. Mary M. Daugherty, our subject ; Isaac, of Iowa; Mis. Belle Shrock, 
of Avondale, Ohio; Mrs. Hannah Stiner, of the same j)lace; Mrs. Hester 
E. Nichols, of Kidder. Missouri; Mrs. Ceni'va Emerson, deceased; 
Lester J., of Newcoiuerstown, Ohio. 

Mary M. Norman was maiiied Nov. L'S, ISCdi. lo Samuel \\'. Daugh- 
erty, boin in Tuscarawas Co., Ohio, June \-. lS4(t He graduated from 
the Westerville. Ohio, academy and taught school twenty yeai's. He 
enlisted in 1S(!1. in Coshocton, Ohio, in comiiany •■<;.'" ^•2'2i^ Ohio \o\. 
Inf., in Capt. Gibson's com|)any. Col. Hall's regiment: .Mr. Daugherty 
being the Colonel's private secretary. He was in the service three 
years, and among other engagements i)ai-ticipaied at the lind battle 
of Bull Hun. 

.Mr. Dauglierly was a son of -lohii i)aughcn.\, of Ohio, and of Irish 
stock. Ills mother was Raihel Mears of Irish descent and the mother 
of the following children: William, Robert, Nathan, -lohn .)., Jane, 
deceased, and Samuel, our s\ibje4t. Tlie last nauu'd was the father of 
five cliilrden. namely: Lester i..., of Neod(>sha, Kansas, with children: 
Grover C., Otho A., ami Reno C.; Alva E.. of .Montgomery county, with 



774 HISTORY 01' MONTGOMEKV COUNTY, KANSAS. 

one child, Anna Belle; Mrs. Bertha B. Stewart, of Cherryvale, with 
three childreu : Lona I., Daisy M. and Pearl M. J.; Mrs. Nellie Farling, 
on the ho;ue farm, with a child, Leota B.; Mrs. Hester L. Mahoiny, of 
Wilson county, Kansas, one child, Samuel A. 



CURTIS RORK, one of the successful and most progressive farmers 
of the county, was born near Lawrenceburg, Ind., July 15, 1838. He 
came to this county in IS'.U, locating on a farm of 240 acres of fine 
land in section 24, township o'.i, range 13, and began farming on a 
large scale. Theophilus Rork, of Salem, 111., the father of Curtis, was 
the son of Daniel Rork, a native of New Jersey, where he spent his boy- 
hood days. AA'hen he grew to manhood he located in Hamilton county, 
Ohio, where he worked at his trade of blacksmithing. That part of 
the country was at that time a vast wilderness, and many, many were 
the trips taken by him through this wilderness driving horses to South 
Carojina, and many and varied were the experiences on these trips. 

In the day of her need, Mr. Rork valiantly went forth to fight 
those whose traitorous hands would have throttled his country. He 
became, on August 8, 18C2, a private in company "K," 79th 111. Vol. Inf. 
under Capt. ^lartin and Ciil. (iwinnet. This regiment became a part of 
the Fifteenth Army Corjis. \\'estern Division, and during ilr. Rork's six 
months' service it saw some heavy work at Crab Orchard, Stone River 
and ]\(urfreesl)or(). After this last battle he became incapacitated for 
service on account of sickness and received an honorable discharge. 

Daniel Rork's family consisted of children : Theodoshia, Theophilus, 
Lydia, Daniel, Wesley and William. 

Tlieo])hilus, a superanjiuated minister of the United Brethren 
church of the Miami conference (Ohio), was born March .1, 1813. Since 
his retirement from active service in the ministry thirty years ago, he 
has lived on his Illinois farm in Edwards county. His wife wa» 
Deborah Edwards, daughtei' of Curtis and Percillia Edwards. Their 
family numbered fourteen childwni, twelve of whom are living — Daniel, 
of Horton, Kans. ; Curtis, our subject ; Mrs. Emily Smith, of Eureka, 111. ; 
Franklin, of Sullivan. 111.; Mary' Rork. of West Salem. 111.; Mrs. Kate 
McKinney, of Carmargo, III.; Mrs. Jennet te Bowen, of Indianapolis; 
.Martha, of Iowa; ("barley, of Vali)araiso, hid.; ;Mrs. Susie Haven, Lot- 
tie Rork and William w'.. all of West Salem, III. 

When ("nrtis Roik, the second child and subject of this sketch, 
was .only a year old. his jiarents removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where 
they remained five years, afterward removing to Butler county, that 
state. The family lived here !intil Curtis was nineteen years old, when 
they came out to Douglas county. III. Her(> Mr. Rork spent the years 
until 1S!)4, when he settled in Montgomery county, Kansas. 

The wife of Mr. Rork's youth was Josepha Watson, daughter of 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 775 

William and Leonora Watson. Their only eliikl, Maud Todd, lives at 
Independence, Kansas. To a second wife, Leonora Watson, a sister 
of the first wife, was born one child, Mrs. Josie Hennenian, of independ- 
ence. 

The lady who now presides over Ihc Ikhiic of Mr. Rork was Mary, 
daughter of Jolui and Susan O'Darc. Tlicy have one son, Theophilus, 
named for his paternal grandfather. 



MILO M. LONG — One of Montgomery county's good citizens whose 
four years" residence in the county has been sufficient to establish 
the fact that society is not the loser by reason of liis coming, is Milo 
M. Long, a worthy fai-nier of Independence township. 

Ml. Long's nativity dates in I'eoria county, 111., Ajiril 4, 1845. 
For fifty-four years he lived on the home farm, coming to Montgomery 
Co., Kansas, in March, ]S1)!>. Mr. Long's family is an old and honored 
one, whose different members in their time ha^e contributed much to 
the upbuilding of our fiee institutions, and were always found on the 
side of right and patriotism in the difi'crent contests at arms which 
the republic has waged. 

Henry Long, paternal grandfather of our subject, came to this 
country from Ireland in the early part of the lOtli century. He married 
Miss Irwin, and to him wei-e born, near Natchez, Miss., two sons, John 
and James. The latter at maturity, came up into Illinois and was 
there joined in marriage with Nancy Proctoi', dauglittM- of Reuben and 
Sarah (Malhewsi I'roctor. Their ciiihlren were; .Milo M.. honored sub- 
ject of this review; .Mrs. .Maiy J. Rose, of this county; John II., of 
Oklahoma; Sarah ('., Mrs. Richardson, of Illinois, now deceased. 

Mr. Long was hajjpily joined in marriage with Mary E., daughter 
of John and Eliza (lienner) Ivletl'man. Mrs. Long was a native of 
Peoria county. 111., b(un April 7, IS.'iO. One son. Oscar, now a school- 
boy, has come to bless their home. 

In his Illinois home .Mi-. Long was liiglil,\ regarded. Iia\iug been 
for a numliei- of years a member of the school board and also jiromi- 
nently identitied as a member of the .\. H. T. .\. He has been a life- 
long member of the .Melhodisl church and is a slaiincli rroliibil ioniat 
and temj)erance num. 



W.VLTKR ERINK — TIh' \cneiable g<-iii leiiMii whose name iiitio- 
duces this biography has been a I'csident of .Montgomery couniy for 
twenty-seven yeais, having settled heic in ISTti. He came fii>m .Macomb 
county, Michigan, in which state liis jiarenis seitled in is:',.". The 
family were emigrants fr(un Niagara county. New ^'ork. where, at the 
town of Cambria our subject was lioi n .Im1\ s. lS"_'(i. The |)areiits 



776 ' HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

brought their family up on a Michigan farm where tlio principles of 
good citizenship and industry were taught. 

Walter Frink was a .son of Elias and a grandson of Zachariah 
Frink, natives of Connecticut, in which state the family was estab- 
lished at a very early date. Zachariah Frink"s family came into western 
New York when Elias was eleven years of age. He had five children: 
Darias, Elias, Moses, Ezra and Daniel. F^lias was born at Sterling, 
Connecticut, and was married in New York to Hannah Carney, a Penn- 
sylvania lady and a daughter of Samuel and Hannah Carney, from 
down on the Susquehanna river. The children of Elias and Hannah 
Frink were: Marinda. who married Thomas Phillij)s; Annie, wife of 
Charles King; Samuel. Elias, Walter, Clarissa, Herman and Ellen. 

Mr. Frink of this i-eview was liberally educated in the common 
schools of Michigan — subscription in character — and he chose farming 
as his vocation which he followed in the Wolverine State for forty 
years. He then can)e to Kansas and purchased his Montgomery county 
farm. He chose a quarter section in section 27, township 'M, range 16, 
and paid its owner, Patrick Dougan, |2,.'i0().00 for it. Here he has 
since made his home and, while having no family of his own, his 
home is presided over by his sister, I<;ileii, and it is one of the hospitable 
places of West Cherry towiishij). In i)olitics, Mr. Frink leans toward 
the Democratic party, but has had no inclinalion toward public office 
and no ambition of this nature to gratifv. 



E. GOODELL — ^^■hat iiii|iress(>s 1lie Iransient most forcibly in 
Independence is the substantial character of the business section of the 
city and the evident ])ride taken in keeping its appearance up-to-date 
by the merchants and tradesmen doing business there. A closer 
acquaintance with the personnel of the business element discloses the 
fact that this civic pride is due to a few choice spirits who have 
preached this sentiment, day in and d;iy out, for years — and verily they 
have their reward. The name of one of the gentlemen to whom such 
is due for the s]ilendid dcx'elojtnu^nt the city has made, ai)i)ears above. 
For two deca)les Mi-, (ioodell has been part and parcel of the city's 
growth, his character for business integrity not being surpassed by any 
of the many good men now connected with the business interests. He 
does a large business in meat products, and in many respects his trade 
is the choicest in the city. 

The Buckeye State was the place of .Mr. (JoodelTs nativity, he 
having been born in Portage county, September 10, 184(1. He was a 
son of Samuel and Julia (ioodell, the foi'uier a native of \'ermont and 
the latter of Connecticut. They were among that class of early pioneers 
who met the foes of progress and faced dangers that might well appall 
the stoutest heart, having settled there immediately succeeding the 




JACOB SHUMAKER AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OK MONTtJO.MIiKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 777 

War of 1812. They were tillers of tlic soil iiiid foniul its cvacliiij; labors 
loo aidiious. both (i.viiif; witliiii cifjlit days in ]S4r); liie father at thirty- 
eight, the mother at thirty-six years. Of their family of four childrou, 
our subject is the eldest, the others beiug: Emeliue, Annetta, Mrs. H. 
]). ("oe. of Portage eouuty. Ohio, aiid Jane, wife of Dr. ("lark, of Washing- 
ton. 

E. (Joodell received an excellent education in the cmninon schools 
of his native state, to which was added scholastic training at Hiram 
College, he being a stiuhMit there when it was under the charge of the 
lamented President (iartield. 

After his school days he returned to the farm, where he was engaged 
at the breaking out of the Civil War. In January of 1862, he enlisted 
in Company "K,"' 17th Wisconsin Inf., to which state he had gone but 
a short time before. His regiment became part of the .\rmy of Ten- 
nessee and he particijiated in its movements for a period of eight months, 
when he was honorably discharged froiu the service on account of sick- 
ness. Returning to U'isconsin, he put in the winter in the lumber 
camp, the following spring coming out to Kansas. Here he settled ii* 
Coffey county, where he was engaged in farming until 1869, the date 
of his settlement in Alontgomery. He took a claim in Sycamore Twp., 
which he successfully farmed until 1883. A year on a cattle ranch 
preceded his coming to Indejiendence, where he has since resided, 
engaged continuously in the sale of meats. 

Mr. Goodell affiliates with the Masonic order, and is always found 
ready to engage in any service which has for its object the advance- 
ment of his municipality. He was married in April of 186."), in Le 
Koy, Kansas, his wife having been Mary A., daughter of Benj. and 
Sophrona Randall. Mrs. Goodell is a lady of many excellent traits of 
character, a consistent member of the Christian church, in whose social 
work she takes an active part. She is the mother of four children, 
three of whom have left the home roof and are respected members of 
society. Their names are: John K.. and Clarence H., connected with 
their father in business. The former married Miss Retta Neilson, and 
the latter Maud Sevier. Mamie is living in Colorado, the wife of Earl 
Hamilton, and Bessie is a school girl at home. 



JACOB SHUMAKER— Mar( h 2, 1850, Jacob Shumaker, of Cherry 
township, w'as born in Buffalo, New York. His parents were Gernmn 
by birth and were Jacob and Otheler Ursil Shumaker, the father a 
native Swiss. They left their native jtlaces at different times, when 
quite young, and met and married in Buffalo, New York, where they 
resided until ] Still, when they moved to Des Moines, Iowa, thence to 
Missouri and settled in Buchanau county, near St. Joseph. They wei'e 
farmers, and engaged in the dairy business in Missouri, where their 



778 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

children grew up and where both father and mother passed awaj, 
the mother at sixty years of af;e and the father at sixty-seven. 

Six children comprised this family, as follows: Jacob, Michael, 
Barbara, John, Lena and Fi-ank. 

Jacob Shumaker was given a country school education in Missouri 
and after he reached his majority he spent some five years in sight- 
seeing and travel. He visited Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, in which last state he met, and subse<juently 
married Mary liaiier. Relurning to St. Joseph, he engaged in fanning, 
and ran a dairy also. He continued the dual business until 1899, when 
he sold his pi'operty and came to Montgomery county, Kansas, where, 
in ("berry township, he purchased two hundred and forty acres of 
splendid land, six miles north of Cherryvale. His farm lies on one arm 
of Drum creek, has plenty of bottom laud, the timber-fringed creek 
passing through and supplying an abundance of stock water. He has 
one of the largest bearing orchards in the county and the productive- 
ness of his soil never permits his cribs to become empty. He is in the 
natural trend of the gas and oil vein and had the good fortune to 
locate here when land was yet cheaj). 

The Shnmaker farm was made by Jacob Shumaker and his wife. 
Their efforts from their marriage through the years that followed have 
brought the accumulations that finally won them this splendid estate. 
The growing of grain occupies the attention of the household in their 
new home and their success marks Mr. and Jlrs. Shumaker among the 
substantial farmers of their locality. 

Eight children have come to bless the home of the Shumakers, as 
follows: Jacob, of ^A'ashington state; Emetine, deceased; George, 
fhristina, wife of H. Nodurfth, of Washington; Dora, who died at six- 
teen years, and Henry, Ous and Matilda, still with the family circle. 

In politics Mr. Shnmaker is a Republican. 



WILLIAM WRICrHT— One of the pioneer druggists of Montgomery 
county, and one whose connection with the business interests of Elk 
City antedates the recollection of nearly every citizen in the place at 
the present date, is the gentleman herein named, widely known and 
honored for the sterling quality of his citizenship. 

Mr. Wright is of Irish descent, the son of William and Margaret 
Wright, natives, respectively, of County Down and County Monaghan. 
They came to America in childhood and were married in Canada, where 
they lived until 1857, when they settled in Kickapoo City, Kan., and 
later, at Ottawa, where they died; the father at seventy-three years, 
and the mother at sixty-three years old. They were tlae parents of 
thirteen children, five of the girls and three boys still living. 

IMr. Wright, of this review, was born in the Province of Ontario, 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMKUY COUNTY. KANSAS. 779 

Feb. IC, lSn4, and was llicre jiivcii a good piimary education. Flis 
Jirst venture, in tlie war of work for liiinself, was as clerk in a general 
store. At the age of twenty lie left home and came west to St. Joe, 
Missouri, where he remained three years, tiience to Kansas, lie worked 
in various places in the state until 1874, when he came to Elk Citv and 
has .since held his residence there. Until 18S;!, he (>[jerated a grist 
mill, then bought a stock (tf drugs and has since been engaged in the 
drug business. He has, for years, been the leading druggist of the 
town, kee]>ing in stock besides his drugs, a full line of .such articles as 
are usually found in like establishments. 

Upright in his business dealings, social and generous by nature, 
no more jmjuilar citizen resides in tlie confines of the county than Wni. 
Wright. He is an honored member of the Masonic' fraternity. 

The liome life of Mr. Wright began in the year 18."i7, when he 
returned to Canada and was joined in marriage with Miss Jane Kirby. 
This lady proved a splendid life companion to our subject, her death 
on Thanksgiving Day of 1897. causing intense sorrow to the husband 
and children, whose welfare was her constant thought in life. She was 
a devout member of the Methodist church, whose interests she was 
ever ready to serve, and whose membership sincerely mourned her 
death. The children were: J. W., a graduate of the Eclectic Medical 
College of Cincinnati, and a successful practitioner of Montgomery 
countj;, married Miss ilinnie E. Dalby — his second wife — his first wife 
leaving him a child. Alpha; Teresa J., widow of W. F. Kingston, three 
children — Minnie. Carrie L. and Goldie; Thomas J., who married Mrs: 
Eldei'. and lives in Grangerville, Idaho; Minnie M., i-esides at home, and 
Burt, in the drug business at Longton. These children are all respected 
uieml)ers of the communities where they I'eside, and are a credit to the 
parents whose careful training fitted them for responsible positions in 
life. 



E. E. STUBBLEFIELD— In 1G90. there settled in Rockingham 
tounty, Va., representatives of a family from Old England whose 
descendants have since been prominent in the industrial and ])olitical 
life of the nation, and the biographer is privileged to sketch a member 
of the family in the person of the gentleman whose name precedes 
this paragraph. 

E. E. Stubblefield is traveling salesman for the large wholesale 
house of Tootle, Wheeler & Motter of St. Joe, Mo., with residence and 
headquarters at Independence. The greatgrandfather of our subject 
was moved to settle in ^'irginia because of prominent family connec- 
tions, among whom were "Liglit Horse'" Hai-ry Lee, his cousin. Kobt. 
Stubblefield. an uncle, was one of the "immortal few that wei'e not born 
to die,'' ho having appended liis name to that memorable scroll, the 



780 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Declaration of Independence. Grandfather Stubblefield reared a family 
of thirteen children in McLean county, Illinois, where he had settled 
as a youn^ man, just after his service in the War of 1812. Of these, there 
are five living, nine sons, each weighing over 200 pounds, and being 
over six feet in height. The father of our subject, W. K. Stubblefield, 
now a resident of Coffeyville, Kans., was the youngest of this remark- 
able family. He was born Feb. 28, 1836. He grew to maturity and 
married in Illinois and has been a farmer during his entire life. He 
came to Kansas in 1879, and is the only one of his family wlio left 
the county where they were born, their numerous progeny being among 
the representative citizens there. His wife, who was born August 12, 
18;'>9, was Miss Martha Jeffrey. 

E. E. Stubblefleld is the eldest of three children: Dora, married 
A. L. Woodruff and resides in Coffeyville; Byron, State Grain Inspector 
with residence at Kansas Oity, <and a veteran of the Rpanish-Aniericau 
■\Var, having served with the famous 20th Kansas. Our subject was born 
in McLean County, 111., Feb. 22, 18(i2. A good primary education in 
the common schools was followed by a course at the Illinois Wesleyan 
University, and, later, at the State University of Kansas, where he 
graduated in the Civil Engineering course. After leaving school be 
changed his intention and embarked in the cattle business and for 
two years covered territory on the I'ange from Texas up through the 
Indian Territory to Kansas. He then entered a store at Coffeyville in 
which he clerked some three years. In 1887, an opportunity offered to 
enter the ranks of the Commercial Traveler,s, an occupation which he 
has since followed with flattering success. 

Mr. Stubblefleld resides in a handsome residence in Independence, 
where he and his family are prominent factors in the social life of the 
community. He is an active worker in the political arena, being at 
present a member of the Republican Central Committee of the Third 
Congi'essional District. Fi'aternally he is a prominent member of the 
I. O. O. F., in which organization he has filled all the chairs of its 
various branches. He is also a valued member of the United Commer- 
cial Travelers' Association. 

Prior to Sept. 8, 1884, Mrs. Stubblefield was Miss Carrie Drake. 
She is a daughter of Rev. -John Drake, for years a prominent Presby- 
terian divine, now deceased. Her mother was Zilj)ha Raymond and 
she is one of three children — Hattie M. Drake and Mattie, now ^Irs. 
Frank .J. Thrown, of Topeka, Kansas, being the other two. Mr. and Mrs. 
Stubblefield are the parents of three bright children. The eldest, Bessie, 
is a graduate of the Montgomery County High School; Josephine is a 
so])honiore, and Frances is a pupil in the seventh grade. Mrs. Stub- 
blefield and the children are members of the Presbyterian church and 
in social circles receive much attention on account of their refined and 
cultured personality. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 781 

MRS. ANN REBECCA HENDERSON— In April, 1871, James Hen- 
derson and liis wife, Rebecca, left Warrensbuif,', in Jolmson county, 
Missouri, and brought their family of five children through to Kansas 
in a wagon. They settled in Montgomery counly where Mr. Henderson 
entered laud in section 10, township 31, range 10^ on which a cabin 7x10 
had previously been built, and into this a portion of the family belong- 
ings were stored. Between Ihe cabin and the wagon-box, the house- 
hold found shelter the first summer, when a more j)retentious log 
house, liOxL'O, was erected, in which the family was hous(>d the suc- 
ceeding four years. 

The work of farm development began at once with the settlement 
of the Henderson place. During the earlier years, fences were put up, 
buildings were erected, and orchard and shade trees set out and, as 
their circumstances would warrant, more land was added to the home. 
Before his death in 1808, Mr. Henderson owned a tract of two bundled 
acres, successfully tilled, and w<'ll and substantially improved. 

Mrs. Henderson was born in AVood counly, X'irgiiiia. January '27, 
1844, and left that state with lier par(>nts for Wasliington county, Ohio, 
when ten years old. She was a daugliter of Silas and Elizabeth 
(Raines) Malcom, native born Virginia people, farmers and residents 
near the city of Charleston. Silas Malcora was a son of William Mal- 
com, a Virginia gentleman with Scotch forefathers. The children of 
\Yilliam Malcolm were: Robert, John. William, Silas, Elizabeth and 
Mrs. I'olly r>ixon. 

Silas ]\Ialcolm's children were: X\'iniam, Mrs. lOmeline Howell, 
James, Mrs. Mary Neal, Mrs. Sarah Daugherty, of Columbus, Ohio; 
John, who was killed in the Civil war; Mrs. Rebecca Henderson, 
Andrew, of Cal.; Horace, Mrs. Nancy Wright, of Marietta, Ohio, and 
Silas, of Cal. 

•Vnn Rebecca Malcom was married July 4, 1858, to James Hender- 
son, her late husband. He was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, Novem- 
ber :27, 1831, and passed his life in the States of Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
Missouri and Kansas. He enlisted in the Ohio National Guard, 
company "K," 148th reginient, under Capt. Wolcott, Col. Thomas 
Jloore. The next year after the war closed he moved to Johnson 
county, Missouri and, five years later, came to Montgomery county, 
Kansas. He was a son of John and Jane (Stcelel Henderson, natives of 
I'enn.sylvania, who reared otiicr childicn. as follows: William, Rachel, 
who niarried Benj. Ray; Allen, Smith, John. Mrs. Sarah Crail. Henry, 
Mrs. Amanda Crouse and Robert. 

The children of Mrs. Henderson are: George, Charles, of Okla- 
homa, with children : Alphonso F., Alta. Flossie and James; Mrs. Frances 
I'helon. deceased; John, of .Montgomery county; Mrs. Elizabeth John- 
sim. of Neodesha. Kansas, with two children: ^lyra and Joy; Alonzo, of 
Neodesha, with two children; Tauline and Harold; Mrs. Etta Uurst, of 



782 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Neodoslia. with oik* cliild, Gayiicll; Mis. Myrtle Wcscott, of \Yilsi)n 
voiintv. Kansas, and Fraiikliu and Ida with llic faniilv homestead. 



SAMUEL H. (;<»NNKK— One of Ih.- successful farineis and 
sloi'k raisers of Syi'aniore townshiji is Sanmel H. Conner. Mr. Con- 
ner is a youii}? man c(iiiiiiaiativel.v, bu( by energy and good business 
judgiuent has placed him.self in tiie van of the procession in Mont- 
gomery county. He owiim a large farm and rents several liuiidied 
acres, all r)f which he has under cultivation. He has lived in the 
county since the spring (»f ISS.'i, and li.is a host of friends ami well- 
visliers. 

SainiKd C(mner looUs hack to the old Keystone State as the place 
(if his hiilh, the time being February (i, 18(t7. In his infancy his ])arents 
removed to Whiteside county, 111., and there he was reared to farm life. 
His education was such as comes to the average farm lad, and at nine- 
teen, he bade good-bye t(t home and its hallowed associations and started 
out in life for himself. For the first few years after coming to the 
connty he rented land (d' three ditferent iiarties, and in 1891, came to this 
])lace which he rented for '^ years and then was in partnershiji in the 
stock business with Ueorge T. (iiiernsev for seven years, since which 
time he has conducted business alone. He now lives on a three hun- 
dred and twenty acre farm which he rents from his former partner. 
Tenting another plot of 100 acres from H. Vl. Hansen. In addition, 
lie has a <|narter secti(Mi of ])asture land of his own. in Rutland townshij), 
and :!l!0 acres in Sycamore, altogedier making !»20 acres which lie 
has under control. He is interested largely in the feeding of cattle 
for the market, having handled successfully as high as two hundred 
and eighty head at one time. In addition to the raising of corn and 
forage for his stock, he has this year soim* two hundred and fifty acres 
in wheat. 

The social life of Mr. Ctuitu'r is marked by a genuine int<'rest in 
conditions about him, his keen insight into aHairs causing his selec- 
tion as a member of the school board and as trustee of his townshij). 
He is active in religious affairs, being a member of the T'nited lirelhreii 
rhurch at Radical, of which he is class leader. He is a thorough be- 
liever in the fraternal principles, and is iirominent in the Woodmen, 
(he Royal Neighbors, the F'raternal Aid, the Home Builders' I'nion, 
and the A. H. T. A. Mr. Conner is a staunch Republican and is looked 
upon as available timber for future jiolitical preferment, should he so 
desire. 

As to family history, the following is to the itoint: Jesse <"on- 
ner, grandfather of our subject, married Ket.sy Landis, both natives of 
the Keystone State. Their children were: Jacob, IMary Plarley. Snsaii 
J^eigler, Isaac, Sarah, Eliy.aboth and .Miraiii. Of this family, Isaac, 




EDWARD HOBSON AND FAMILY 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 783 

married Hannah Haldcman, also a native of Pcnnsvlvania, and a 
daughter of Samuel and Harriet (Horning) Haldenuin. Of their 
children our subject was tlie eldest, the others being as follows: Har- 
riet Woody, of Montgomery Co., Kansas; Ella McMillen, now deceased; 
Sarah Pittman, also of Montgomery Co.; Abram, of Brown county, 
Kansas; Milton, a clerk in the office of the Kansas City Star, and Elmer, 
who resides with our subject. 

Samuel H. Conner began his domestic life in ISS.^, at which time 
he brought to his home Mary, daughter of Judge Daniel and Sarah 
(Boyer) Cline. Mrs. Conner was born in Carroll county, lud., and came 
to Kansas in 1809. Five bright children are inmates of the Conner 
home, their names being: Ola, Nellie N.. Esther. George, Leslie and 
Daniel W. 



EDWARD HOBSON — This personal reference pertains to one of 
Montgomery county's pioneers, Edward Hobson, of Rutland township. 
He accompanied his parents hither in 1870, from Keokuk county, Iowa, 
where his birth occurred March 21, 1855, and where he resided until he 
was fifteen years of age. The settlement in Montgomery county was 
made in Independence township, where the father purchased the Geo. 
Brown claim of a quarter section, which was the family abiding place 
till 1870, when the family settled on the farm now owned by E. M. 
Koger, where the father died, on section 2fi, township 32, range 14, in 
Rutland township. 

The Hobsons of this notice emanated from North Carolina, wheri; 
Joseph R. Hobson, father of our subject, was born. He was a son of 
Joseph Hobson, of Guilford county, that state, who pioneered to 
Indiana in 1821, where he ran a saw-mill and a grist-mill of the primi- 
tive horse power pattern. He left that state with his family when his 
son Joseph was eighteen years old and settled in Henry county, Iowa, 
where he died, engaged in the mercantile business. The children of 
Grandfather Hobson were: Peter, Mrs. Edis Collins, George, Mrs. 
Eleanor Hadley Rogers, Mrs. Mary Radcliff, Joseph R., Mrs. McCJown, 
Samuel, and Mrs. Hannah Rickley. Joseph R. Hobson married Mary Had- 
ley, a North Carolina lady and a daughter of Josepli and Mary (Hin- 
shaw') Hadley. The issue of this Hobson union were: Joel, Ann, who 
first married Malilon Hadley, but is now the widow of J. D. Eugle, of 
Kansas City. Kansas; George, of Independence. Ivansas; .losej)!!, 
deceased; Martha, wife of Albert Jolmsou, of Indi'iiendence, Kansas; 
Kdward our subject, and Isaac. Joseph R. Hobson married Cyrena 
Coberley for his second wife. She was a North Carolinian and fl daugh- 
ter ol Reuben Coberley. 

Edward Hobson has resided at his present location, on section 2(i, 
township .".2. range 14. in l{utland township, since attaining his major- 



784 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

ity. He has been idciitilicd with all (he work of fai'in develoimicnt of 
his half seclioii of land, and has jiiven a j^ood aicoinit of his twenty- 
seven veai's of active, indejiendent lite. In addition to his fainiin'i, he 
follows threshing duriii}; the si'ason. He was nniled in niairiajfc with 
Orla M. Davis in 1877. She was a danjjhter of Anderson and Miirv J. 
(Jou(^s) Davis, and a native of Jefferson comity, Iowa. Two cliildren, 
Orwin and Avril, have resnlted fi'oni thcii- \inion. (trwin is mairied to 
Hattie Raker, of .Jowi-ll connty. Kansas, and now resides on a jiart of 
the home jilace. 

Mrs. Davis still lives on the home farm in Rutland township; her 
husband dyinjj; in 1S!»7, aged sixty-eif^ht years. 

Mr. Hobson is a Popnlist, has been township clerk and has served 
his school boai'd ten years. He is a Modern Woodman and an active 
memlier of the Friends' clnirch. 



JOHN O'lJFHEN— Mr. O'I'.rien, now a retired citizen of Indcjiend- 
ence, was for many years ideutitied, as a fai'mei- and stockman, with 
the rural community of Liberty townshi]), in which he settled and look 
a claim in the year 18(>n. This great length of residence in the '-ounty 
and the fact of his settlement on the then frontier, entitles him to be the 
distinction accorded [tioneers, and as snch. his life record ajijx^ars on the 
pages of this volume for the information and gratification of posterity. 

January :!l», 1841, .(ohn O'Brien was boin in Pike count.\-, Ohio. 
His parents, Enoch and Nancy (Walls) O'Urien, were both natives of the 
same county with himself, the father born in 1808, and the mother in 
1809. Elijah O'Brien, paternal grandfather of our snbject. ><ettled In 
Ohio early in its history as a state, served as a soldiei' in the War of 
1812, and followed the trade of a clock and gunsmith. He was an ex- 
pert workman, and in this his son, Enoch, also excelled. He died at the 
age of eighty-four. Only three of the nine children of Enoch aiid ]Maiy 
O'Brien survive, namely: Nancy, now Mrs. William Minnick, of Mont- 
gomery county, Kansas; Moses, a farmer of Liberty townshi]i, the same 
county, and John of this notice. A sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Addie, died iH 
Denver, Col., in July, 1901, leaving a daughter, Mrs. Matt Oriftin of 
Montgomery county. 

The Pike county, Ohio, schools furnished John O'Brien wiih a 'air 
knowledge of the three "R's" and he was an active aid about the family 
homestead during the period of his minority. He left home for the 
west a young man of twenty-eight, his bosom welling with hope for liis 
future, as he should carve it out of the wild and unschooled regions of 
Kansas. He entered land in Montgomery county and passed more than 
thirty years in the somewhat monotonous occuiiation of building and 
developing a home. The results of his etlorts, coupled with those of 1 is 
domestic aids, are shown in the possession of two hundi-ed and ,iin.":y 



rv 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 785 

jK'ir.s of laiiil. ;iu cslaU' wdiIIiv (o lie rcfcn-cd lo jis the iicliicvtMTiciil and 
rhief event of his life. 

March 11, IST."), J[r. O'Uiicn married .Tcnnie Hioiijihloti. a (laii<?liler 
of Edwin and I.anra (Hartwelli Jii-onjjhton, wlio settled in Kansas .n 
186'J. By trade Mr. Bront^htou was a cooper, and in 1,S!»4 he died, aged 
seventy-uine; liis Avife snrviving till 1!K)() and dyin}; at the a}je of eighty 
years. Both were members of the Melhodist clinrch, and their family 
comprised three children, namely: Samuel, of ("hei'ryvale, Kansas; 
Mary A., deceased, and Jlrs. O'Brien. Three children, also, Inive come 
to adorn the home of ^fr. and Mrs. (CHrien, viz: Clandie \'., wife of 
Albert Slater, of .Montgomery connty, Kansas, with children: Mabel A., 
Bessie (J. and Floyd E.: Oscar I.. O'Brien, a student of the county high 
school, and Edwin E., with a surveying party in Oklahoma. A son, 
AA'ill, died in infancy. 

Mr. 0'Bri(>n's efforts in Montgomery county have not only been of 
value to the county, but gratifying to liimself. He came here poor, 
single-handed and alone, but possessing ])lenty of that es.sential element 
in one's make-uji to achieve a modest amfiition. He has lived the vir- 
tues of character he possesses, has performed a citizen's duty as he saw 
it, and has retired with the good wishes of a whole community. 

-^ ■ « t 



HENRY BERENTZ— Looking back to the days immediately suc- 
c(>edii)g the Civil Wav, there now seems almost a divine prescience in the 
great Jett'erson's purchase of this western country in 1803. For, after that 
sublime struggle in the cause of human liberty, the boundless prairies 
wei'e ours to be thrown open to the gallant boys who had so gloriously 
l)articipated in its splendid achievements. One of these gallant boys 
was the subject of this sketch. Henry Berentz, who settled in Drum 
("reek township in 18(50. and who has been an active participant in the 
marvelous growth which has come to the county since that dale. 

The Berentz family is of pure Oerman extraction, (liandfather Be- 
rentz was the progenitor of the family in this country, he having been 
a resident of Baltimore. Maryland, prior to the Revolutionary struggle, 
in which he took a patriot's part. He. later, settled near Harrisburg, 
]'a.. where he reared his family and pass<'d away. The father of our 
subject, Christian Berentz, was theie married to FTeniietta Oaks and, 
later, removed to Ohio, where he was engaged until his death, in the. 
ministry of the (rerman Reform church. Ten childien were born to 
these jiarents, as follows: Caroline, who married Fred Oxeubeine, a 
farmer living near Xashville, Tenn.; Henr^ , Christian W., Mary Ann, 
who mariied Henry AA'indell, deceased, an Illinois farmer; Jerry, a Civil 
AN'ar vetei-an, of Labette county. Kansas: Dwight, a veteran, living in 
Ohio; .Michael, of Liberty township; .Maliala, of Illinois; Susan, of Ohio; 
Martin, a veteran, living in Oswego. Kansas. 



786 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Ilcnrv liOieutz was born in the city of Harrisburg in 1833. and in 
early boyhood was taken to Ohio, where he received a fair education. 
Trior to the war, he went out to Illinois and was located at Danville, 
when he answered the call to arms in 1862. Enlisting as a private in 
Company "F,"' 35th HI. Vol. Inft., he was sent to the front and became 
a pari of the Army of the Cumberland. He lielped whip Hragg at Rtone 
River, I hen chased him to Cliiikamnnga, and was present at that bloody 
d«>feat of the Union army. Hut this was compensated for at the glorious 
battle of Missionary Ridge, which proved a fitting close for our subject's 
militai-y career, for, here, he was wounded on the 25th of Nov., and, after 
five months in the hospital, at Quincy, 111., he was placed on guard duty 
at Rock Island until his muster out in August. 

Returning from the field, Mr. Berentz farmed in Illinois until the 
date of his .settlment in Jlontgomery. Marriage was an event of 1S57 
with our subject, his wife having been Catherine Jane Doop. a native of 
Ohio. Mrs. Berentz is the daughter of Joseph and Catherine J. (Win- 
dell) Doop, early settlers in Monroe county, Ohio, where the mother still 
i-esides at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. She is the mother of 
nine children. Eight are living, as follows: Mary Ann, widow of 
Hiram Gibson, of Drum Creek township; David, a Civil \Yar veteran, 
of Cherry vale; Mrs. Berentz, Calvin, a veteran, of Caney, la.; John, a 
veteran, deceased; Simon, a veteran, of Iowa; Philip, a veteran, of Okla- 
homa; Joseph, of Beaumont, Texas; Lucretia, who married Wm. (^lood- 
ner and lives in Drum Creek township. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Berentz six children were born, 
viz: Elizabeth Ann, born July 18, 1859, now the M'ife of Clate Cole, 
farmer of Cherry township; her children are: Bart, Henry. John 
and Obediah; George, born October 8, 18C1, married Florence Norris, 
and lives in Liberty township, one child, Lloyd; Henry, born April 21, 
1803; Emma, born April 17, 1868, married Willis Kidd; her children— Guy, 
Marble, Luella and Hazel; Abraham E., born May 26, 1872, married 
Elsie Van Dyne, her children— Katie and Roy; Effie, born June 15, 1878, 
is the wife of Harry Thomas, now deceased; one child — Harry B. 

The shades of evening are closing jieacefully about the career of 
this respected citizen who can look back upon duty well and faithfully 
performed. Secure in the love of his comrades of the G. A. R. and his 
children, and in the respect and esteem of his hosts of friends, he and 
his good wife are enjoying the rest they so much deserve. 



ROBERT L. NEW^KIRK— The younger business element of Elk 
City, Kansas, has a worthy representative in Robert L. Xewkirk, as- 
sistant manager of the Sloans-Behrens Milling Company, and a young 
man whose future may be easily forecast by reference to the capable 
manner in which he has handled himself thus far in his eminently sue- 



HIST()i;y OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 787 

rcsisfiil business career. Jlr. Newkirk is a iirodiicf of I lie iiisl it ii( ions 
and social environment of P^lk ("ilv, and it inifilit be added this (aft 
casts no retlection upon either; for no more fjenth-manlv hustler can be 
found in the town's environs. 

The parentage of Mr. Newkirk is responsible for a [xirtion ot bis 
Iioimlarily, as they were among; the chosen few of the old settlers' guard 
which moved In on the erstwhile "cowpunchers' trail" and redeemed 
Montgomery in the iutei-est of good morals and better government. His 
father, Capt. W. 0. Newkirk, was one of the defenders of the I'nion 
wiio.s<> thoughts naturally turned to the child, born mid the throes of 
incipient rebellion, and where he was snre of tindinpt t)ther untold thous- 
ands whose blood had been spilled in securing; to it, forever, the ])rec- 
ious birthright vouchsafed it by a liberty-loving people. Capt. New- 
kirk and his good wife were natives of the "Hoosier State.'' her maiden 
name having been Sarah B. Reynolds. 

At the breaking out of the war, Mr. Newkirk promptly enlisted and 
for four years did his duty bravely. He died at the age of (i2 years on the 
Othof April, l!tt)l, mourned by the entire conimnnity. ^Mrs. Newkirk contin- 
ues to be an honored resident and is held in the highest regard by all. Her 
children, of whom there are six living in the county, are all useful and 
respected members of society and reflect, in their sterling (jualities, the 
cai'eful training of their parents. Two are deceased — (."arrie L., at eight 
years, and Frederick R. at twenty-eiglit. Thomas R.. William T.. James 
L., and Alonzo are successful farmers of the county. The one daughter, 
Silver I>., married Alonzo Smith, and also resides on a farm. 

Robert L. Newkirk, the sixth child of this family, was born on the 
lionie farm Ai»ril 4. 1S74. He graduated from the high school in 1899, 
and soon began his business career by the management of a creamery 
at Independence for a year. He then farmed for a time and in the 
spring of 1901, began liis connectiim with the firm he now serves so 
acceptably. Like his lamented father, Robert enters into every project 
which has for its object the betterment of conditions in his community, 
and the spirit which he infuses into any undertaking with which lie is 
entrusted always carries it to a successful conclusion. He served during 
tlie year 1902, as clerk of the townshiji. Of the fraternities, he attiliates 
with the Woodmen and the A. O. T'. ^^'. In politics he votes with the 
Democratic i)arty. 

The mariiage of Mi'. Newkirk occurred on the 24th of December, 
l'.»01. Mrs. Xewkirk's maiden name was Rhoda K. Rains. She is a na- 
tive of Kentucky and is a daughter of Matthew and Matfie Rains, resi- 
dents of Independence. Mrs. Newkirk is the mothei- of two children, 
liurnell and .lulius R. 



788 HISTORY OP MONTGOMEET COUNTY, KANSAS. 

HOWARD M. HILL— The promotion of the stock aud breeding in- 
terests of Montgomery county are successfully engaged in by the young 
pioneer settlor whose name initiates this personal review. He is a son 
of one of the pioneers of Wilson county, Kansas, and was reared from 
infancy within a score of miles of the scene of his present activities. 
The "Sycamore Springs Stock Farm'' is the outgrowth of his idea and 
the result of a bent exhibited by him from boyhood. His dominions 
comjirise an estate of live hundred and twenty acres, stocked with the 
various farm animals and with registered lieads for both his stable 
and his herds. 

Having come to the adjoining county of AVilson in 1.S72, Mr. Hill 
is worthily designated in this article as a pioneer. The city of Neodesha 
was the scene of his boyhood and youthful activities, and from its high 
school he graduated at the age of seventeen. For a higher education 
and ;> broader culture, he entered the Kansas State LTniversity, from 
whicii he graduated in IS'.M), with the degree of LL. K. He did extra work 
in political economy and natural history and completed the law course 
of the institution also. On assuming a station as a business man he 
took the jiosition of cashier of the Bank of Lafontain, which was 
established by his father, the veteran banker, William Hill, of Neo- 
desha, and conducted the affairs of the little institution during the five 
years of its existence. Following his natural tendencies he then de- 
voted himself to and became a positive force as a farmer. His interest 
in live stock was an absorbing one and took form in an ambition to 
become a breeder of blooded, or fine stock. Short Horn cattle and Per- 
cheron horses comprise his important registered stock, "Imported Mar- 
iner,'' of the Scotch "Missie" family, bi'ed by Wni. Marr, being at the head 
of his herd, and Jena, of the Brilliant family, and bred by Dunham, 
Fletcher & Coleman, of Fort Wayne, 111., is his famous Percheron stal- 
lion. A half dozen fine mares of the same blood were purchased with 
him at the Kansas City sale of Samuel Hanna, of Howard, Kansas, and 
by the diffusion of this blood with that of his large number of the cotu- 
moner stock the general improvement is at once striking and apparent. 

In 1898, Mr. Hill gave a sale in Kansas City of registered Hereford 
cattle raised on the Sycamore Springs Stock Farm, thirty-five head bring- 
ing an average price of four luindi-ed and one dollars (|401.00), the high- 
est price ever brought at such a sale in Kansas. 

Howard M. Hill was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Nov. 28, 1870. 
His father was born near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1832, and followed the 
trade of a printer when a young man. His parents brought him to the 
United States at ten years of age and stopped in Ohio, where he at- 
tained his majority. He learned the printer's trade and went into Wis- 
consin, Sauk county, where he published a newspaper for several years. 
He was married in that state to Ellen C. Maxwell, and of the union four 
sons were born, as follows: Arthur, Howard M., Bert and Irving. In 



HISTORY OV MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 789 

1872, ho brou^ilit liis family to the now village of Neodeslia, in Wilson 
county, Kansas, wliore, tho followius yoar, he established the Neodesha 
Savings Bank, which grow to be a strong, safe and popular institution. 
William Hill is a (juiot, uupretiMitious gentleman, genteel and courteous, 
with a decidedly commercial Itent. His life lias been moral and upright, 
if possible, to a fault, and his oxamjde to the world about him has been 
one worthy to emulate. 

May ;i(), 1!M)(I, Howard M. Hill married Rebecca M. Campbell at Al- 
luwe, Ind. Ty. Mrs. Hill is a daughter of R. M. Cami)bell and has two 
children: R. Maxwell and William. Mr. Hill is an Odd Fellow and is 
descended from Democratic ancestry. 



ELIJAH D. HASTIN(JS— The bar of Montgomery county will 
stand comparison favorably with any other county in the state. The 
members from Cherryvale are men of wide knowledge in the law and 
of successful and extensive practice. Among these is the subject of this 
review, E. D. Hastings, who has been connected with the development 
of the city since its inception; indeed he may he called the god-father 
of Cherryvale, as it was thi-ough his efl'orts that the town was incor- 
porated by .Judge Hislio]) W. I'erkins, and in whose oftice our subject was 
present at the first election of officers for the new town. 

Benjamin and Elizabeth (^>mithl Hastings, the parents of o\ir sub- 
ject, were natives of tho State of New Hampshire. Benjamin was a 
farmer and mill-wright and during his life was most widely and favor- 
ably known among the New Hampshire hills, living to the extreme old 
age of eighty-eight; his wife dying at eighty-three. They were devout 
and consistent members of the M. E. church and were highly respected 
citizens of tho community in which they resided. They reared a family 
of ten children, of which Elijah was the eldest. 

Mr. Hastings secured a good common school education; his first 
scholastic education having been received at Kimball ITnicm Academy, 
in his native state, from \\ hich he g?-aduated in IS.'it!. He immediately 
took up the study of law, his pr<'ceptoi's being Amasa and Samuel Edes, 
of Newport, New Hampshire, and after three years' study he was ad- 
mitted to piactice, and at once located at Charlestown, New Hampshire, 
changing his place of practice to Filton after a short period, where he 
entered the army, enlisting in the fallof 1S61. in the Cth New Hamj)- 
shire Vol. Inft. Ho immediately went to the front and his regiment 
became a part of the Arn\y of the T'otomac under, at that time, General 
Burnsido. His first experience with jKiwder and ball was at the second 
battle of Biill Run, whore ho received a jiainfiil wound above the right 
knee. He was sent to the Tnion Hotel Hosiiital in (Jecu'gotown, and 
after three months received honorable discliarge from the army on 
account of disabilitv. After a vear of convalescence at home, h<' was 



790 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 

advised to j;<) to a seaport town, and for seven vears following was a 
citizen of Boston, Mass. .where he was check master for the Old Colouv 
juid Fall Kiver Kailioad. and later was an enijdoye of the R. J^. Brigg.s 
directory firm. 

Leaving Boston. Mr. Hastings came west to 8t. Louis. Mo., where he 
<»ngaged for a number of rears in various pursuits. In 1871, he formed 
i\ law partnership with a Mr. <Miajiin and ]iracticed for a nuinlier of 
years under the tiini name of Chapiii iV: Hastings, and then followed 
the life insurance Inisiiiess for a time. Aftei' ten years" residence in St. 
Louis, he located in (lierryvale, the date of his airival being August, 
1878. Since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession. For fifteen years he has been a jtartner of M. B. Soule, else- 
where represented in this volume. Three years later, having ill health, 
lie gave up the ]praetice of law and has since been engaged in writing 
tire insurance, representing the Pandy Fire and Marine ('ompany and 
the Cermaii American of New Yoik. 

During his residence in Cherry vale our subject has taken an active 
interest in the puldic life of the city, having served three terms in the 
<Mty Council and a like period as City Attorney. In social life he is a 
valued member of the Masonic Order, having filled all the offices of 
the Blue Lodge, and in jiolitical matters acts with the Repulican party. 

The marriage of Mr. Hastings was an event of Sejitember Gtli, 18G8. 
ilrs. Hastings" maiden name was Frances .\. Corbin. She is a native of 
Newiinrt. New Hampshire, and is the daughter of Dr. Walter and Olive 
F. (F'itch) Corbin. No children have been born to this marriage. The 
life which Mr. Hastings has led in Cherryvale has made for him a last- 
ing reputation among her citizens, for integrity and honesty of purpose, 
and both he and his wife number their freiends Viy the legion in the 
county. 



ELIAS THOMAS LE\A'IS — Among the substantial pioneers of 
Montgomery county is Elias T. Ix'wis, of Rutland township, whose set- 
tlement here was made in the month of June, 1871. On the 20th of that 
month he IxHiglit the claim right of Mark Beal and then, later, another 
eighty adjoining, the quarter in section 1, township 'A^. range 11, being 
IIkmi entered by himself and forming the nucleus of his first and perma- 
nent home. 

Chief Nojpawalla and liis band of Osages were in the vicinity of 
Mr. Lewis' settlement and their presence for a few months served to 
remind the pioneers that th«ir settlement was really on the frontier. 
AMiitc Hair and Big Chief were also within reach, but none proved a 
s<'rious menace to the })eaceful occu]iation of our subject of his newly 
ac(iuir(Ml land. 

Coming into the county single, as he did, Mr. I.rt?wis went back to 




E. T. LEWIS AND WIFE. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 79 1 

Honry coiiiity, Mo., in Ausnsl, IS71, and returned with a wife. Their 
tirst lionie was a box hon.se 14xl(; feel and (he foundation of their suc- 
cess was hiid while occuj)an(s of (liis rude shanty. With its nuniorous 
additions it served as the family domicile till 1SS2, when the more pre- 
tentious residence of the present was erected. The first breaking on 
the farm was done by W. O. liyncli, who received .|:>.0() per acre for 
twenty acres. The farm was fenced and other iiii])rovements of a sub- 
stantial character came with the lapse of time and the outcome of the 
third of a century of labor on this rolling jirairie is a half section of 
land, in two farms, eiiuipped for profitable cultivation and contented 
occupation. 

Ellas T. Lewis was born in Roanoke county, Virginia, June 8, 184.o. 
His growth to the approach to manliood was upon a farm, where the 
outbreak of the Civil War found him. State pride, if nothing more, 
prompted his enlistment in tli(» Southern cause, and Chatman's battery 
of King's Hattal ion of Light .Vrtiliery became his comman(L He was 
in Echols' Brigade and enlisted as a ju'ivate at Lonisburg, Virginia. 
His first battle was at White Suli>hur Springs, and in the valley of Vir- 
ginia he fought almost daily, with his command, against the forces of 
Sheridan. Strasburg, Winchester, Kerntown, Martinsburg and in the 
valley near Frederick Pity, Md., were scenes of engagements in which 
he took part. He was in Early's Raid through I'a. and Md., toward 
Washington, and got in sight of the national capital. Being driven 
back into 'N'irgiiiia the army fought nearly every day on the retreat to 
Richmond. Took part in the battle of ("old Harbor and Lynchburg, 
and thence back to the Shenandoah \'alley, where some skirmishing oc- 
curred, and in the winter of lSG4-(ir) went into quarters in W^est Vir- 
ginia. The spring campaign opened with many minor "settoos" witli 
the Federals in (he New State and when Lee surrendered, Echols' Brig- 
ade was at Christ iansburg, in Montgomery county, W'est A'irginia. 
Here the connnand was disbanded on th 7tli of A])ril, ISti.^. and a 
few days later Mr. f.ewis reaclied home just as the dinner horn was 
blowing. 

The incidents of his service during the long war were numerous, 
but space limit prevents here the mention of only two wounds and two 
captures. The wounds were not so serious as to cause him to leave his 
company and his cajiture at Stiasbiii'g ended sudd<'nly in his escape at 
night, while the o7ie at Wincliestei-, \'a., Sept. lit, lS(i:^. tei'uiinated sim- 
ilarly after twenty-four hours imprisonment. 

The freeing of the family slaves made it necessary for 5Ir. Lewis to 
go into tlie fields and make a hand. The same afternoon he reached 
homi', he began ])lanting corn. He S])ent a year on (he old home aTid 
then went to Hardin Co., Ky., where he made a farm hand for six 
months. He then entered (iarnet tsvill(> College, where he was a stu- 
dent for nearlv one school vear. He went north then and worked on 



792 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

a farm iu Kuox Co., 111., for one summer. Jasper Co., Missouri, was his 
next objective point and there he chose a location, stocked up quite 
heavily with Texas cattle purchased and driven out i)f the Lone Star 
State by him.self. ^^'hen throujih with .Missouri he came to Kansas and 
selected his future home in Montgomery county. 

Elias T. Lewis was a son of Robert Ivt'wis, a native of Culpeper 
Co., Va., born in 1785. The father was principal of Hamony Sidney 
College for a number of years. He was a scddier in the war of 1812 
and made up a company among the students of his college for service 
in that war. He was commissioned Ca]it. of the company and was pro- 
moted to a Colonelcy before the war closed. He was a son of Pleasant 
Lewis, a Revolutionary soldier, who had one child, viz: Robert. The 
latter married Lucinda McDonald, twelve children being their issue, 
namely: Robert. William. AN'ashington, who occupies the old Virginia 
home; John, near Lexington, ^'a.; Jose])h, of Bates Co., Mo.; Samuel, 
of Meade Co., Ky. ; Elias T., our subject; James, Charles (the foregoing 
were all Confederate soldiers); Mrs. Jlary Xorcross, Mrs. Jemima Mc- 
Guire, of ('raig Co., Va.; Mrs. Henrietta Henderson, of Meade Co., Ky. 

For his wife Elias T. Lewis chose Kate H. Wright, born in Wash- 
ington Co.. Ky.. and a daughter of Natlianiel and Matilda (Moore) 
Wright, Kentucky peojile. Two children wen- born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, 
namely: ilrs. Ida Spauldiug, of Independence, with thi-ee children: 
Helen, Roberta and Zella; Robert W., a veteran of the Spanish-Ameri- 
<>an war. May 3, 18!t8, Robert W. enlisted in Co. ''G,'" 20th Kansas, 
Capt. Elliott, Col. Funston, and saw service in the Philippines. 

The mother of Matilda Moore, the grandmother of Mrs. E. T. Lewis 
— was a Wallace — a sister of the father of Cen. Lew Wallace. 

Jlr. Lewis is a Democrat and was twice named by his party for a 
county office — County Treasurer ajid Probate Judge. He has been 
Treasurer of his township several terms and is a member of the A. O. 
IT. W. and of the Baptist church. For the past twenty five years he 
has devoted himself largely to buying, raising and shipping stock, at 
which business he has shown his ability and capacity. His genuine 
citizenship is undoubted and his standing iu his county marks him a.s 
a worthy man. 



T. E. TREGEMBA— One of the latest additions to the business in- 
terests of the stirring city of Independence is the Glen Lumber Com- 
pany, of which T. E. Tregemba is Secretary. Mr. Tregemba is himself 
somewhat new to the city, he having come here in 1899. The splendid 
character of his business ability, however, soon made for him a large 
place in the esteem of the business public, and he is to-day one of the 
leading men of the city. 

Mr. Tregemba is of English extraction, his parents, John and Chris- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 793 

tiana (Hosking) Ti-esi'inba, liaviii;;- c td the Iniicd Stales in ISCm. 

Thej settled in Mar(|uct((' roiiiily, MicliiMan, where tlicy remained for 
live .years (en<;Mj;('d in iuininf;|, and wlieic our suhjecl was born, Auyiist 
12. 1S(!!I. In ISTO, the family sedh'd in Osajjc comity, iCan. Besides our 
subject there was a family of five chihlreii. 

The parents are members of the sturdy yeomanry of Kansas, self- 
respecting and prosperous, and active communicants of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 

Mr. Treo-emba of this notice jiassed the jn-riod of youth and boy- 
hood on the farm, where he develo()ed a stron}>' physical franu^ and in 
the excellent scliools of his home district secured a pood foundation for 
the later business cours<' which he took at Lawrence, Kan. His first 
venture was as a general merchant in Overbrook, Kan., from 1889 to 
1892. For a period of seven y'^ai's, succeeding, he was chief book-keeper 
for a milling company at Oswego, Kan., and in 1899, as stated, located 
in Inde])endence. He here engaged in the lunil)er business with suc- 
cess, and in the early jtart of the pi'esenl year became one of tlie organ- 
izers of the (Jleii Lunibei- ("omjiany, of which he is Se( letaiv. This coin- 
panj' is extensively' engaged in the sale of all kinds of building material, 
and does a large and increasing business all ovei' the county. 

Mr. Tregemba's donu'stic life was happily initiated June 1*!, litdO, 
when he called to preside over his home Miss .\iina Holmes, of Oswego, 
Kan. Mrs. Tregemba is a daughtei' of Charles and Jennie Holmes. To 
the mari'iage have been b(u-n a jiair of twins, Helen and ^liriaiu. Mr. 
and ill's. Tregemba are iironiinent workers in the Presbyterian church, 
he being a Kuling Klder in that (u-ganization. Iiusiness interests pre- 
vent him fi'oni taking more than a voting j)art in ])olitii's, but he can 
alwa.vs be dejxuided on to sujtport the jiolicies of tiie l{e]iublican party. 
He served in the city council from A|)ril, I'Mll, to April, lilt».'{, during 
which period his keen business sagacity was of value in the set- 
tlement of the nuiiiy (juestious which came befori' that body. The char- 
acter of his citizenship is on tliat higli plane which thinks the best none 
too good in tlie moral and material development of the city. 



M. A. FIXI.EV, M. 1>. — One of the most successful and ]io]>ular 
young ])hysicians of the county is Dr. Finley, of ("heriyvale. whose large 
and increasing practice mark him as an able exixMient of his profession. 
He is rapidly attaining distinction in suigery, lia\'ing perfoinied some 
very delicate and successful (►pei'ations witliin the last yeai'. 

Dr. Finley was born in llie State of .Missouri, Saline county, June 
15, 1869. He" is a son of James V. and Elizabeth J. (Stewart) Finley. 
The father was a native of Missouri and the mother of Tennessee. The 
father was a farmer during the early part of his life, hUer engaging iik 



794 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Ihe banking and mercantile business. He was a man of attractive per- 
sonality and was very widely known in that section of the state. 

Our subject's grandfather, together with two brothers and three 
sisters, settled in ^^aline county. Mo., in the early thirties, where they 
became widely known for their many cardinal virtues. Our subject's 
father remained in that county until he was fifty years of age and then 
removed to an adjoining county, where he died in l<Sfll, aged fifty-six 
years. He was a consistent and active worker in the Cumberland Pi-es- 
byterian chui'ch, as was also his wife, who is now a member of the 
famil\ of hei- sou in (/herryvale. 

Dr. Finley was the eldest of seven children. The second child, Isa- 
belle, married Lafayette ^Mortimer and resides in Labette county, Kan- 
sas; W. B., oil and gas driller of Cherryvale; the fourth child, Mary L., 
died in infancy ; J. ('. resides on the old homestead in Labette county. 
He married, in November, 1!M(2. Miss Ethel (Jibson; Miss Rose, is a mil- 
liner in f'herrvvale, and Maud is a student in tlic high school, class of 
1003. 

Th<^ Doctor received his preliminary education in the district 
schools of his native county and later attended an academy at Green- 
field, Missouri. He then became a student in the Kansas State Normal 
at Emporia, from whicli he graduated in the Latin course in 1893. 
He taught before going to the State Normal, and after teaching several 
years hetook u\t the study of medicine and for two years attended the Illi- 
nois Medical College of Cjiicago; tlience to St. Louis, whei-e, in 1897, he 
graduated in the College of I'liysiciaus and Surgeons. In these differ- 
ent institutions he was a popular student, liaving been elected at St. 
Louis as the valedictorian from a class of one hundred and two mem- 
bers. 

Upon completing his course Dr. Finley canu> immediately to Cher- 
ryvale and began i\w juactice of his ]u-ofession. He is a student still 
and is known throughout medical ciicles as a contributor of valued 
articles to the "Kansas Medical Joninal"' ami the "St. Louis Clinique," 
the latter being the official publication of his .\lma Mater. The Doctor 
is a close reader of current medical literature and is active on the social 
side of his profession, being a member of the lo<-al County Medical So- 
ciety and also of the "Southeast Kansas .Medical Society," and the 
larger state organizations, in all of which his voice is heard in the dis- 
cussions which are the features of the yearly meetings. He is also a 
member of the American Medical Association. 

While the Doctor is giving his attention to the general practice of 
his profession, he has, in later years, given special attention to rectal 
surgery, in which line he has achieved most fiattering success. In the 
community in which he has been a resident \w takes an active and lielp- 
iul interest, having served the city as iilderniaii for a jieriod of three 



HISTUItY 01' MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 795, 

years and also oii(> year as Ciiy I'liysiciaii. He is a iiiciiihcf of the Mod- 
ern Woodmen and of the Kiiifilits and Ladies of Secnrii y. 

The domestic life of Dr. Finlcy was Initiated in ],*<!t,S, lie having 
been joined in marriaf^v on lliat date to Miss I'earl, daughter of Charles 
A. and Elizabeth Hancock, of F.m]>oria, Kansas. The Doctor and his 
wife are leading members of the I'resbyterian ehnrch, in which he is 
an Elder. They move in the best social ejrcles of the city and are re- 
garded in the conmninit.v with feelings of the greatest esteeem. 



JAMES lU'LGEH — The gentleman whose name heads this article 
is one of the genuine pioneers of Montgomery county and when he set- 
tled in West Cherry township, white settlers were rarely to be seen. It 
was in the sjiring of IStiS, that he located on a quarter of section 35. 
township HI, range 1(>, for the jiiiipose of cjirving himself out a home. 
A rude cabin, the familial' and substantial I'i'sidcnce of the first settlers, 
was erected on his claim and in it he housed his family for a period of 
ten years. His new farm was a location of Patrick Holaiul. for which 
Mr. Bulger paid the sum of .fSOD.DO, and on it he resided, engaged in its 
intelligent improvement and development, for thirty years, owning it 
still, but deserting it only for the convenience and comfort of his son's 
home near by. 

James Hulgcr is a Canadian by biilli. His native ])lace was in 
County J!eauh<M-n\vay, Province of Caiuula East, and his bii'th occurred 
March 17, 1S;!S. He remained in his native h)cality till he was twenty- 
five years old, when he sought the United States and became an employe 
on the Union Pacific Railway, then b\iilding toward the Golden Gate. 
He remained with the road three years as a bridge carpenter and then 
left the west, went to Chicjigo ;ind was married. In a f<'\v months he and 
his young wife came to Kansas and began their life on a new farm on 
the frontier in ilontgoTuery county. The reduction of wild natuie kejjt 
them busy for a few yea?s, and the fencing of the farm and its provision 
with the frontier buildings necessary for the shelter of their scant sup- 
ply of stock. Modern and substantial improvements came with the 
lapse and successes of years and, after thirty-five years, the comforts 
of a contented home are, by the family, en,jo.ved. 

James Hulger. Sr., was the fathei' of our w(U'th.\' subjeci. He was 
born in Count.v \\'e.\ford, Ii'eland. and was a son of Hugh Hulger, who 
had four sons, James, John, Luke and Thomas. All of these sons came 
to America and were reai'ed as farmers. Jami's mai'ried Mary (irancds, 
a County ^\'e.\ford lad.v, and reared eight children, namely: Mrs. Mary 
Hendratty, Hugh, James, .\nn, Thomas, John, Luke and Kate; the latter 
a sister in a convent. 

Hose (Jarvey a ('anadian lady, became the wife of the subject of 
this sketcli. She was a daughlei- of Pat lick (iarvev, who married a ^liss. 



796 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Lawler. Mrs. Rose Coyl, of Fort Suiith, Arkansas, is the oldest child 
of Mr. and Mrs. Bulger. She has chilrden : Thomas and John ; James 
is the second child; Mrs. Mary I'iffer is the third child. She resides in 
Pueblo, Col., and has one child, Wauneta ; Mrs. Lucy Kiggs. of Pueblo, 
is the fourth, and the others in their order ai'e: Maggie, Eliza and Ed- 
ward. 

In 1887, Mrs. Bulger died and her husband's household is presided 
over and cared for bj their younger daughters. The family are mem- 
bers of the Catholic church and, in politics. Mr. Bulger is a Democrat. 



SENEC.V E. THOMx\H— The gentleman whose name introduces 
this biography is widely known in Cherry township. Its citizenship has 
known him favorably for many years and it is pleasing to record in this 
work the narrative which shall identify his household with the material 
development of Montgomery county . 

His family originated in Sharon. Connecticut, where I he Thomases 
had lived for several generations and where he was born March 1*0, 1849. 
His parents were James H. and llairiet (Edget) Tliomas. The father 
learned the machinist's trade and was emjiloyed in the engine works at 
Sharon, Connecticut until his dei)artare from the state in 1862. On 
leaving the "Xutmeg State" he settled in Ottawa, Illinois, where black- 
smithing constituted his particular line of work. He resided ou a farm 
near town, and on this his childi-en took their tirst lessons in practical 
agriculture. While in that state his wife died, in 1S7(I, at forty-five 
years of age, and in 187t). he came to Kansas, where, at the home of our 
subject, he died, aged si.xty-four years. Five children constituted his 
family, namely: Lewis IL, James E., Emma, deceased; Mrs. Ellen Man- 
chester of South Dakota, and Seneca E., of tliis notice. 

The work of the farm occupied Seneca E. Thomas during his period 
of youthful develoj)nient and the home of his ])arents was his own till 
his marriage Dec. 10. 18()8, at which time he set uj) a household of his 
own, going to Benton county, Indiana, where he resith'd until the year 
187G, when he established himself a <iti/.en of .Moiitgouiciy county, 
Kansas. 

Mr. Thomas married ilary J. Hendricks, whose father, James Hen- 
dricks, w'as a cousin of the late Vice President Hendricks, of Indiana. 
Mr. Hendricks married Nancy Farrow in the State of Virginia, where 
they were born, and both came to Indiana, young and \igorous; the 
wife riding the entire distance on horseback . Mrs. Hendricks was a 
niece of Col. William Farrow, of (ireencaslle, Indiana, and was nuir- 
ried at fourteen years of age, rearing a family of nine children. The 
Heudrickses left Indiana iu an early day and nuide settlement in Illinois, 
where they passed away, the father at sixty-two and the mother at 
4?ighty years old. Of their family, those deceased are : Thomas, Mary, 



UISTOKY OK MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 797 

Maria and John. Those surviving are: Mrs. Malinda O'Brien, James, 
Mrs. Mary J. Thomas, wife of our subject; Mrs. I.ibbie Tliomas and 
Joseph. Jolm Hendricks enlisted in the First Indiana Heavy Artillery 
and served his Uiree years in the field; fioni ISIH to J.s<i4. lie (lien veter- 
anized and linished out the war, experiencing; much of the iudiious serv- 
ice of the great t'ivil ^^'ar. Following the close of hostililies between the 
two warring sect'-'us of our country; he enlisted in the regular army and 
spent ten years in this service, making a total of fourteen years' service 
in war and peace. 

Mr. Thouuis' first hunic in .MontgouK r.\- ciinnty was on a small 
sixty acre farm on which he erected, what would now be considered 
a toy house — 12x12 feet in dimension -and in these modest suri-ound- 
ings he and his faithful wife were content to remain '(ill their industry 
rewarded them with more commodious ()uarters. The farm was 
improved commensurate with their ability and they were hajipy in 
their surroundings 'till a conflagration visited tliem in 1002 and 
destroyed their barns and granaries, containing their farm imi)lements 
and vehicles, a blow which was almost jjaralyziiig in its conseijiiences. 
But, nerved to the occasion, Mi'. Tlmmas jiroceeded immediately to 
rebuild and the destructioTi of yesterday is i-e])laced by the i-e-civation 
of today. 

Mr. Thomas is an admirable citizen, oliliging, agreeal)le and easily 
approachable by all. These and otlier traits account for his wide 
popularity. He is disposed to look always on the bright side of things, 
and wiiile he snITers from the pangs of misforttme, melancholy never 
seizes him and, encouiaged and clieei-ed by his ccmstaut comiianion — 
his wife — life is as sweet to him under adversity as under jjrosjierity. 
His farm, which is in the proven oil and gas belt of Chenyvale. has 
become valuable and he is surrounded by many luxuiies of life. 

In politics, Jlr. Thomas is a Republican and he has served his town- 
shij) as Justice of the Feace. He is an Odd Fellow and a Rebekah and 
served Cherryvah^ TiOdge of the foiinei- foi- twelve years as a Trustee. 
He is also a Modern Woodman. 



W. E. W'ORTMAN, editor of that sprightly weekly journal, the Elk 
Oity Entei'prise, and the efficient ])ostinaster of that ])ros])erous village, 
the gentleman named herein combines <|ualities which nuike him a most 
popular citizen. His connection with Kansas affairs began two decades 
ago, since which lime he has been a firm su]i]ioitei' of its institutions, 
and of the local conniiunity in which he cast his lines. 

On the Iftth of October, I'.MM, the citizens of KIk City were called 
on to mourn the death of one of her old soldier citizens, a man whom 
they had learned to r(>vere foi- his many noble (iinilities and for the 
sterling chai'acfer of his citi/.enshiii among them. This gentleman 



798 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

was tlu' father of the subject of tliis sketcli, Jacob (".. ^\'rtl■tlllall. Mr. 
Wortinan was a native of the Buckeye State and tliere jjrew to man- 
hood, learning the trade of a shoemaker. At the bre;iking out of the 
Civil Whv he was foUowing his trade in Marion county, Ohio, and there 
enlisted as a private soldier, July 6, 1862, in Co. "E," i»6th O. V. I. 
This regiment became a part of the Thirteenth Armj* Corps, and was 
sent to the southwest, where, durin*;' the war, it saw most trying service. 
It crossed the bridge at Cincinnati with the full complement of 1,100 
men; it returned three years later with less than three Inuidi-ed to tell 
the story of those three years of sutt'ering and ])riva(i(in, endured 
uncomplainingly for the honor of "Old Glory.'' After ])articipating in the 
battle of Arkansas Post, Mr. Wortnian was at the siege of V'icksburg, 
after which he engaged in the lied River campaign. It was in this 
campaign that the regiment suffered such terrible loss, in one battle 
losing every line ofHcer but one. In this same battle Mr. Wortman 
had several nutrvelously close calls, at one time having his mustache 
shaved by a bullet as clean as if by a razor, his clothes jiierced in two 
dif!"erent places, and a lock of his hair cut from the top of his head; 
this latter incident ever after reconciled him to his rather diminutive 
height, as, if he had been an inch taller the wound would have been a 
fatal one. After this campaign the regiment went via New Orleans to 
Mobile vvhei'e it participated in the fall of that city and the sieges of 
Forts Morgan and Sjianish. 

After his return home, Mr. Wortman continued to work at his 
trade in Ohio until 1884, when he settled in Elk City, where until two 
years before his death he continued to ply his vocation. His healtli 
failing, he gave uj) the bench and helped about the jjrinting office, pre- 
ferring to weai' out rather than rust out. 

J. (}. \\'ortman was born in Muskingum counly. Ohio. October !1^, 
18;{.i, and in ISCl, was joined in marriage to the lady who now survives 
him, nee Miss Harriet L. \N'arwick, daughter of John Warwick. To 
the marriage were born: W. E., our subject; Huldah L., now Mrs. O. D. 
Wright, a farmer of this county; children — Hazel. Jacob, Paul and 
Walter; Sadie M., wife of Prof. Castillo of the county high school; 
children — William, Harriet. Elizal>eth and John; Wayne J., of Elk City, 
married Inez Easley; one child — Irene. 

The I'lilest of this family, ^A'. E. Wortman. was born in Marion 
county, Ohio, .January 1!), 18(J2. He received a good common school 
education and at an early age was apprenticed to the printing trade 
in the ollice of the Caledonia Argus, where he remained five years. He 
then came to Kansas with the family, and after working at the case four 
or five yeai-s, bought the Enterprise. Ciider his management this 
jouiiial h,is b(H-ome something more than a mere chronicle of the news 
of the community and is a credit to the town. In February of 1808, 
Mr. Wortman was api)ointed postmaster of Elk ("ity and has since 




JOSEPH H. NORRIS AND FAMILY. 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. "99 

served willi t'litii'o satisfactiou to the [(atrons. He Hvon with, and caret! 
with singular devotion for, the mother who in his earliest infaney save 
her husband to his eonntry and f(>ii,t;ht the battle of life singly and 
alone. 



.JOSEPn lirRLl'.l'RT NOKRIS— .Xniong the worthy and repre- 
seutative eitizeu.s of the eoimty engaged in agriculture is Mr. .Jose])h 11. 
Norriis, who, since 1876, has cultivated the farm on which he now 
resides, six miles due ea.st of Independence. Mr. Norris is a gentleman 
of fine education and training, having for a number of years in his 
(^arly life been an educator of no mean reputation in the good old 
Hoosier Htate. Fie has done mucli through the intervening years to 
encourage the establishment of good schools in the county, and has used 
liis intiuence at all times in the amelioration of the ills of his fellowmen. 

Mr. Norris comes of excellent patriot stock, his grandfather Joseph 
Norris having been one of the Minute Men of the Revolution. He lived 
in Long Island at that time and later moved out to (Charleston, West 
Virginia. He finally settled in Boone county, Ind., where lie pijssed 
awa.y. His son, Jeseph, the father of our subject, was born in Long 
Island in 1S04. He was reared in Indiana, the family having removed 
to that state when he was a lad of 12 years. He lived in Dearborn and 
Jefferson counties and in 183-1, Joseph removed to (irant co\inty. Wis. 
In Dearborn county he married our subject's mother, Sarah Ward, 
and whose premature death in 1850, caused the father to return to 
Boone county, Ind., then the residence of Joseph, v'>r. 

Our subject was then a lad just entering his 'teens and he |)assed 
the remainder of his adolescent })eriod in attendance on (lie district 
schools. He was then sent to Asbury (now the famous Del'auw) 
Tniversity, and later to the academy at Tliorntown, then presided 
over by John ('. Kidpath, who afterward became famous as a historian. 
At the age of twenty he left this institution and entered the school- 
room as a teacher and for many years juirsued this vocation with 
unusual success. Believing that Kansas had in stoie for him a better 
tield, he, in 1S7(«, left the ferule to others, and coming to Jlonlgoniery 
county jturchased the land on which he now resides. Nearly llii'ee 
decades of patient and unremitting toil, together with intelligent lius- 
banding of liis resources, has placed him in comfortable circumstances, 
and he is now able to take life more easily. As before intimated, Mr. 
Norris has been a most potent factoi- in the development of (he county 
and is held in great favor by a large circle of friends. Formerly a 
Repnlilicaii, he has since ISlid. voted and worked with the I'opulist 
])arty. While a Republican, he was elected to the legislalure and was 
a member at the time the first {trohibition law was ]iassed. In 18!»0, he 
was elected clerk of the district court by the I'opulist jiarly. 



8oO HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mary (iorcion, (lau};liter of Richard and Sarah Gordon, a farmer 
of Drum Creek Twp., became the wife of our Josejih II. Norris in 1881. 
This hidy lived hut a short time after {jivius' birtli to a son. Oscar M. 
hy name, and who, at nineteen yeai's, sutfered deatli by drowninj; in 
the St. Croix river. He was a manly boy and his death cast a deep 
gloom over the household. The death of his mother occurred in Feb- 
ruary of 1882. and in 1884, Mr. Noris brought to ])reside over his home 
Miss Dorothy A., daughter of Gilbert and Mary (Pool) Dominy. The 
latter is now deceased, but her husband resides in Independence, hav- 
ing been for many years one of the honored yeomen of the county. 
Mrs. Norris is the mother of three bright children — Sarah, seventeen; 
Katie, fifteen, and -Joseph, eleven years of age. 



JACOB L. \'.\X DYXE — The family which is here named has been 
prominently an<l honorably associated with the development of Mont- 
gomery county for nearly four decades, the gentleman whose name 
appears above lining come to the county with his parents as a four- 
teen year old boy, in the year 18()!t. Since that date they have been 
identified with the growth and prosperity of the county and hav(; 
always given their voice and vote to the best measures of government 
proposed to be adopted in their local community. 

The Xan Dynes are Iloosier State jieople, where, in Wells Co., John 
and Eleanor flloudeyshell) \'an Dyne reared their family. Jcdin Van 
Dyne was a native of Ohio, horn June 28, 1818. l']leanor, the wife, 
was born there November 22, 1817. To these parents were boi-n eleven 
children as follows: Christopher, born, March 8, XX'M, now deceased; 
Frances, boin July 26, 18:58, married Cornelius Truax and lives in 
Columbus, Indiana; Mary, born February 22, 1840, is now deceased; 
Elizabeth, born January 2(i, 1842, lives in Missouri, the wife of Joseph 
Nerius; Sara -Vnn, born December I, 1843, lives in Oklahonui City, the 
wife of .loseph Sj)encei'; Nancy A., born February l.'i, 184(1, married 
James Nerius and both ai-e deceased; Matthew M., horn April 5, 1847, 
is a farmer of Liberty township; Lydia, born May 15, 1849, is deceased; 
('ynthia E., boi'n January l.j, 1851, is deceased; John G., born May 7, 
1853, is deceased; Jacob L., our subject; William 11., born April 12th, 
1860, and James, born Feb. 16th, 1862. 

Jacob Van Dyne was born in Wells county, Indiana, August 19, 
1855. .\s slated lie came to Kansas with his i)ai-ents, who located two 
miles from .Mr. \'an Dyne's present home, and where he was reared to 
man's estate. He remained on the home farm until his marriage, 
February 2, 1876, to Martha C, daughter of John and Delilah (Keed) 
Spickard. Mrs. Van Dyne's parents were natives of Kentucky, removing 
to Mercer Co., .Missouri, where Mrs. ^'an I)vn(> was born on the 17th 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 80 r 

of October, 1853. To Mim. Van Dyne has been boiii one eliild, Willianr 
L., May 2. 1877. William niairied, September 11, \W2, ("ora M., daughter 
of Georfje Burns of Indejiendence. William's oc«;upation is that of mail 
carrier of Kural Koute No. 3, from Independence. 

Mr. Van Dyne purchased his present farm on tlie 2nd of March, 
190.1, having sold the old homestead of forty acres which he had culti- 
vated prior to that time. His present farm contains eighty acres of 
tine farming land and under the skillful irianagement of a man whose 
life work has been thai of the cultivation of the soil, it will become 
one of the best farms in the county. 

He takes an active interest in the social and jjublic life of the com- 
munity in which he resides, and is a member of th<' Modern Woodmen of 
America, Camp 649, of Independence. He lias never sought public office 
but is pleased to support the policies of llie ])arty of Lincoln and 
Garfield on election day. He and his good wife aic |)otent factors in 
the social and religious life of the community wliere they reside, and 
are lookiMl u])()n with great favor liy a large circle of friends within the 
county where they have passed the greater jiart of their lives. 



JOHN F. BELLAMY, City Attorney of Clierryvale. a lawyer of 
prominence and a gentleman who has had a long and honorable publio 
cartM-r, is of "Hoosier State" luitivity, born in Switzerland county in 
1842. His jiareiits were w<'ll-to-do farmei's of tlial county and gave the 
sou every advantage in the line of education attainable. -After finishing 
in the local schools, he was sent to DePanw University, where be grad- 
uated with the highest honors of liis class, and (luce years later was 
given the master's degree. 

H<' began his career in the scliDoiroom as an instructor and for 
several years was connected willi institutions wliosc curriculum fitted 
stud(>iits for the larger eastern universities. Failing health necessitat- 
ing a change of occui)ation, he took up the study of law and, in 1S70, was 
admitted to the bar in Oswego, Kan. He began j)racfice at this point, 
but after a short period, returned to Madison, Ind. Here he passed 
the ensuing 12 years and attained a flattering eminence in his chosen 
profession, making a state wide r<'putati<iii in (he branch of criminal 
law. 

In the political arena he early rose to prominence, and was 
regarded as a most valued worker, both on tlie hustings and in the 
equally important dejiartment of committee work, for the success of 
Republican principles. In 1876, it became necessary, on account of the 
normally Democratic inajority in the Titb Judicial District, to select 
the sti-ongest possible candidate for the position of Prosecuting 
Attorney. The nomination thus came to our subjeit as a distinct com- 
pliment, and in the election which followed, the wisdom of the choice 



8o2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

became apparent, as Mr. Bellamy was choseu by a majority of 44 votes. 
Two years later this majority was increased to 285, and he retired at 
the end of his four years' service with the unstinted praise of an 
admiring constituency. 

Once again, encroaching disease caused our subject to seek the 
great west, and in 1885, he settled at Girard, Kansas. He remained at 
this point until 1891, wlieu he came to Cheri'yvale, where he has since 
held coutinuous residence. 

With a wide experience iu tlie law and in public life, and a con- 
scientious regard for the duties of citizenship, Mr. Bellamy has proved a 
distinct acquisition to the business circles of Cherryvale. As City 
Attorney iu 1892-G-7-1900, and again in 1902, he piloted the grownig 
municipality over many dangerous shoals. His streugth as a cam- 
])aiguer has been taken advantage of frequently in the different politi- 
cal contests in the state, and, in which none was more earnest or effective. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy have reared a family of three sons and one 
daughter, all of whom are oc<'upyiug responsible positions in life. 
Lura took instruction at Chicago University in elocution and litera- 
ture, and also at King's School of Oratory at Pittsburg. She has, for 
the past three years, occupied the chair of elocution and literature in 
the Montgomery County High School at Independence. The eldest son, 
Frank E., is an artist in the employ of the Mexican Art Leather Com- 
]jany of Hot Springs, Ark. Frank was a member of the famous 
Twentieth Kansas, enlisting in Company "(V as a musician. It is a part 
of history how the band begged to lay aside their instruments as soon 
as the bullets began to fly, and shouldering their guns, did valiant duty 
(in the field. The dispatches mentioned an incident which shows that 
Frank was worthy the famous regiment. At Caloocau, while the engage- 
juent was at its fiercest, a loved comrade was struck by a bullet outside 
the intrenchnients. Without a moment's hesitation he sprang forward, 
lifted him iu his arms, and ri'gained the trenches in safety. Tt was a 
daring deed and ranked with the "Bagbag river swimming feaf of Col. 
Funston and his (-omrades. The third son is Bert E., his father's 
stenogra)ilier, and a student at law. The youngest son, Edward E., 
lias just graduated from the Missouri School of I-aw and Is located for 
jiractice iu Cherryvale. 

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. iteljaniy occurriMl Xoxember 17, 
187t). Hei- maiden name was .lennie S. Snider, her father being the 
Rev. ^^■. \\'. Snider, for many years a prominent divine of the Metho- 
dist E])iscoi>:il chuicli. Though eighty-two years of age he still sounds 
the gosjiel trumpet with unabated vigoi', being a member of the South- 
east Indiana Conference of his church. Mi-s. Bellamy's mother was 
Catherine E. Kager, who lioi'C her husliand the follo-.-,lng children: 
Robert, of Dayton, Ohio; liattie S., now Mrs. I'.rewington ; William, of 



inSTOIlY Ol.' MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 8o3 

Madison. Ind.; Jennie S., Edwin It., of Eiist SI. Louis, 111., and Mrs. 
Bellaniv. 

Mr. and Mis. BcUaniy and tlieir entire family are active members 
of the Methodist eliurch and their connection wilb the social life of 
the coiuninnil.v is most heljiful and u](liftin},'. They are the recipients 
of univeisal rej^ard from a larRe circle of friends, whom they delight 
to honor in llieir hospitable liome. 



W. K. I'KATT, bookseller and stationer of Independence, and for 
several j'ears a member of the city council, is a young man of sterling 
integrity, whose connection with the business and social life of the city 
lias been of a character fo make him many steadfast friends. He came 
to the city in 1S9!», and has been in the stationery and book business 
since that date. 

Kentucky is the native state of Mr. Pratt, liis birth occurring in 
Madisonville, Hopkins county, May 11!, 1871. His ])arents, Clifton J. 
and Sarah M. I'ratt, still reside in the "Blue Grass State," where the 
father is Attorney-General of tlie state, having been elected on the 
Kepublican ticket in 18!t!». Judge I'ratt was among the loyal people of 
the "IJlue (Jrass State" who stood by tlie Union duiing the Civil War, 
he entcT-ing the union army as a courier early in the struggle, and, as 
soon as lie had attained the projter age, became a full-fl(Hlged soldier. 
He was in the service during the entire i)eriod of the war, ending with 
Sherman's march to the sea. Upon his retuin lie studied law and has 
since been connected with the courts of tlie state. He was for five 
years Judge of the l!nd Judicial District of the state, and served one 
term in the state senate prior to his election to the jiidgeshiii. 

AA'. K. Pratt is one of two living children. His juelimiiiaiy 
scholastic training was secured in the schools of his native town to 
which was added advanced work at Eureka, 111. lie entered upon his 
business career as Associate Editor of the Erlington, Ky., "Bee," but at 
the expiration of a year oitened a liookstore in his native town, where 
he continued until his removal to Ind(']ien<lence. lie keeps a large line 
of stilt ionery and such goods as are usually found in a well regulated 
book store, anil his shelves are tilled witli thi- latest and best in liter- 
ature. Iiidi-ed. it is remarked that citi/.ens of few towns of the class 
rejiresented by lnde|iendence have so comjdete a stock from which to 
select their reading matter. 

Since his identification with the city. Mr. Pratt has taken an active 
and helpful interest in its pi-ogress. H*' is an ardent T\e]mblican in 
jiolitics, and is [uomiiieiil in the councils of that party in the ditfereiit 
local campaigns. In liKII, he was elecle<l to represent the 4th ward in 
the governing body of the city, the i-haraiter of his service having been 
cminentlv satisfactory to his constituents. He is a member of the 



804 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Christian church, and is open-handed in his support of worthy chari- 
table enterprises. 

The domestic life of our subject dates from June 2Ct, 1893, when he 
was joined in marriage with Miss Helen, daughter of J. S. Whittinghill 
and Genoa Frances Gooch. The mother died Feb. 2.3, 1881, and the 
father resides in St. Joe, Mo. 

Mrs. Pratt is a true tyjie of the southern born woman, hospitable 
and social to a degree, and possessing Ihat instinctive knowledge of 
society and social customs so necessary in the present day hostess. Her 
three children are Florence E., Clifton J., Jr., and W. R., Jr. 



JOHN WALIjICK — Away back among the pioneers of 1870, there 
came to Montgomery county John Wallick, of West Cherry township, 
the subject of this sketch. He had journeyed across the Mississippi 
valley from the Prairie State by team and wagon and, after a niDutli 
of weary trudging and anxiety, reached the Verdigris River in Mont- 
gomery county, Kansas, wh(>re settlement was made. For a small con- 
sideration William Hendricks was induced to relinquish his claim right 
to his oue hundred and twenty acres in section Utt, township 31, range 
16, and this tract became the first home of our new settlers and formed 
the nucleus of their present extensive domain. 

In that early time the widely scattered settlements of the frontier 
granted uni'estricted liberty and license to the evil doer, and while 
most people were engaged in the legitimate arts of peace there were 
lazy and worthless Indians and occasional dens of thieves atflicting 
the honest toiler. These forays of tiie midnight prowler kept com- 
munities in a state of constant dread, for no respectable settler and 
property owner felt sure of exemption from their attack. Their biding 
l)laces were in out-of-the-way i)laces along the river or back in the 
bluffs and the plunder fif every des(ii])li<)n that found its way to "Hell's 
Bend" or to the wigwam of some worthless Red Skin would liave been 
the envy of "William Sike.s"' in Oliver Twist. Hell's liend was the 
rendezuous of a band of desjiei'adoes and was situated near the home 
of Mr. Wallick. Some of his neighbors belonged to the band and five 
of them served terms for the illegal i)art they took in appropriating 
other people's ]iroi>erty. Chief "Sun Down," of the Osages, had his 
habitation near, for a time, and became a familiar figure over the town- 
shij) as well as at the home of John ^^■alli(•k. 

The first haliitatioii of .Mr. Wallick in Kansas was a 12x14 cabin 
which was on the farm when he settled thi-re. This sutficed th<> family 
as a residence "till some time in 1872, when a more pretentious box 
house was built wliich, in turn, was the abiding })lace of the household 
until 1882, when the comnjodious home of the present was erected. 

Farming claimed the attention of our subject from first to last. His 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEUy COUNTY, KANSAS. 805 

varly training canio to liim from parents full of rural industrial activity 
and the heart of the son was laid upon the ])ossession of a farm, in fee 
simple, and the pi'oduct of his own hand. Tiie intelligence with which 
he builded in Kansas is revealed in the possession of an estate of three 
hundred and seventy aei'es and its splendid inipi-ovcnieni and in the 
general substantiality of his business connection. 

John Wallick is a native of Madison county, Ohio, t\iiere he was 
born October 14, 1838. He is of German lineage, his grandfather, 
Michael Wallick, having migrated to the Ignited States as a young 
man — from some German state — and settled in Hedford county, Penn- 
sylvania. The Keystone State remained his home afterward and there 
he j)ursued the calling of a blacksmith and farmer. His family num- 
bered eight children, as follows: Andrew, Philip, Henry, Michael, 
Elizabeth, Ann, Charlotte, and Samuel. The sous were soldiei's in the 
War of 1812, and Samuel, our subject's father, married Susan Silver and 
left his native county of Bedford in Pennsylvania, when young in years, 
and settled in Aladison county, Ohio. They were the parents of ten 
children, namely: Richard, deceased; Asa, Alichael, T'liarlotte, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Silver, of Fulton county, Illinois; John, of this notice; Wil- 
son S., of Seward county, Nebraska; Samuel, of l?ushnell, Illinois; 
Mrs. Mary J. Everly, of Prairie City, Illinois, and .Vibert M., who died in 
infancy. 

Ta 1843, Samuel Wallick brought his family farther west and located 
in Fulton Co., Illinois. Here John was reared with other children and 
secured a fair education. He had accumulated a little pi-operty when 
he decided to become a settler and a <itiz(Mi of Kansas but the achieve- 
ment of his life came to him as a citi/.en of the Suiitbiwcr State. 

July 4, 1870, Mr. Wallick marrie<l .\mandii .Markk'y, a native Fulton 
(•ounty, Illinois, lady, and a daughter of Conrad and Kuth (Foster) 
Markley; the parents native Ohio people. Foui- children are the issue of 
this marriage, viz: Lillian, wife of J. \\\ licit, with a child. Leroy 
Ivan; Samuel L., Conrad and Kuth still with the family home. 

Mr. ^\'allick has C(mteiited liimself with being a (piiet. industrious 
citizen. He has filled the oflices of Clerk and Treasurer of his tnwnship 
and served many years on the district school board. His wife is a mem- 
ber of the Methoilist church aTid he holds a membershi]) in the .\ncient 
Order of T'nited \\'orkmen and in iho Knights and Ladies of Security. 



SOPHRONIA HENDERSON— The family of \\hi( li .Mrs. Soidironia 
Henderson is now the head came to the couiily in 1S7(1. and settled 
where she now resides, in ^^'est Cherry townshi|), Secticni S, Range 16. 

Mrs. Henderson has attained the rijie old age of eighty-two yeitra, 
having been born in Wythe county, \i\., July I, 1821, iter paternal 
grandfather wits Leonard Hrown a native of the same state, and whose 



8o6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

children wero : l)iivi(l, VAi, Andrew, Katliarine, lOlizalieth and Sarah. The 
son Andrew niariied Susannah Leonard, of the same county, and 
daughter of x\dani and Elizalteth Leonard, Old Dominion State jjeople. 
Tothein were born : Sojjhronia, Elizabeth (Hammons), Joseph W.. James, 
John. Mary (fioshwiller^ and Sena, wife of Henry Hilderbrand. 

Mrs. Henderson left "\'ir<;inia, when a child of eight years with her 
parents, who settled in Johnson county, Ind. Here Sophronia was 
reared to womanhood and in 1830, married Thomas Henderson. This 
gentleman was a native of Hendricks county, Ky., and was the son 
of William and Patsy (Baker) Henderson. After their marriage they 
were residents of Johnson county until the date of their settlement in 
Montgomery, 1870. Here Thomas b<»uglit from an Indian of the name 
of Barnaby 100 acres, paying for it $800. It was without improve- 
ments save a double log cabin, and in this the family resided some 
seven years. As prosperity attended theii' efforts they erected the 
present comfortable home, and where !Mr. Henderson died, on the tith 
of Sept., 1894. 

The following are the children and gi'and children of Mrs. Hender- 
son: Susannah married Strand Heiidcrs<m of Jlontgomery county, and 
has seven children, as follows: John married May Madden, whose 
children are Ethel and John. Daniel married Luella Newell and is the 
father of Ella, Iva and Cora. Frank's children are: ^Maud, ^lary, William 
and Murray, who married Millie <\ Fosler, children Marion, Fred and 
two others. Then comes in order Anda, deceased, Eddie and Cynthia. 

James F., now dec<*ased, mai-ried Harriet Deboe, who became the 
mother of Thomas, whose wife was Nancy (lilkey and whose children 
are: May, Alice, Floyd and Sojilironia; Albei-t mari-ied and has one 
child; I'vtta, wife of Ohett Clnirchili, her live children are: lOlsie, Mabel, 
Harry, Virgil and Chester, ^^'iiliam lives in the Indian Territory. He 
married lOlizabeth Cokeudiver and his children are: Albert, Adelbert, 
Frank, Lucy and Sena Ann. Jane is the wife of James Campbell, 
Montgoniei-y county, whose children are So]>hronia. who married Hart 
Bowers, and has Earl and Edwin; .Mary, wife of (Jeorge Goshwiller; two 
children — Bertha and Zelma; AN'illiam, whose wife's name was Jessie 
Bowers and whose children ai'e: lOugenia, Stella and Mary; Lizzie, Mrs. 
•John Nary, whose children are: OUie, Ethel, William and Mary. Flor- 
ence', .Mjs. Filkins. has Earl and Fred. Angeline Wells has Dora and 
Marshall. .John and Luther complete Jane ('amjihell's family. 

Mrs. Alice ^'e^brick, the si.xtli child, lives in this county with her 
ehildren, Thomas iind Frederick. 

Mrs. Anna X. Madden, the yoiingesl, also has two children, Charles 
W. and Elsie. 




H. W. YOUNG. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 807 

HEXRY WILSON YOUNG was boi-n at Noillivillc, Suffolk county, 
New York, December 17th, 1847. His father was Noah Wilson Young, 
whose life was spent in farming at his Long Island liome. His gi-and- 
father was Captain Noah Young, who, with liis militia (■omi>any, partici- 
pated in one of the engagements of the War of ISlL', and who .served 
as a member of the New York legislature in the early thirties, as a col- 
league of Millard Fillmore, who afterwai'd became president. The 
family was of English descent and traced back to Keverend John "^'oung, 
who came from (Connecticut to Long Island about l(i4(», and was the 
spiritual adviser of the first settlers at the east end of the island. 

The mother of the subject of this sketch was Dency Jane (Luce) 
Young, daughter of Hallock Luce. The Luce family is said to have 
been originally of French extraction, but had been in England since 
the Norman conquest. Mrs. Young's mother was Sarah Fanning, who 
was of Irish extraction, while Mr. Young's paterinil grandmother was 
a Reeves, and of Dutch descent. 

Noah W. Young's family consisted of six cliildren, all of whom 
af living. Henry W. was the eldest and the only one who had any 
disposition to roam, or ever made a home five miles away from the 
paternal domicile. The others were: Drusilla J., Edna A. (Hallock), 
Leander E., Daniel R., and Sarah K. (Hallock.) 

The homestead on which the fainily liv(Ml is on (he north shore of 
Long Island, only a mile fi-om Long Island sound, and about two and a 
half miles from I'econic Kay. which here bisects the island. It is a farm 
of a hundred acres, which was ]iur<hased ])rioi' to the war of the revolu- 
tion by Kufus Young, great-giandfather of Henry AV., and has been ever 
since in possession of the family, being now tin- pro|i<'rry of his youngest 
brother, Daniel R. 

'•Henry Wilson," as he was known among his school mates, to dis- 
tinguish him from other Henr\s, obtained his education in the district 
schools and at Northville Academy, whicli lie attended in the winter 
until seventeen years of age, being engag<>d in faini w(U'k during the 
summer months, after liis twelfth year. In IStiu. when eighteen years 
old, he engaged in teaching school, al .\(|ueh()gue. Long Island, where 
liis father had taught many yeais befoi-e. His mother was also a school 
teacher. 

In ISti.s, having gone through the necessary preparatory studies, he 
«'ntered Washington college, Lexington, N'iiginia, 1ml owing to poor 
health, (lid not remain there long. In the fall of 1S7(», he took a steamer 
trip to New Orleans, and from there went out into Texas with a view 
to locating, but not tiiiding the country to his liking, returned to New- 
York. The sumniers of 1S71 "712 and '7:5. he devoted very largely to the 
study of botany and the identiticatifui of the indigenous sjiecies of 
plants growing on the easteiii enil of Lonj; Island. In this w(uk he 
was associated with Elihu S. Miller, of Wading Kiver. and, together, in 



8o8 HISTOBY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

1874, They published a iiaiiiphlet containing a complete list of the native 
flora <>f Suffolk county. 

On account of his health, in the fall of 1872, he set sail in the bark 
Adaline C. Adams for Kio Janeiro, IJrazil. Yellow fever was prevailing 
there at the time of his arrival, about Christmas; and before his return 
he suffered an attack of that disease and was cared for in a hospital 
where none of the attendants spoke a word of English. The return voy- 
age was made by waj- of Cuba, where a month was spent at Cienfuegos 
in loading with a cargo of sugar. 

In the summer of 1874, he was again seized with the desire to follow 
Horace Greeley's advice to ''go west and grow up with the country.'*^ 
Hpeaking of Greeley is a reminder that he received the news of Greeley's 
death by flag signals, away south of the equator, from a swifter sailing 
vessel, a mile away, that had left New York a week later than the 
"Adaline C. Adams.'' and which passed the latter in the neighborhood 
of the Brazilian penal settlement of Fernando de Xoronha, a rocky and 
mountainous islet where the bad people of that (■mi)ire expiated their 
crimes. 

This time he went to Chicago, and fiom there out to Oquawka, 
Illinois, a moribund town on the Mississippi, where he visited Harry N. 
Patterson, a botanical correspondent. Patterson was a printer, and 
whiling away the time in the village jn-inting office, the young man 
from the east got to dabbling with the tyjies, and .settled the problem 
of his career before he knew it by drifting into the country newspaper 
business. After a winter spent in teacliing scliool at Tern- Haute, Hen- 
derson county, Illinois, and a summer trip to Georgetown, Colorado, 
where he set tyi)e in the ofhce of the "Georgetown .Miner," he invested 
his savings in the ptirchase of a half interest in the Galva, Illinois, 
Journal, of which he became editor. A few months later he bought out 
liis ]>artner and became the sole pro])rietor of that paper. He con- 
ducted it as an independent journal, although a })ronounced partisan 
])ersonally, a delegate to Democratic state conventions, a sjjeaker at 
Democratic meetings and secretaiy of the Democi'atic county central 
committee. 

While living at (ialva, he was united in marriage, January 31st, 
1878, to Annie Eliza Ayres, daughter of V. M. Ayres of that place. 
Of this union four childi'en were born, Henry Allen, Lawrence Ayres, 
Mabel Leone, and Maiian Drusilla. Lawrence and Mabel were taken 
away by an attack of di]ililheria in October, 1894, at the ages of twelve 
and six years. Allen is now associated with his father in business 
and Marian giaduated from the Independence city schools in June, 
1903. 

In April, 1881, Mr. Young removed to Coffeyville, Montgomery 
county, Kansas, and established there the "Coffeyville Stai'.'' In October 
of the same year, the ofiice was removed to IndeiHMidence and the paper- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 809 

•continued as ''The S(ar." Here he has since made his home, with the 
exeeption of short j)erio<ls. In 1882. he was a delegate to the state 
Democratic convention at Km])oria. which nominated Oeorfje W. tJlick 
for governor. In 1884, while still retaining the control of his Inde- 
pendence paper, he went to Tojieka and took an interest in the State 
Journal, of which he became editoi-. After a few months thci'c, tinding 
the venture unprofitable, he r<'turned to Independence, and in the fall 
of 1884, was made chairman of the Democratic county central committee. 

In December, 1884, the Star office was burned, and 51 r. Young 
jiurchased of A. A. St<'wart. the lndei)endence Kansan, and consolidated 
these two Democratic pajieis under the name of "The Star and Kansan.'' 
This he subsequently made one of the most intluential and widely 
quoted newspapers in the state. In the fall of ISSo, he w;is ai)]K)inted 
receiver of the Osage Land Office at Indejiendence, by President Cleve- 
land, a j)Osition lie continued to hold until the discontinuance of that 
office, in February, 1889. 

In the Spring of 188!). in connection with W. A. Lang, he established 
a bindery in connection with the Star and Kansan office, and engaged 
in the pui)licati(ni of city directories. This institution was removed to 
Pueblo, Colorado, in the fall of the same year, and in June, 1890, 
owing to impaired health, !Mr. Yonng also removed, with his family, to 
Colorado, where he became jtresident of the Cactus Printing Comiiany 
at Pueblo. He remained there until September, 1892, when he sold the 
Star and Kansan property to Charles T. Errett, who had been conduct- 
ing it for him since he left Independence. He then removed to Cali- 
fornia, but remained there only until January, 1893, when he retuini'd 
to Independence and repurchased the Star and Kansan of Mr. Errett. 

Ill 1894, Mr. Yonng became a convert to the doctrines of socialism, 
and he has ever since advocated the public ownership of (he means of 
production and distribution, to the end that they may no longer be 
used to enrich the idler at the expense of the toiler. Convinced that 
capitalism, or the private ownership of the wealth which is so largely 
the creation of the community and wliich would be imjtossible of attain- 
ment by the solitary individual, ouglit to be abolished, in order that 
those who create wealth may have the privilege of enjoying it, and 
that a system which enables the few to live in unearned luxury', while 
the masses toil for a bare living, is indefensible and ought to be sup- 
planted by something better he entered the ranks of the Populist 
party, and became an active advocate of the most radical reforms in 
government. His articles along economic lines have had a wider cir- 
culation than almost any others that have been written In Kansas, and 
have been iei)nVilished from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

The Star and Kansan at once took rank as one of the leading reform 
l)apers of the state, and in 189G its editor was not only made a delegate 
to the state and district conventions of the Populist party, but was sent 



8lO HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

to St. Louis as a delegate iu the National convention. Subsequent- 
ly, in August of the same year, he was nominated for the state sen- 
ate by the Populists and endorsed by the Bryan Democrats. He 
engaged actively in the campaign, speaking all over the county and was 
elected by a majority of .3oG. 

In the legislative session of 1897, he fornuilated an initiative and 
referendum amendment to the state constitution, which he championed 
so successfully that it received the necessary two-thirds vote in the 
senate, although it was defeated in the house. He also revised the 
Australian ballot law, as chairman of the senate elections committee, 
and i^ecured the enactment of a new law which saved fifty thousand dol- 
lars to the taxpayers in a single election — albeit some of that money 
would have found its way into his own pocket as a ballot printer, had 
the old law stood. 

Every measure in line with the principles for which the I'opulist 
party had been contending received his hearty support, and he was 
especially strenuous in his advocacy of a maximum-rate railroad bill, 
and of the law which was enacted to promote city ownership of water 
and lighting jilants. 

In ISft.s, owing to an uncongenial parlnershij) formed the previous 
year with A. T. Cox, iu the publication of the Star and Kansan, he was 
compelled to appeal to the courts for the appointment of a receiver 
for that institution, and the division of the property. At the sale, the 
oflSce was bid in by Mr. Cox, and a month later, on June 1st, 1898, Mr. 
Young established The Kansas Populist at Independence, which he 
has since conducted. 

At the special session of the legislature in December, 1898, just at 
the close of Governor Leedy's term, he introduced a bill to establish a 
local initiative and referendum for cities and counties, but the measure 
failed to secure the support of the members of the Populist party, who 
a year before, had been solidly lined up for the initiative and referen- 
dum amendment. At the regular session in 1899, he drew up and 
championed a law for a graduated inheritance tax, which passed the 
senate almost unanimously, but was killed by a committee of the 
house, which was then Republican. 

In 1900, he was a delegate to both the state conventions of the 
Populist party, and to the national convention at Sioux Falls, South 
Dakota. He was a member of the platform committee at both the 
state conventions that year, and its chairman at Port Scott. The plat- 
forms adojited were largely the work of his ])en, both at Ft. Scott in 
1900, and at Topeka in lOOli. 

In the spring of 1902, he was elected a member of the Board of 
Education of Independence city, having been nominated on the Rei)ubli- 
can ticket in the first ward and but a single dissenting vote was cast 
in the entire poll. His nomination by that party was a compliment from 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 8lr 

liis political advcrsinics llial (cslilics lo llic csl iiiial ion in wiiirli ha is 
held liv his iicai'cst iiciiililiors. 



WALTER J. KEAJJDOX— Among the k-adinj; icpivscnlalivcs of 
the agricultural class iu Liberty township, the biographer f'oiind the 
gentleman above mentioned. He has already made for himself a per- 
manent place in the esteem of the community in which he resides. He 
lives on a fai-Tu of Kid acres located one mile from the town of Liberty. 

Noting brielly the jioints in the ancestral hisloi-y of 'Mv. Reai'don, 
he is the son of John and Kllen (Ryland) Keardon. John Reai'don was 
born near Oswego, New York, in 1S2L and died on the !Hh of .March, 
187;1. His wife was boiu in Shelby countj', Tenn., in 1829, and died in 
Lafayette county, ]Mo.. in JLiy. 1882. They were married in Iowa and 
farmed in that state until 18.59, when they removed to Jackson county, 
Missouri. The fierce political turmoil of that time was such as to 
make it an undesirable place of residence and they returned to Iowa, 
where they settled at Dubiique, and where they lived until the close of 
the war. They then, again, came to Alissouri and took up their residence 
in Saline county. After two years they removed to Lafayette county 
in the same state, where the husband died as stated. 

There are four children now living: Ellen, the wife of James Wil- 
liver. residing in Lafayette county, ^lissouri; the second child was our 
subject; the next youngest is John il., who lives in Ray county, Mis- 
souri; the youngest is Maggie, who married J. W. Button, a farmer 
living in Oklahoma. 

Walter J. Reardon was born iu Mills county, Iowa, on the 27th of 
March, 1859. He made the different moves with the family as noted 
above, receiving his education for the most part in Lafayette county, 
ilo. He came to Montgomery county in 1878, and in 1887, married Min- 
nie M., daughter of James H. and Harriet (Richards) Tole, farmers of 
the township. The family which our subject has reared consists of six 
children: Walter Granville, born February 10, 1889; James Donald, 
born October 17th, 1891; Allie Ruth, born February 2nd, 1894; Minnie 
Beatrice, born April 22nd, 1897; Chester H., born May 2(ith, 190tt, and 
Yelma, born February 2nd, 190;?. Mr. Reardon aided his mother in the 
cultivation of the home farm until Apiil, L878, when he came lo Kansas 
and. in 1897. purchased the farm on which he now resides, containing one 
linndred and si.xty acres. He devotes this land to general farming 
and stock raising and is fast Vwcomiug one of the leading farmers of 
his section of the c(mnty. He is regarded as an authority on matters 
of agriculture and is especially noted for his knowledge of good stock. 
M'liile a large number of his neighbors have yield«Hl to the solicitation 
of the oil and gas companies and have leased their farms for long 
l)eiiods for gas and oil pur]poses, .Mr. Reardon has though! it to be 



8l2 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

good policy to withstand such temptations, reasoning that if it is worth 
BO much to these companies it is certainly worth more to him. Mr. 
Reardon has never taken any very active part in the public life of the 
couuiuinity but can always be counted on to support by his vote the 
j)olicy of the Democratic party. The standing of himself and family in 
the cduimunity is of the best and the esteem in which they are held is 
uniform. 



HOMER OVERHEISER— The gentleman whose name precedes this 
paragraph is one of the younger element doing business in the county 
seat town of Independence. A teacher of marked ability for a number 
of years i)rior to his engaging in mercantile life, his present flattering 
success is all the more creditable, for it is said that the rather hum-druiu 
existence of the teacher's life unfits one for business. As a member of 
the large dry goods house known as The Overheiser-Anderson Mercantile 
Conii)any, our subject is making rapid strides toward a leading position 
in the business world. 

Mr. Overheiser is a Hoosier by nativity, having been born in Rush 
county, .\pril 1.5, 1S6.5, the son of Charles and Mary J. (Bates) Overheiser. 
Both of these ])arents are natives of Indiana, from which state they 
removed in 1885, to a farm in Montgomery county. After cultivating this 
farm for a number of years, Mr. Overheiser moved his family into town 
and began a mercantile business. This not i)roving to his liking, he sold 
out and took up the occupation of his youth, that of carpentering, and 
in which he is now engaged iu the city. Mr. Overheiser is a gentleman 
of rugged tiaits of character which secure him in a high degree the 
esteem' of his fellow citizens. He and his wife are both members of 
the church, he of the Advent and she of the Christian. Besides our 
subject, the only other child is a sister, now living with them in their 
hojiie. Mrs. Cora .Jones. 

Homer Overheiser was educated in the schools of Indiana and Kan- 
sas, and after securing all that the district schools were able to give him, 
he went for several terms to the State Normal at Emporia. Here he 
became enthused with the idea of becoming a teacher and for three 
years succeeding, taught successfully in the schools of the state. His- 
father desiring to quit the mercantile business, it afforded him an 
opportunity of leaving the schoolroom, though it can be said with 
truth that he left the profession with sincere regrets, having found it 
a lield much suited to his tastes, and one of which he will ever have 
pleasant remembrances. This change in Mi'. Overheiser's life occurred 
inlS!)8,and the decade that has passed has opened up a new and enlarged 
views of life to him. For two years the father continued to hold an 
interest in the business, then the firm name was changed to that of 
Overheiser & Anderson by the admission of Mr. Anderson. The present 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 813 

stjle of the firm dates from the year 189."). The house carries a very large 
stock of dry goods and notions, shoes and millinery goods and enjoys 
a trade second to none in the city. Prompt and ohliging service, togetliei' 
with a full guarantee as to the high character of their goods, has huilt 
up a business in which the gentlemen who compose tlie firm have a 
just pride, and to which they are giving their best energies. 

Mr. Overheiser is as yet a single man. He holds membership in 
the Christian church, in which organization he is an active worker, 
being at the present time one of the Deacons of the church. In fraternal 
affilialion he meets with the Modern Woodmen, and ])olitically, aims to 
support the best man and the best measures regardU'ss of ])arty. The 
esteem in ^\■hich he is held by all classes in the community is uniformly 
high, and judged by the solid character of his past, the future is indeed 
one which seems to hold naught but good in store for him. 



H. H. HARE — Among the representative citizens of Montgoiuery 
county the author of this volume takes pleasure in i)resenting the name 
of Mr. H. H. Hare, stock buyer and farmer, with residence at Elk City. 
He is widely and favorably known in every part of the county and is 
justly regarded as one of the most substantial of its (titizens. 

In passing brieHy over the history of the Hare family we note 
that it was found in North Carolina, covering an indelinile jier'iod uii 
to the beginning of the lOth century, at which dale the father of our 
subject, Ji. F. Hare, moved over into Kentucky, where he was joined in 
marriage to Mary DeBard. He was a farmer by occupation and con- 
tinued to till the soil of that state until 183it, when he removed his 
family to Illinois, and, later, to Johnson county. Mo. Here Mother 
Hare died in 1871. at fifty-one years of age, and a few years later the 
father came to reside with our subject; his death occurring in 1894, at 
seventy-eight years. These parents are held in blessed memory by their 
large family of children, they having been splendid examples of the 
I>roverbial pioneer, upon whose honesty, integrity and patriotism were 
built the institutions which are the glory and wonder of the civilized 
world. They were both active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and their home was always oi)en to the itinerant brethern of 
that faith. Nothing could surpass the intense feeling of patriotism 
exhibited by them during the long struggle over slavei-y, both ])rior to 
and (luring the war. They were ready at all times to make any sacrifice 
(U' to bear any buiden which might weaken its hold on the country. 
When the dread echoes of "war's harsh tocsin'' reverberated from hill 
to dale Ihey freely gave of their life's blood to their country, no less 
than five sons and two sons-in law going to the front in defense of "Old 
(tlory."' They were the i)arcnts of thirteen children — (ienrge W., of 
I'ittsburg, Kansas, who served four years in the l.-jth III.; Elizabeth, 



^14 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

Mrs. -Vh'.xaiuler iicCowcii, now deceased; ^larmaduke. a fariuor in Mis- 
souri, will) scrvi'd finliliHMi iiioutlis in tlie same reg;inient as oiii- subject ; 
Jurolla, Mis. ("aN|ier ( ilolfclder, of tiiis eoiinty. whose luisbaiid served 
four years in tlie same retiiiuent; ( "arlieriiie. widow of David (ilotfelder, 
tliis coiiiitw will! also served in the Sdth 111. Inf.. and died nf sickness at 
Nashville in 18(i:!; H. H., our subject; .Terterson, a farmer in .Missouri, 
who served three years in the 8Gth 111. regiment; .lames, of lildom- 
injrton, 111., served in the 11th., III.; Alarpiret, widow of Ii\iii <"iiiiic. of 
('liiiti)ii. Mo.; Jerusha, Mrs. David I'attoii. of Sedalia, Mn.; .Mary, 
deaiesed wife of .loliii Foreman; .\iifiiista of Caiiev, Kan., and 'riKiiiias 
deceased in cliiidlmoil. 

l). II. Hare was horn in I'eoria county. 111., March !l, \Si2. He 
attended school and worked on the home farm until his enlistment in 
AnjJTUst of 18(52, iu (Jo. "K," S«th 111. luf. He served throiiiih the entire 
war, his discharge at ('hicago, datinfj in .June, 18K5. The 8(;tli became 
a part of the .\rmy of the ("umberland. and it was first under tire at the 
battle of I'erryville. Ileninniiif; then with ( Miickamau<;a. the regiment 
fi)llnwed the fortunes of war through the .\tlanla camjiaign to the sea, 
thence ii|) through the ('arolinas. It was present when Col. .\nderson 
])ut "Old (iloiy" back on Ft. Siimpter, and was in line of battle when 
Johnston surrendered. It participated in the Grand Review at Wash- 
ington and then its members, conscious of having done theii- whole duty 
to their country, turned their faces toward "home, sweet home." 

The subsei|nent life of our subject has been that of the sliaight-for- 
ward representative citizen, faithful to every trust reposed in him and 
bearing his share of the burdens which society imposes njion its mem- 
bers. He farmed in Juluison county. Mo., for three years after tlie war, 
then came to Montgomery county, and after cultivating a claim for 
several years, went to buying stock. He has. for twenty years, been one 
of the largest shippers in the county and is also interested in farming. 

Mary ('., daughter of \\'illis and .\clisali (Kinsley) Kail, and a native 
of Hamilton county, became the wife of our subject ^ejitemlier 2. 18fiG. 
Her peojile were farmers, the father a native of Kentucky, the mother 
of New York State. Both are now deceased, the father dying at 54 years 
in Illinois, in.l863, the mother coming out to Kansas, where she died at 
the home of her daughter in 1895, at seventy-six years of age. The i)ar- 
euts were both highly i-espected residents of Illinois, and were consistent 
members of and workers in the M. E. church. Of their ten children, but 
live still survive: Emma, Mrs. John Jackson, of Washington; .Vnianda, 
widow of James Turner, of Denver; Mrs. Hare, John, Ames and .\bra- 
ham, now a resident of California. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Hare were born 5 children, as follows: William, 
of Elk City, married Rosa Dristill— her child, James Henry; Herbert 
H., a clerk in Elk City; J. W. I)., a student; Juuie, died young, and 
Enid, who died in infancy. 



HISTORY OK MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 8x5 

'Mv. .md Mrs. Hare are helpful iiiciubers of society in their com- 
nniiiily, always ready to engage iu any service looking to the uplifting of 
humanity. Mrs. Uare is a member of the M. K. church, while .Mr. ITare 
affiliates with the Woodmen, and is, of course, an h(mored member of the 
(J. A. K. In political faith he supjiorts the policies of the Republican 
])arty. 



BENJAMIN M. KENDALI^To the enter})rising spirit of the busi- 
ness men of Elk City, is due, in a large measure, the splendid progress 
made by that municipality, and it is not hard to divine its future if the 
same men continue to shape its affairs. Though not a member of this 
business circle many years, the gentlemen above named has proved his 
right to be numbered among the most enterprising, and the drug b'usi- 
ness whiih he conducts so ably, reflects its shai-e of credit on the busi- 
ness section. 

Mr. Kendall is a native Kansan, born in Mitchell county, August 
4, 1879, the son of Edwin N. and L. C. Kendall. The parents were na- 
tives of New Hampshire, coming to Kansas with the tide of Free State 
men who threw themselves into the struggle for freedom with such 
zest in the fifties, and who lived to see the state the first to enter the 
Union free-born by the suffrages of her own people. They settled on a 
fariu ill Mitchell county, where they were, for many year!?, prominent 
in tin* development of that county in both a moral and material sense. 

During the war, Mr. Kendall served iu the lHlli Kan., ('av., tlic 
regiment which was formed to hunt down the abductors of Mrs. Morgan 
and Miss White, an outrage which caused profound excitement at the 
time. ,\fter a two years' chase, they were finally resclied from their 
brutal cajitors. • • 

Mr. and Sirs. Kendiill reared a family of live children, the mother 
dying in ISeloit in September of lilOl. After her death, the father came 
I0 I'^lk ("ity, where he now resides. They were both consistent adherents 
of the Christian Science faith. The names of the children follow: Mary, 
Mrs. John Hunter, of Scottsburg, Kansas, cliildren^-Crytital, Carl, Cora 
and Helen; Herman, of Beloit, Kansas, married Floy Hilb^ian; One child, 
Harold; P^arl, also of Scottsville, Kansas. He married Mtlrtha Carlton, 
one child resulting, Carlton; Benj. M., the subject of this sketch, and 
ilcnry, a grocer at Beloit. 

The excellent common school system of the state furnished the foun- 
dation for the later edm^ational ti-aining of BenjauLiu '.M. Kendall, 
which was continued at the State I'niversity at Lawrence; Svhere he took 
the course in pharmacy, .\fter his school days, he embarked in (he drug 
business at Independence and continued there until July 'of 1902, when 
he bought file stock of C. II. Keri', of Elk City and lias since done busi- 
ness here. I'nder the name of The Eagle Drug Stoi-e, he conducts one 



8l6 HISTORY OV MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

of the best phanuarics in the county, liis ycaily sales showing a liealtliy 
increase. 

Mr. Kendall is wiile-awake to the best interests of his city, and is 
4ilways found ready to take part in any work that has for its object its 
advancement, either in the line of better fi;overnnient or material wel- 
fare. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Lodge No. 107, Inde- 
pendenc(>. With his |ti'esent ixipulai'ity with all classes in his com- 
munity and his .soundness in business ])i'inciitl(', it is not haid to jtrog- 
nosticate the future of this young man. 

Mr. Kendall was hajtpily mairied .!uly '.I. 1!I()L'. to Ida, daughter of 
James P. an(J Mollie rttradley; both danghlei' and jiarents natives of 
Illinois: the latter now deceased. 



1{. -M. SII.VFFER — Among ilie prominent and representative <ili- 
zens of Klk <'ity, is R. M. Shatt\'r, grain and coal dealer. His connec- 
tion with the business interests of the town dates back to 1892, and prior 
to that he had been one of the leading farmers of the county for thirteen 
years. Thi'ee decades of circnmsi)ect living in a community gives a man 
a most powerful influence in slia])ing its moral and civic life, and thus 
the biographer ftmnd Mr. Shatt'ei- a most ]ii<i|ier subject f(U- a volume de- 
voted to the history of the men who have made Montgomery what she 
is to-day — among the best counties in the state. 

Athens county, Oliio, was the |)lace of the birth of Mr. Shatter and 
July 11, 184G, the date. He had not yet finished his school days when 
the roll of the drum fired his young and courageous heart to volunteer 
for the defense of Old (ilory, and right valiantly did lie carry himself 
during the four long years of flial sanguinaiy conflict. He enlisted 
three different times and served in all, three years and thi'ce months. 
His flrst enlistment was in Co. "H," STth (». \'. I., May L».j. lS(i2. This 
regiment became a jiart of the Army of the Potomac, and was stationed 
at Harper's Ferry. It had scarcely got its bearings when the Confeder- 
ates appeared in force and capturwl the whole i)Ost. The munitions of 
war seemed tlie only part of their capture they cared to keep, and the 
regiment was paroled en masse on the 17th of ^^ejitembei-. Keselved to 
see more of the war, our subject, in October, once more enlisted, this 
time in Co. ''.i," 120tli O. V. I., a regiment which was jiart of Hurnside"s 
corps and whose first engagement was at Cumberland (iap, Tenn. His 
term of service expiring March 18, 1861, Mr. Shaffer again enlisted, Co., 
^'A,"' of the ?>8th O. V. I., enrolling him as a private soldier. He sei'ved 
in the supply department of Shei-man's army in the .\tlanta camjiaigii 
until the fall of that city, and (hen joining the victorious legicms of that 
g(meral, made the march to the .sea, find up to the scene of the final sur- 
render. With his battle-.scarred companions, he i(articij(ated in that 
Grand Review which has never ceased to be the subject of pen and story, 




R. M. SHAFFER. 



HISTORy OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 817 

aud then (uuk part in that other sublime spectaele wliicli has been the 
wonder of the ages — the peaceful disintegration of a victorious army 
and its quiet return to civic life. 

A farmer for three years, a section foreman on a railroad for four, a 
husbandman on his own land for seven more, all in Ohio, brought our 
sul)je(-1 to ISTil, the date of his coming to Monlgomerv comity. He 
bought land near Elk City and engaged in farming until 1S!I2, when he 
i-emoved to town and entered upon the business he now conducts. 

During his residence in the county, Mr. Shaffer has been zealous in 
foiwarding its interests, serving in different oflfic<»s of trust in his school 
district, and since his residence in tt)wn has been continuously a member 
of the common council. He and his family are active workers in the 
<'hristian church, of which he is an Elder. Fiaternally he affiliates with 
the Masonic order, and is a jtrominent member of the G. A. R., of the 
local post of which organization he has been Commander continuously 
for nine years. I'olitically, he supports the policies of the Republican 
party. 

Noting family history briefly, 'Mv. Shaffer is a son of William H.. and 
Ann McNeal Shafl'cr, natives of the Keystone State. After their mar- 
riage i\u-y moved to Ohio, settling in Athens county, where tlie father 
])assed the remainder of his life. He was a farmer and occupied a lead- 
ing jiosition in the community. He died August 7. 18G0. He was a 
member of the Missionary Baptist church; the wife is a member of the 
Christian church and now resides in Elk City, a much venerated and 
loved woman, at the advanced age of eighty years. 

The family is as follows: Our subject. R. M.: David ^^".. of Salem, 
Ohio; .Martha*.!., Mrs. William V. Rerry, of Lamiiasas, Texas; John H., 
of Elk City; Asbury H., of Marseilles," HI.; Rox Celenda. of Elk City; 
Ami ('.. of Chauncey, O. ; Andrew M., of Oakland, 111.; George W., of 
Brushy Fork, HI. 

On the 20th of May, ISfifi, Mr. Shaffer was joined in marriage with 
Miss Mary I,., a daughter of Wm. H. and Elizalieth (Roachi Powell, of 
^forgan county, Ohio. ^Irs. Shaffer's father was killed at the battle of 
the Wilderness, the mother dying in ISaO. There were two children be- 
sides R. M.: Riley E.. of Chauncey, Ohio, and MaxAvell 0., of Burton, Ks. 
To the marriage of our subject have been born: Azra AY., a minister and 
singing evangelist of the Christian church; Charles B., deceased; Flora 
^1., deceased; Tazzie, deceased; Ollie I., Mrs. Ora Fitzgerald, of Elk City; 
Mamie Af., Mrs. C. D. T'lose, of Xeal Kan.; Nannie, deceased, and I^lza R., 
of Elk ("itv. 



D.WIl'lL r.\l.\'TKR — Not many men have the distinction of luning 
brought their house with them when they came t() Kansas, but that 
seems to have been I rue of the gentlman whose name is heicwith given. 



8l8 HISTOKY OF MONTGOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

On the llth. of Maiili, 1SS5, Daniel Painter landed in Independence, 
bringing with him the lumber out of which was built the "Huckeye 
House."' the wellknuwu hosteli-.v on Twelfth and Railroad streets, and of 
which Mr. Painter was j)i ojirietor for a number of years. This lumber 
had been sawed by our subjecl away back in Ohio, hence the name, The 
Buckeye House. 

Daniel I'ainter was horn in Wayne county, Ohio, April 13, 1844, and 
is a son of John and Susannah iP^air) Painter, both pioneers to Ohio from 
the "Keystone State." They belonged to the sturdy farming class who 
came to Ohio early, and, by dint of hardest toil, carved out a home in the 
white oak forests of Wayne county. They became influential and promi- 
nent factors in the political, social and religious life of the county, both 
being leading members of the Evangelical Association church, their 
home being frequently used for meetings of that denomination. Jioth 
parents lived to a good old age, the father dying in 1881. at eiglity-six, 
and the mother Dec. 20. I'.IOl, at eighty four. They reared four children; 
Elizaiieth, Mrs. Sanuiel Kichard. Wayne county, Ohio; David, who died 
of consumption in 1864, at the age of thirty-two, resulting from the ex- 
j)Osures of army life in over-exerting himself in carrying the dead and 
wounded from a boat, wading in water np to his shoulders. David 
enlisted in Co. "E," 120th O. V. I., and served in the Trans-Mississipi)i 
army. On the Red River exjjedition, he to<ik cold and, after a time in the 
hosiiilal, came home to die; Samuel, of Sheridan county. Mo., and Daniel, 
the subject of the sketch. These wei-e children of a second marriage, the 
fathers' first wife having been Susan Brenker, to whom were born si.\: 
children — William, deceased; Jacob, Catherine, Mrs. John S. Pyers; 
Susannah, Mrs. John Rice; Mary, deceased; John, of Wayne county, 
Ohio. Of this family Jacob had rather a remarkable career. He was 
one of the earliest of the ■4!)ers, and while at work in the gold field, had 
many thiilling experiences with riie Indians, having engaged in twenty- 
seven ](itehed battles with the "varmints," it being necessary to woi-k 
with his rifle always in reach. The family Anally lost track of him, and 
in ISlKj, his brother John started to look him up. After suft'ering many 
hardships in the wilds of the mountains, he linajly located him in Silver 
City, and induced him to return home. 

The first event of importance in the life of our subject, after his 
school days, was his enlistment in the Civil War at the age of eighteen. 
He became a private soldier of Co. "E,'' 120th O. \'. I., and served faith 
fully until October 14, 1805, his dischai-ge dating at Houston, Texas. His 
regiment was made a part of the Trans-Mississij)pi army, and saw much 
of the hard service which was the lot of the Cnion troops in the swamps 
and miasmatic country of the southwest. He was in seven pitched 
battles — Chickasaw Bluff, Arkan.sas Post, Port Gibson, Siege of Vicks- 
burg, Jackson, Snaggy Point and Fort Blakely. Upon returning home. 
he engaged exclusively in farming for a time, and then purchased a saw- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 819 

mil! Oil liis ])liU('. whicli lie ojicratcd foi- tlw t'ollowini;' fonitccn vi'iirs. 
He sold oiil his iiitercsis in \\'ii.viit' coiiiil v, and. as stated, in 18S.5, caine 
to Independence. 

After a busy and iiunorabli- care*'!-, Mr. I'ainter is now enjoying the 
fi'uits of labor well done in his early life. He has never been very active 
in a jiublic way, thoiijjh he served two terms in the city council from 
what is jocularly called in Independence, the "bloody .5tii.'' The silent 
intluence which he has exerted, however, has always been in the line i)f 
good governnieul, and he deser\es, as he uncpiest ionably re<-eives. the 
esteem of all who know him. 

Mr. Painter was joined in marriage ^March 8, ISCiti, to .Miss Sarah 
Hoegner, also a native of the "Huckeye State.'' and daughter of .Tcdin W. 
and ilaiia i.Manderback) Hoegner. Her mother still lesides in Ohio, th(> 
father ha\ing died in 1880, at the age of seventy-eight years. The chil- 
dren of Jfr. and Mrs. Painter are Ruemnia, Jlrs. Azariah Smait, of this 
rount.\ ; Klla E., Jlrs. E. Hanson, deceased September 0, lilOi!; iborn July 
4, 1870 and married November 1, 1888); John ^^'ilHam. married Florence 
Peterson and lives in Gainesville, Texas; Jennie R., wife of Harry Dunn, 
a barber of Iudei)endeuee, Kas. 

Mr. Painter is a member of the Grand .\rmy of the Republic and he 
and his good wife are ]iassing their declining years in the full enjoyment 
of the esteem of manv friends. 



WILLIAM P. LIVINGSTON— An obliging, etticient public servant, 
a veteran of the greatest Civil War in all history, and a loyal hustler in 
the interest of his local community, William J'. Livingston occupies a 
huge place in the hearts of Liberty townshiji peo]de. whom he has served 
for the past four years as jiostmaster. 

In reviewing the life of ilr. Livingston, the keynote to his character 
must first be noted — intense and loving loyalty to country. Reared 
amid the fierce heat of discusion of the slavery (juestiou in a state where 
both freeman and slave mingled, he early develojied a hatred for the 
institution and a conserinent loyalty to the cause which had for its ulti- 
mate object the breaking of the shackles. .\s a boy in liis teens, he left 
lionu' in December of l.stil. and enlisted at Columbia. Ky., in Go. (!., of 
the Fifth Kentucky Gavali'v. He was soon a]i]poinled a corpinal and was 
later promoted to First Sergeant f(n' meritoitous conduct on the tield of 
battle. As was the lot of most of the cavalry i-egiments of the war, Mr. 
Livingston's regiment liad plenty to do, participating in no less than H^5 
battles and skirmishes, in three hundred of whicli our subject was under 
tire. Through these scenes of contlict, (uir subject j)assed without liodily 
harm, though many times esca]iing liy hut a haii-'s hrc'adth. His service 
was. for the most ]iart. in the west, and covered the entire ]ieriod of the 
\\;\i. being mustered nnl on the ihird day of ^Liy, ISC).";. 



820 HISTORY OV MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 

Mr. T^ivinKston is the sson of .Tames aiul Tabitlia (Uniwn) Tiivin<;ston, 
ami \vas born iu Overton county, Tenn., December 25, 1841. llis people 
were well-to-do farmers of that county, (irandfather Samuel Livingston 
settled in Tennessee from Korth Carolina in an early day, the county 
seat town of that name having been christened by him. As with man.\' 
another lad of like age, our subject's career was somewhat interfered 
with by the war. He had received a fair education and had anticipated 
a professional life, but circumstances after the war wei'e not favorable to 
that end, and he gave up the study of medicine after a year's trial. His 
early life has been devoted mostly to agriculture; until 1871, in Tennes- 
see, and since then, in this state. In that year, he located in Labette 
county, whei-e he remained some ten years, thence to Montgomery, where 
in 1881, he purchased a drug stock in Liberty, a business in which he has 
been engaged continuously since. The helpful personality of our sub- 
ject has always made him a leading factor in the different communities 
in which he has resided. I'ossessed of a mind of fine grasp of civic (jues- 
tions and an independent and fearless disposition, his o})inions are of 
great weight in the settlement of questions affecting tlie welfare of his 
community. While in Labette county, he served as Justice of the Peace 
for four years, and as a Republican has always been prominent in the; 
councils of the i)arty, though never seeking office. His a])i)Ointnient 
as ])Ostmaster dates from 18!)!(, and came to him in the nature of a com- 
j)linieut for jiast services to his country and jtarty. 

In March of 18G9, Mr. Livingston was joined in marriage to Rebecca, 
daughter of Simeon Summers of Clinton county, Ky., a respected farmei' 
and gallant soldier, having served in the same regiment as Mr. Livings- 
ton. Four children have been born to our subject and his wife, as fol- 
lows: Henry W., married Alice, daughter of W. C. Martin, of this 
county; they have one child, Hallie. Ella is the wife of Jordan Morris, 
and lives in Labette county with their four children — Fay, Irene, Don 
and Dallas; William, of Liberty, a barber, and Jessie M., carrier of Rural 
Route No. 3, from her father's office. Miss Jessie is one of those inde- 
pendent, self-reliant Kansas girls who is not afraid of work. Her 
route covers 23tV miles, and she makes it in all kinds of weather. 



S. COMER, one of Elk City's most substantial citizens, now living in 
se:ni-i'etirement from a long and successful life sjjent for the most part 
as an agriculturist, is a native of Indiana, born in Hendricks county, Sep- 
tember 16, 1884. He came of Quaker parentage, Joseph and Hester 
(Compton) Comer, natives of Xorth Carolimi and Ohio, resepectively. 
His father had come to the state with his ])arents in 1800, being then but 
four years old. They settled near Richmond, being among the earliest of 
the Quaker faith there. He was a farmer during his entire lifetime, a 
man of liigh moral character, and of good influence in the community. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 821 

He belonged to that class of early abolitionists whose efforts kept the 
question of slavery before the nation until it had become so national 
in its character that its settlement became an absolute necessity. Hi; 
was an active supporter of the "Underground Railroad," and on its rougli 
roadway helped many a black patriot to freedom. He lived to the ripe 
age of seventy-four years, dying in 1876. The wife had preceded him in 
1868, her age being sixty-four. Thirteen cliihben were bcu'U t(i (hem, the 
five living being: our subject; Rachel, Mrs. Samuel Hobsou ; Rebecca, 
Mrs. Jos. H. Mills; -John ("., of Indianapolis, and Cornelius L., of Moore- 
ville, Ind. Those deceased were: Steven, Matthew, Jabez, Mary, Jona- 
than, James, Amos and Levi. 

S. Comer was reared amid the quiet and correct influences of a 
Quaker home, whose spirit of justice, equality and patriotism was early 
infused into his nature by j)recept and example. The boys of the family 
were taught trades, there being four carpenters and one painter. Mr. 
Comer, at seventeen, went to Iowa with his parents where, for thre(! 
years, he worked on a farm. He then took up the carpenter's trade, and 
though he had never served a regular apprenticeship, his lifelong 
familiarly with tools enabled him to soon become a finished workman. 
He worked in Henry county, Iowa, until 1871, and in February of that 
year came to Elk City. He remained here but a short time, however, 
as an opening oll'ered in the Territory in the Government Indian service, 
and proceeding there at once, remained for a ])eriod of five years. He re- 
members this period of his life with much satisfaction, as his influence 
among the Indians was such as to make them very tractable and docile. 
On account of his growing family, he concluded to again get back to 
civilization, and, buying a farm in Chautaucjua county, in 1S76, began a 
strictly agricultural life. He cultivated this farm until 1887, when he 
sold it and purchased a quarter section in Salt Creek township, which 
he still owns. He continued to reside there until 1897, and then came 
to live in town, where he works at odd times at his trade, on the princi- 
ple that "it is better (o wear out than rust out." 

In the difl'erent communities in which he has lived, Mr. (k)mer has 
been true to the best conceptions of civic duty, has served on school 
boards and in the various otfices necessary in the conduct of any well- 
regulated community. He nuirried, March 24, 18ij8, Sarah A., (buighter 
of Peter and Rachel .1. Hobsou. Mi's. Comer was a native of Iowa and 
is one of eleven children. Her jK'ople were of the Quaker faith, and very 
active workers, the father having been at one time a missionary among 
the Indians. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-nine years, the wif(; 
dying at the age of seventy. 

Jlr. and ilrs. Comer had seven children born to them as follows: 
Peter II., who died at twenty-four years; Nettie J., now Mrs. R. S. Thorn- 
bnrg; Rachel, who married .1. \\'. Lewis, of Sedan, Kansas, and has four 
children — lessie, I'.rent, Kent and Dale; JIaria L., Mrs. W. 1). Riley, wife 



S22 inSTOUV OF MONTUOMKRY COUNTY^ IvAXSAS. 

of a CliiUilaiKiua connty faviiicr, lluoe children — Martha S.. Nettie H., 
aud ilarie; Auua L.,who died in infancy; Herbert S.,a successful teacher 
in Chautauqua county; .Tosc|ili 11., a student in the State Normal School 
Hi Emporia, where he is tittiuf; himself for advanced work in his chosen 
profession, liavinji' already had <;reat success in such work in the Indus- 
trial sclu)ol at Tojieka. The mother of these children, after a life of 
splendid devotion to them and her home, and to the Friends' church of 
which she was a birthriglit nu^mber, entered into her rest January 23, 
1898, aged fifty-nine years. Mr. Comer, while a birtliright member of 
the Fiiends" cliui'cli. has a niendx-rship also in the Methodist denomina- ' 
tion. He is a Jlason and his political iirefcrences lie with the Kepubli- 
cau party. Both he and his family aie the re<i]iit'nts of a large nieasure 
•of esteem in the count \' where thev have made their liome. 



HEX. M. O. BARNES, I'olice Judge and respected citizen of the 
town of Elk City, is one of tlie more jirominent of the "old soldier'' ele- 
ment of the county, the recor<l of his deeds during the dark days of re- 
bellion entitling him to honoiable mention am(uig our most worthy citi- 
zens. 

Enteiing the army in July of ISKl, he saw active service until his 
discharge July 28, 18t)5. He .and his father became privates in the sam« 
company, Co. "A," 12th Ky. Inf. Their first battle was at the siege of 
Corinth, after which they jiarticipated in the chase after Bragg through 
Kentucky, thence to Knoxville, thence south on the Atlanta campaign. 
Hev. Barnes remembers this as one of the most trying ])eriods of the war; 
his company being under tire for 21 consecutive days, and scarcely a day 
of that time but it received one or more drenchings from the pitiless rain. 
At Johesboro they turned with Gen. Thomas to follow Hood into Ten- 
nessee, where they fught the bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville. 
This was the end of the war for most of the soldiers of the western army, 
but not so for our subject. He went around via Cincinnati and the B. 
■<*t O., to \\'ashington. thence south, particijiating in the battle of Ft. An- 
derson. From there to Wilmington, to < !(tldsboi-o, to Kaleigh aud to 
Greensboro, where he sheathed the sword and journeyed peacefully and 
gladly back to Louisville, conscious of duty faitlifully performed. 

liev. Barnes is a Kentuckian by birth, I'ulaski, the county and Octo- 
ber 31, 1837, the date. His jiarents were Josiah and Delila (Turpin) 
r>arnes, both natives of the Blue Grass State. His father was a black- 
smith and pursTU'd his occupation in I'ulaski county until his death in 
187(i, at the age of (j!t years. Mother Barnes died at 63 years in 1873. 
They were worthy and respected citizens of their county and in the 
nation's distress were most zealous in its sujiport. The father entered 
the army, though really exemi)t from military duty, and served for two 
yeai-s in the middle west^ where he paiticipated in some of the hai'd- 



HISTORY 01'" MONTGOMKIIY COUNTY, KANSAS. 823 

fought buttles as his son, i-cliriiiji' on account of disability. They were 
the parents of eifiht children, three of wliom yet survive. Our subject is 
the eldest of these, the others heinn Martha .J., (JIis. .\ndrew Lay), and 
Eli \Y., both residents of Pulaski county, Kentucky. 

The merry rin<; of the anvil constituted the music to which our sub- 
ject developed a stroug physical constitution, his mental equipment 
being such as could be secured in his earlier boyhood in the district 
school. He was engaged in helping his father up to the war, after 
which he worked at tlie anvil until ISti.S, in his home county, and then 
joined the tide of emigration which had set in so heavily to the west. 
I'ntil 1SS4, he tried several of the more advertised counties of the state, 
notably: Johnson, IJutler, Cowley and Franklin. lie then came to Mont- 
gomery and, buying a home in Elk City, has since resided here, for the 
most part engaged in working at his trade. Ills title of Reverend conies 
from his having for years Ikhmi active in ministerial work in the Friends' 
organization. He is, of course a leading member of the G. A. K., and 
has been Cha](Iaiu of the local post for 12 years. No more worthy citi- 
zen lives within the bounds of the county than Kev. M. O. Barnes, and the 
esteem in which he and his family are held is uniform. 

Our subject has been twice married. The wife of his youth was a 
Kentucky girl. Miss Mary A., daughter of Isaac Kelly, to whom wen; 
born : W. T. S., now a prominent minister of the M. E. church, located 
at Ht. Joe, Mo.; Florence W'., deceased; S. F., a farmer of the county, 
and Charles B., a blacksmith at Elk (Jity. The mother of these children 
died June, 18!)7, iuid on Feb. 20, ItlOl, Rev. Barnes consummated mar- 
riage with Mrs. Millie M. Byers, a most estimable lady, widow of the late 
William Byers. Her children are: Fern, Hershal, Mary and Orville. 
Mrs. Barnes is a member of the M. E. chui'ch, and both she and her family 
are valued workers therein. 



THOMAS A. C.VRKISON, although not an old settler, has worthily 
ideutified himself with Montgomery county and Fawn Creek township, 
as a farmer and business num, and as such is entitled to a place in the 
history of Montgomery county. He was born in Madison county, Ind.. 
February l,s, IS."):!. His father, Klijah K. (Jarrison, was a native of Mary- 
laud and his mother, nee Hannah -1. Smith, was a native of Kentucky. 
The ])areuts were mai-ried in tndiana and died in that state, the father, 
at the age of seventy-five, the mother later, also at seventy-five. 

Thomas A. (Jarrison was one of eleven children, and was reared 
on a farm in Indiana, receiving only a common school education. He 
was a nuMuber of his father's family until of age, when he entered a lla.x 
factory and worked there fm- four years, and later, bought a small farm 
in \\';!l)ash county, Ind., and look possession of it. 

He was united in marriage to .Maleutha J. Brothers, September G, 



824 HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

1875. His wife was a native of Indiana and a daugliter of William and 
Sarah (Stanly) Brothers. Her death occurred in 1H'.)T,. Tliey were the 
jiareuts of eight children: Ora A^'., Maud, wife of Ab.v Jeflery; Eliza, 
<leceased; A^'iuifred, Joel and Hazel. 

Mr. Garrison has been married a second time, the wife being Emily 
Eiger, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of F. D., and Virginia Riger. 

In later years. ^Ir. Garrison did a huckstering business, going to An- 
(lersdii and other nearby towns, following this occupation about four 
years. In llKIl, Mi-. Cairison came to Kansas, settling in Fawn Creek 
townshi{), ^lontgoiiiery county, where he bought 8(1 acres of land, three 
miles east of Tyro. 

Mr. Garrison is a member of the Odd Fellows of Coffeyville Lodge. 
In jjolitics he is a Kejniblican, and has i-ecently been appointed night 
jiolice in the city of Coffeyville. 



.MKS. r.VTlEXCE BAKER— The nmjority of the names introducing 
the sketches in this volume ai'e of the sterner sex, iioi becaiist' they are 
more worthy, but custom governs such selection. .\ number, however, 
will be found to represent the gentler sex, ladies, who, by the cruel hand 
of the grim destroyer, are tightiug the battle alone. Society bows in rev- 
erent admiration to these women, who, with stout liearts and strong 
wills, take up the buiden of keeping the family together until (]ualified 
to tight their own battles. The lady whose name appears above, is an 
esteemed and worthy resident of Drum Creek township, residing two 
Jind a half miles from ('herryvale on a well-tilled quarter section of land. 

Mrs. Baker is a native of Cass county. 111., where she was born 
October 20, 1SI7. She is a daughter of William and Sarah (Smedley) 
Shoopman, her parents having been early homesteaders in Cass county 
;\nd now deceased. They reared the following family of children: Jacob, 
Mary, David and Thomas are deceased; Elizabeth, the widow of Elijah 
Davis, residing with her children in Cass county. Mo.; William, lives 
in Illinois; John in California; George is one of Montgomery county's 
worthy farmers, mentioned elsewhere in this book; Nicholas is a farmer 
residing near the old homestead in Illinois; Xancy mairied Xoah Sho- 
walter and lives in Idaho; Mrs. Baker the youngest child. 

In Beardstown, 111., on the 10th of February, 1876, she was hapjjily 
joined in marriage to Gilbert R. Baker, a faiiner of that county. Mr. 
Baker was born in the State of Nortli Carolina, May 10, 1844. There he 
grew to manhood and served a period in the Confederate army, after 
which he settled in the county wliere he met and married Mrs. Baker. 
In 1870. they settled in Montgomery county, Kansas, on a farm, and Janu- 
ary 11, 1897, he died on the Flemings farm, two and one-half miles south 
of Cheri'vvale. 

Mrs. Baker is the mother of four diildren: Cora E., born December 




GILBERT R. BAKER (Deceased) AND FAMILY. 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 825. 

7, 187G, uian-ied ^Villiam Cook; flic.v r<'Hi(l(' in ('Ikm ryvalc, aiul liavp a 
daughter, Neona .Iniic; Alma, born Fclirnarv 17, ls7!t, died ScjiIcihIkm' 
27, 1879; Lcdru S.. born An},nis( 2S, iSKd, is her niollii'r's (■omj)anion at 
homo, as is also Xcllic II., whose birlh occurred Au>;usl '_'(), l.S!)(). 

Jfrs. Raker is a woman of sujicrioi' mciitalil.v, of sjilcndid business 
capacity, and she and her two dau^ihters are most po])ular and esteemed 
members of society in tlieir locality. They are members of the Bajjtist 
church, to which tliev ^i^'e their eju-ncst and loyal sui)port. 



JAMES F. M.COKKLF,— The rapidly increasing distance of tin- 
Civil War from these limes of the natiou'.s great prosperity tends to a 
seeming forgetfuln(>ss of the glorious deeds of the "boys in blue" which 
made that iirosjierity possible. .\ud y<'t it is a "seeming" forgetfulness, 
for whenever op|iorlunity otters, the ]iublic is not slow in showing its ap- 
pr'ciation of the saci-itices and ha!dshi]is endured (hiring those f<uir ter- 
rible years of the naticuTs jieril. This is not only true in a |)ublic sense^ 
but in ])rivate life as well. The tribute of respect [(aid the "old soldier'" 
in every community is general and of the utmost sincerity. Like the 
father of his country, the old soldier is "first in peace, first in war, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen.'' The list of Grand Army veterans 
is unusually large in Montgonier\ c(uiuty, owing to the fact that her 
broad aci-es lay in inviting idleness .it the time when the implements of 
war were being turned into the |>runing hooks of jieace. 

The gentleman whose honored mime initiates this (laragi-aph, is one 
of the nation's defenders who settled on a quarter section seven miles 
south of Indejjendence, in the year 1S7(), (but liaving come to the county 
in ISO!)), and has since been continuously engaged in the pursuit of agri- 
culttire. At the bi-eaking out of the Civil War, Mr. McCorkle was a 
student at the Lebancui. (Ohiol Xormal. He immediately returned lionn' 
and enlisted as a jirivate soldier in Company "(!," 1st \V. \'a. Cav.. in 
which organization he served thi-ee years and foui- months, being dis- 
charged at Harper's Ferry in the fall of IStU. During his period of ser- 
vice, he saw much of the horrors of war, having i)artici])ated in nine- 
teen hard-fought battles, in which ai'tillery wa.s used on both sides, and 
in 117 skirmishes, many of which i»artook of the seriousness of a battle. 
He was wounded at (iettysbuig, receiving a ball in the Heshy part of the 
neck, which, though painful, was not serious, lie, however, had several 
close calls, having had two horses killed and (Uie wounded under him. 
During the period of his service he was an unwilling witness to the fall 
and wounding of several ]>rominent otlicers, notably (ien. Shields, 
wounded at Kei-nstown, (ien, Mulligan, at Winchester, and Farnsworth 
at (iettysbuig. He also saw (Jen. Custer when shot in the leg at Cul- 
peper. \'a. Of those days of carnage, .Mr. McCoi'kle speaks with the feel- 



826 IIISTOnV OF MONTGOMERY COrNTY. KANSAS. 

ing of the true soldier — ftlorious, but awful, iind ninv they never return 
again. 

The parents of our subject were Henry and Polly (Elkins) McCorkle, 
the father born at Blacksburg, W. Va., in 1812, the mother also being a 
native of that state, and a member of the same family brought to 
national attention by the late Senator Elkins. They were leading farm- 
ers in their section of the state, members of the T^. B. churcli, and con- 
cerned in the development of that spirit of freedom and loyalty which 
dared to refuse the demand of the mother state to follow her into dis- 
union. Their family consisted of seven children, as follows: Jamea 
F., subject of this review; Villetta, Jlrs. (labriel leister; ]\Iiranda, Mrs. 
Lieut. Suitors; Ann, Mrs. George JIatthews; Franklin, a farmer of Lib- 
erty, township, this connty ; ISladison, of Lawrence connly, Ohio, and 
Jefferson, living on the hotne farm. 

James F. McCorkle was born October 26, 1S3(), in Lawrence county, 
Ohio. He was reared to farm life and was destined for one of the pro- 
fessions, had the war not cut short his school days. Aftei' the war, he 
went to Paxton, 111., where he engaged in the nursery business quite ex- 
tensively for several years, and in 1809. as stated, came to Montgomery 
county. Here he has been an active factor in the development of the re- 
sources of the county, industriously attending to his own alfairs, and 
always in favor of the right as he saw it. He lived on the original quar- 
ter for a number of years, and then bought an eighty nearer town, which 
he still owns, and from which he lemoved to his present residence in 
town in 189ft. Of late years, Mr. McCcu-klc has been connected with the 
oil industry which has developed to so great an extent in southeastern 
Kansas. 

The marriage of oui' subject was an event of Se})t. 17, 1808. Mrs. 
McCorkle is a native of Troy, Ohio, and is the daughter of B. F. and Mary 
(Martin) Tullis. 

Of the family which these parents reared, the following is a brief 
statement: Harry B. is a graduate in i)h;u'in;)cy of tin* Kansas State 
T'niversity and a graduate in medicine and surgx'iy at ]Marion-Simms 
Medical College at St. T>ouis, and is successfully practicing medicine at 
Billings, Ok. Ty. He married Edna Becker, and has one child, Mar- 
garet; MoUie S., married K. C. Hearne, a master painter of Independ- 
ence, one child, Sallie; Charlie E., a farmer of the county, married Bettie 
Clay, and has three children — Leo. Ivdna and (Jolden ; Jessie M.. mar- 
ried Henry Jliller. of Independence, and has one child, Treva ; James 
F. is a student of the hieh school. 



SAMl'EL ETTER— One of the most substantial farmers of the 
■county is the gentleman above named, wlio resides on section 1-32-15. 
He was born in Jnhnson coiiiitv, Ind., Mav 8. ISO"), and was brouaht to 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMKRY COUNTY, KANSAS. 827 

Montfioiiicr.v cumily in lS7(t, \t\ liis iiinllicr, llic fallicr liaviiin died wlicn 
he was bill t'ijilitccii iiioiillis of a^;c. He lias, IliiDii^li imliislrv and econ- 
omy, jihlccd liiiiiscif ill I lie cali'iioiy of siicci'ssful farmers of llie couuty. 

Mr. Ktter is a son of (ieorj{«' 101 ler, a native of Mor;;an eounty, Ind., 
who.se father, Daniel Ktler, was horn in N'irjjinia. Daniel Etter mar- 
ried Mary Duke, and their union jirodueed sixteen children, seven of 
whom are: ^lyra Cosier, Kose, IC]iliriaiii, I,e\i, < 'lirisloplier, (!eorj;o and 
Diana Drokes. 

(ieoifie Kller iiiariied Mary .^. Deho, a iiali\e of Indiana and a 
daughter i>f Ivarisom anil Uliod.i (Henderson) Deho. To llieiii were horn 
four children, whose names are: .loliii, residing in .Montgomery county; 
Laura Beli, Samuel, the esteemed suhjecl of this leview, and JIis. 
Georgiana A. I'erry. 

In ISTO.Kansoiu Del)o. suhject's ni;i1eriial grandfalher. together with 
our suhject's iiiolher and her three children, joined a jiarty, comjiosed 
of Indiana families and came to .Montgomery county, Kansas. Jlrs. 
Etter tiled on a claim of S(l acres, three and one-half miles northwest of 
Indeiieudence, where she erected the usual ho.x house of the time, and 
continued to reside for the ensuing tlfteen ye.irs. 

Samuel Etter was I'eared on his mother's farm and succeeded in 
securing a fair common school education, 1 hough the |)eriod of his boy- 
hood was necessaril\- spent in hard labor iijion the farm. He dutifully 
remained at home until his lilst yeai', and then began to save the profits 
of his labiu- for himself. He worked industriously al various occujia- 
tions and exercised close economy, when, in IS!*."), he was enabled to pur- 
chase his farm of 1(!() acres, before described. He has given particular 
attention to the raising of .young cattle and by this inetliod lias suceeded 
in fully ])aying for his fai'Ui. He is looked ujion as one of the rising 
young farmers of Sycamore townshii), and, judging from the j)ast, has 
a sjilendid future befor(> him. 

September .■*>(), ISSS, occurred the marriage of .Mr. Ktter to Josie, 
daughter of Hooker and Jane (Marber) Wilson, the |)areiits being natives 
respectively of Kentucky and Illinois. To the home of .Mr. Ktter have 
come four bright children; .Mamie -M., David D., William F. and Harley 
J. Mrs. Etter's grandfather, Samuel I'.arbei-, was a soldier in <"o. "K," 
14th Keg. Kan. Cav. 

The social instincts of .Mr. lOller are most iiiaiked and lie has entered 
into the social life of the comiiiiinily with a true citizen's interest, lie 
is a member of ilie .\. II. T. .\., and of the .Modern Woodmen of .\uierica. 
Both he and his family are most highly regarded in the community in 
which tliev li\e. 



M.\1{TH.\ I. .I.\("K This worthy resident of Sycamore township, 
is the widow of the late (ieorge W. .lack, one of the leading farmers of 



828 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

the county, who settled here with his growing family in 1876 from Tipton 
County, Ind. He was a man whom to know was to love, energetic and 
faithful, and always true to his friends. His demise occurred April 1st, 
1884. 

He was a native of Ohio, born in Washington county. March 9, 1835, 
the son of James and Echecca Jack, the foinier Ixirn in Indiana, the 
latter in "\'irginia. This couple were the parents of leu chiklrcu. as fol- 
lows: John, Sarah Hoover, Mary Jackson, James, Elizabetli Fauch, 
Benjamin, Reis, Ann Hedley, Rebecca Decker and l.avinia Rrown. 

At the time of the Civil War, George Jack was a resident of Tipton 
county, Ind., and there, on the 2Sth day of October, 1804, enrolled as a 
private soldier in Comjiauy "I,'" Sth Ind. Cav.. <'apt. Oliver M. Powers 
commanding. He was mustered out July 20, 18()."), at Ijexington, N. C, 
he having served for the greater jiart of that time as a courier. 

Prior to Mr. Jack's enlistment in the ariny, he had been joined in 
marriage on the first day of April, 1858, to Martha I. Decker, the lady 
who now survives him. Mrs. Jack is a native of Tennessee, born in 
Blunt County on the 19th of July, 18.'?8. She is the daughter of William 
and Jane (Householder) Decker, hei- father having lieen a native of the 
old "Dominion State."' The ]»aternal grandfather of Mrs. Jack was a 
Decker, of Virginia. To liim were born: Isaac. Heniy, Samuel and Wil- 
liam, the latter of whom left A'irgiuia in early life and, in Tennessee, mar- 
ried Jane Householder. To these parents were boru seven children: 
Rachel, Elizabeth Handshoe, Salina, Henry, Elias, Samuel and Martha. 
The latter was born, as stated, and wheu fifteen years of age accom- 
])anied the family to Tipton County, Ind.. where slie nuirried as related 
above. The family continued to be residents of that county nntil their 
-coming to Montgomery in ]87ti. Here they joined the \e()nuinry of Syca- 
more township and have been respected UKMnbets of society since. A 
family of seven have grown to manhood and womanhood, and taken upon 
themselves the duties of citizenship, all esteeuu'd membeis of society in 
their different localities. Their names are as follows: Maiy. who mar- 
i-ied William Miner, and died leaving two children — Rollie and Mabel. 
The grand-daughter Mable mairied Jacob I'.arker. and has one child — ■ 
Joy L. ; William, of iVrkansas City, married Liidcina Wyrlck, and has 
four children — Floyd, Maud, Ooldie and May; Floience married A. J. 
Ross, and has: Medy R., Oral, Jessie, Carl, Lloyd and Raymond; Cale- 
donia B., married A. D. Busby and has Flossie, .\ndrew. Symbol and 
Ethel; Cora married Thonms Sluslier and tlieir cliildien are: Claud, 
Roy, Nellie and Rollie; Hugh cares for his mother on the home farm; 
Frederick married Maudie (iilkey, and has two children, Ethel and 
'Gladys. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEBY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 829 

OEOROE W. PETTET— Tli(> -oidloiiiaii heic iM.-iilioncd is tlie pres- 
i'nt Suppi-iiitendcnt of Montgomery's I'oor Fanii, which iiisl it iition is 
located in Liheily (ownsliip. He is one of the early settlers of the 
county, having- settled here in 1S77, though his residence since (hat time 
has not been continuous. 

Mv. Tettet is a native of the "Hoosier State," born in P.oone county 
on the fourth of September, 1840. He is a son of UuiKaii and I'riscilla 
(Craimer) Tettet. The father was a native of Indiana, while the mother 
Avas born in Kentucky. P>y occupation the father was a member of the 
medical profession and ])racticed, for a number of years, in tlie county- 
seat town of Lebanon, Itoone county, and where he died in the year 1843, 
at a comparatively early age. He attained considerable prominence in 
liis profession and was a man of attractive personality. The wife out- 
lived him a long period of years, passing away at an advanced age in 
1SS7. She was the mother of nine children: Mary Ann. who became 
Mrs. William \Vyatt, and now lives in Pottsville, Indiana. William 
died in Indiana; Catherine died in infancy; Elizabeth, John Martin was 
a gallant soldier in the Civil War, and gave up his life for his country 
at the battle of Stone River; Thomas Samuel was also a soldier of the 
Civil War, .serving three years, and died later, in Indiana ; James is also 
deceased; Milton V., was killed at the battle of Richmond. Kentucky, 
during the Civil War. The youngest child is the subject of this sketch. 

Mr. Pettet was reared in his native county, and had just reached the 
age of resi)onsibility when the war cloud burst with its tierce intensity 
upon the country. He enlisted in the year 18C1, in Company "E," 26th 
Ind. Vol. Inf., for three years, and at the .expiration of his term of ser- 
vice, was mustered out at Indianapolis. He then re-enlisted as a mem- 
ber of the same com|)any, and served two years longer. During his 
period of service he was engaged in many of the important battles of 
the -war in the southwest, some of which were Prairie ilrove. .\rkansas, 
Avlu're his regiment Inst nearly half of its number. He was at the siege 
of ^'icksburg and, when the Mississippi was opened, went down the river 
and over to Mobile where he was engaged in the siege of the. forts neai- 
that city. He returned to his home conscious of having served his 
country faithfully and well. 

Mr. Pettet's mari-iage occurred in lS(i(!. the lady's name having 
been Nancy fJreer, a daughter of John and Margai-et d'etriel (ii-eer, 
natives of the "P.lue (!rass State." 

Mr. Pellet remained in Indiana, engaged in agriculture, until tin- 
year 1877, when he located eight miles west of Independence. Here he 
-engaged in farming successfully, until 188G, and then sold out his farm 
and located on Little Caney river. Four years later, he purchased a 
livery business at Havana in this county which he conIinue(l to ojieratc 
until IS'.tt). He then sold this business and removed to Mound \'alley, 
Labette county, where he jiurchased anoth<>r livery stock \\liirh he con- 



830 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

tiuuod to (>ii('r;i1(> unlil 1S!)S. H(> tlit'ii ivtiirned to .Moiitj;()iiiorv county 
and purcliascd a hoiiio property in (lie connty seat town of Independence. 
His present api)ointinent as Superintendent of the I'oor Farm, dates 
from January I'tJ, 1"J03. This farm is one of the best of its kind in the 
state and is kept in a very high state of cultivation and presents a very 
neat ajjpearaiice. There are at i)resent tweniy imiiali-s of the insti- 
tution. 

The family horn to our subject, consists of tliree cliildren: .Jennie, 
who married I.ee L. (iarr, a native of Indiana and now a farmer of tliis 
county, lier two cliildren are .Toseph, twelve years of age and Lulu, 
two years old; Margaret nmrried James R. Blair, a native of Iowa, now 
of Havana; their two children are: Thera, twelve years old and Lua 
E.; the third child was Joseph David, who married Anna Williams, a 
daugi'.ter of Robert Williams, of Illinois, and now lives in Labette 
county, Kansas. He is a carpenter and mechanic, -loseph I>. I'ettet is 
a practicing physician at ^lound Valley, Labette county. 

In political faith, Mr. Pettet supi)orts the policy of the party of Lin- 
coin and (Jartield, and is a consistent member of the Friends' chnrch, to- 
gether with liis family. He is a citizen whose private and jmblic life re- 
flects credit on the county of his adoption in whicli he nuinheis his 
friends bv the hundred. 



WILLL\M W. T\"LKI{, one of the largest land owners in Tarker 
township, is one of tlie eastern emigrants who settled in .Montgomery 
county and was hoin in the "Empire State," Yates county, on the 26th, 
of April, IS.").'!. Since 1878, he has been a citizen of Montgomery county 
and now I'esides two miles west of the city of ColTeyville. Hoswell K. 
Tyler, the father- of ^^'illiam, was also a native of New York, as was his 
mother Sarah (A\'ood) Tyler. He was a farmer by occujiation, and 
passed his life in his native state, dying at the age of tifty-tive. His wife 
survived him many yeais, being seventy years old at her deatli. She 
was the mollier of six children: Frank, Harvey, Mrs. Sarah Hadsell, 
deceased; .William W. , Mrs. Nettie Reynolds and Mrs. .\della Hadsell. 

William ^^'. Tyler passed the period of his boyhood and youth in the 
healthful occni>ation of farm life, in Yates county, securing a fair educa- 
tion in the country school during the short winter months. He re- 
mained at home with his jiarents until he had attained his full majority. 
Three yeais later, he mai'ried and began prejtaratious for the building 
of a home for himself. He engaged in agriculture in his home neighbor- 
hood and continued it till the spring of 1878, when he came out to Mont- 
gomeiy county, Kansas, and selected a farm of eighty acres of raw 
l>iairie, which now constitutes a portion of his estate. Here he and his 
young wife began the battle of life among strangers and with compara- 
tively small means. Th<'y met with many hardships incident to a new 




W. W. TYLER AND WIFE. 



831 

country, and that causod tlieni to remombcr tbo fiisl few years of their 
existence in Kansas with inoi'e or less of refjret. Their means pro- 
vided for nothinji' Imt the most primitive box house, containing but a 
single room 12x14 feet. They, howevei-, were full of llie hojtes and ambi- 
tions of youth and cheerfully deprived themselves of many of (he actual 
necessities of life thai Ihcy might lay the foundation for their home. 
They had brought enough money with them to ])ay for their land, and 
there was enough left to purchase a few of the necessary imidements 
for the proper cultivation of their farm. As tbey look back on those 
years of toil and pi-ivation, they liave frequently laughed at the many 
ridiculous "make shifts" which, for lack of means, they were compelled 
to use. The old saying was fre(]uently verified in theii' case that "neces- 
sity is the mother of invention.'' However, all that is a matter of 
the past, and now they sit under their own "vine and fig tree"' and 
look forward into the evening of their lives willi a complacency born 
of the knowledge that their labor has brought to them suflicient to make 
them comfortable with little further exeition. The beautiful and com- 
modious farm house, which superceded its crude predecessor, is sur- 
rounded by Sjireading shade ti'ees set out t)y their own hands, and the 
old farm i)resents evidences of the enterprise an<l thrift which has 
attended their years of labor. 

When asked for the secret of his success in farming. Mi-. Tyler re- 
plied that he attributes it to the ''Down-East'' custom of jilanting a 
variety of crops, rather than risking all on a single grain. Tliere were 
years in which corn and wheat or the grass crop was a total failure, 
but because of the fact that he had something besides these crops 
]ilanted, he always had something which he could turn into numey at the 
end of the season, for it «as seldom that more than (Uie ci-o|i was a fail- 
ure the same y(>ai'. This fact, in connection with the carefnl husband- 
ing of his I'esoui'ces and the good judginent manifested in the sale of bis 
j)roducts has made .Mi'. Tyh r, in the ininir of life, one of the solid men 
of his townshi]). 

T'])on the farm is a natural gas well which sii|i|ilies I he residence 
Avitli light and heat. 

At vaiious times, as their prosjierily made It possible. Ihey have 
added to their orij;inal eighty acre ))ni'chas(>, and are now the owni-rs of a 
broad domain, comprising oOO acres. This farm is devoted to the rais- 
ing of grain and stock, a goodly portion of it beiiig i-ich bottom land, 
■while the I'est is high ]>rairi(> which fni'uishes splendid ]>asturage. 

The mai'riage of Mr. and Mis. Tyler was an event of I ((Member 22, 
1877. Mrs. Tyler's maiden name was Sarah J. Marshall. The .Marshall 
family is of Knglish descent. .Matthew .Marshall lia\iiig emigrated to 
thiscountiT from England when a yoniig m;in. He settled in New 'S'ork 
state, and then married Mary A. Palmer, also of I'^nglish birth. Jfrs. 
Tyler's parents came to Kansas in 1878. but were not pleased with the 



832 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 

country and returned to New York, where the father now resides at the 
agfe of seventy-two. the mother liaving died at the a};e of seventy. 
Their four children were: William S. , Mrs. Sarah Tyler, Mrs. Mary A. 
Peacock, and Mrs. T>iV)bic P. Nichols, all but Mrs. Tyler living in New 
York state. To this niarriajje of Mr. and Mrs. Tyler were born two 
daughters, Frances and Edna, both young ladies at home. 

Mr. and Mrs. Tyler have entei'^d heartily into the social life of the 
community in which they have made their home, Mr. Tyler being a mem- 
ber of the' K. L. of .S., of the Trijile Tie and of the A. H. T. A. He has 
not lieen disposed to much activity in politics, but is an ardent SHi)portcr 
of the jjrincijiles of the reform party. They are most highly regarded 
among a very large circle of ac(|uaintances in the county and disi)euse an 
old-time hospitality in their rural home. 



i;i)\VAKI) .\. TI'RNER— The subject of this brief review is one of 
the substantial young farmers of West Cherry townshiji. and dates his 
residence in the county from the year ISTlt. He conies from the "Modern 
Mother of Presidents," Ohio, in Perry county, of which state, he was born 
Septend)er 2.5, 18(;7. 

I>i!\id Turner, onr subject's father, is a velired farmer, residing in 
Tndeiicndence, and is a native of Faii'tield county. Ohio. In his home 
state he learned wagon-making and followed the trade as a livelihood, 
but here in Kansas and when actively engaged, he was a farmer. He was 
one of thre<» children, viz: Reis, Mrs. ICdith Vors and David. He married 
Louisa (irubb, a native of ^IcConnellsville, Ohio, and their union was 
j)i-o(lu( tive of the following children: Albert, deceased; William, de- 
ceased; Fr.uicis. of Montgomery county; David, of Colorado; Mrs. Dora 
Inscho. of this county; Edward A., our subject, and (Jeorge, of New York. 

lOdward A. Turner married ("elia Imel, a daughter of James and 
Sarah ( Warren I Imel, from the State of Indiana. The three children of 
this union are: Lola, Edward and one other. 

In their l)eginning in Moiitgomei'v county, the Turners settled on a 
farm on the banks of the Verdigiis river, where Edward A., of this notice, 
was biought up. It is true that for three years the fandly home was in 
Rutland township, but their connection with that locality was so unim- 
poi-tant as conijiared with their prominence as settlers of West Cherry,^ 
that little stress is placed upon it and all their residence in the county 
credited to the lattei-. The family homestead, and where our subject re- 
sides, consists of one hundred and si.xty acres, in section 4, township 31, 
range Hi, and has been his home since 1882. At twenty-one years of age the 
farm was left in his care, while his ])arents retired to the county seat 
to live. 

In their political views the Turners are Republicans, and Mr. Turner, 
of this record, is a member of the Modern Woodmen and of the A. H. T. A. 



INDEX 

TO 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

Organization 5 

Location 6 

Land Titles 7 

CHAPTER II. 

Important Events 9 

The Drum Creek Treaty 9 

The Ellt Valley Flood of 1885. .. 10 
The Volcanic Upheaval of 1894 

at Coffeyville 16 

The Reed Family Tragedy 20 

Why Did Pomeroy Trust York?. 24 
The Montgomery County High 

School 27 

The Dalton Raid at Coffeyville . 33 

CHAPTER III. 
The Press of Montgomery County 41 

Age, The Living (Independ- 
ence) 45 

Argus, The Montgomery (Inde- 
pendence) 45 

Bulletin. The Cherryvale (Cher- 
ryvale) 46 

Call, The Weekly (Independ- 
ence) 45 

Call, The Daily Evening (Inde- 
pendence) 45 

Chief, The Osage (Independ- 
ence) 45 

Circular, The (Coffeyville) 44 



PAGE. 

Courier, The (Coffeyville) 44 

Courier, The Independence (In- 
dependence 44 

Courier, The Daily (Independ- 
ence) 44 

Courier, The Workingman's (In- 
dependence) 44 

Champion, The Cherryvale 

(Cherryvale) 46 

Chronicle. The (Caney) 47 

Clarion. The Cherryvale (Cher- 
ryvale) 46 

Commonwealth, The Kansas 

(Cherryvale) 46 

Democrat, The Kan.sas (Inde- 
pendence) 43 

Democrat, The Montgomery 

County (Coffeyville) 46 

Democrat, The (Elk City) 47 

Eagle, The (Elk City) 47 

Biilerprise, The (Elk City) 47 

Gaslight, The Coffeyville (Cof- 
feyville) 48 

Globe, The Cherryvale (Cher- 
ryvale) 46 

Globe. The (Elk City) 46 

Herald, The Cherryvale (Cher- 
ryvale) 46 

Herald, The (Havana) 47 

Itemizer, The (Independence).. 45 
Independent. The Gate City 
(Coffeyville) 46 



834 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



PAGE. 
Journal, The Coffeyville (Cof- 

feyville) 45 

Kansas Populist, The (Cherry- 
vale) 45 

Kansan, The Independence (In- 
dependence) 44, 89-63 

Light, The (Liberty) 47 

Monitor, The Montgomery (In- 
dependence) 45 

News, The Cherryvale (Cherry- 
vale) 46 

News, The Independence (Inde- 
pendence) 45 

Phoenix, The (Caney) 47 

Pioneer. The Independence (In- 
dependence) 43, 87, 88 

Press and Torch, The (Havana) 47 
Republic, The Cherryvale (Cher- 
ryvale) 46 

Republican, The Cherryvale 

(Cherryvale) *^6 

Republican - Plaindealer. The 

(Cherryvale) 46 

Recorder, The (Havana) 47 

Review, The (Liberty) 47 

Reporter, The Daily (Independ- 
ence) 42, 45 

Record, The (Parker) 43 

Ross' Paper (Coffeyville) 44 

Star, The Coffeyville (Coffey- 
ville) 44 

Star, The Daily Evening (Inde- 
pendence) 45 

Star, The (Elk City) 47 

Star, The Independence (Inde- 
pendence) 44, 87 

Star and Kansan. The (Inde- 
pendence) 10, 44 

Southern Kansas Farmer, The 

(Cherryvale) m 

Telegram. The Morning (Cher- 
ryvale) '.".'.'.■. 16 



PAGE. 

Tribune, The South Kansas (In- 
dependence) 42, 63, 87 

Times, The (Elk City) 46 

Times, The (Caney) 47 

Torch, The Cherryvale (Cherry- 
vale) 46 

United Labor (Independence) . . 45 
Vidette. The Westralia (Westra- 

lia) 43 

Vidette. The (Havana) 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

Gas and Oil Development 47 

CHAPTER V. 
The Political History of Montgom- 
ery County 54 

Organization of the County.. 55 

Temporary County Seat 55 

Election for County Seat, Con- 
test and Result 56 

Commissioners fix Boundaries 

of Townships 57 

First Trustees 58 

Commissioners' Wrangle with 

County Officers 58 

Prosperity of 1871 59 

York Defeats Pomeroy 60 

Elections of 1871-2 .59 

Election of 1873 61 

Elections of 1874-5 C2 

Elections of 1876-7 63 

Elections of 1878-9 64 

Election of 1880 65 

Elections of 1881-2 66 

Elections of 1883-4 67 

Elections of 1885-6 68 

Elections of 1887-8 70 

Elections of 1889-90 70-71 

Elections of 1891-2 71-72 

Elections of 1893-4 72 

Elections of 1895-6 73-74 

Elections of 1897-8 75 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



835 



PAGE. 
Elections of 1899-1900 (Con- 
stitutional Amendment) ... 76 
Elections of 1901-2 7T 

CHAPTER VI. 

Towns of Montgomery County. ... SO 

Lost Towns: 

Claymore 120 

Coffeyville— Old Town 122 

Colfax 81, 86 

Montgomery City 55, 81 

Morgantown 81 

Old Liberty 81 

Parker 123 

Radical City 12, 80 

Samaria 81 

Tally Springs 122 

Verdigris City 55-7, 80 

Westralia 55, 121 

Villages and Postoffices: 

Bolton 81 

Havana 82 

Jefferson 81 

Sycamore 82 

Tyro 80 

Wayside. Bearing and Crane. 82 
Cities of Montgomery County: 

Independence 83, .S5 

Land Office 93 

Town Company Troubles 91 

Incorporation SO 

City of the Third Class 90 

First School House 88 

First Sunday School 89 

First Saw-mill S7 

Frank Bunker and Cabin ?3 

First Barbecue 86 

Haytown 86 

Mail Facilities 89 

Mayor DeLong's Fight 95 

Hard Times 96 

The Hull Baby 97 



PAGE. 

The First Murder lOO 

Building the Mo. Pac. Ry. 100,101 
Court House Bonds Enjoined. 101 
Construction of the Water 

Works 100 

Political Fervor of 1888 102 

Boniface and Stephenson Con- 
victed 104 

Bmmett Dalton Sentenced... 104 

First Franchise tor Gas 105 

Milton Cannon Murdered.... 105 
Vote on Water Works Pur- 
chase 106, 108 

Murder of McTaggart 106 

Establishment of the Brick 

Plant 106 

Twentieth Kansas Recruited . 107 
Extension of the Santa Fe to 

Bartlesville 107 

Postoffice Business Increase. 107 
Destructive Wind Storm of 

1901 108 

Establishment of Factories. . . 109 

Double Murder 109 

Population 90, 96, 109 

Coffeyville 128 

Financial and Commercial... l.'?0 

Railroads 131 

Natural Resources 132 

Manufactures 132 

A Grain Center 132 

Municipal Advancement 133 

Schools and Churches 134 

Debt and Taxation 134 

Liberty 57, 13_4_ 

Caney 136 

Early Settlers 137 

First Newspaper 138 

Railroad Bonds 138 

Incorporation 138 

Building of the K. O. C. & 

Sw. Ry 139 

Discovery of Natural Gas 139 



836 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMBBY COUNTY', KANSAS. 



PAOB. 

Chartering of the C. O. & T. 

Ry 139 

Places of Worship 140 

Hk City 141 

First Settlers 141 

Rise and Fall of Bloomfleld, 

or Fish Trap 141 

M. D. Wright's Advent 141 

Municipal Government Organ- 
ized 142 

Railroad Agitation 143-4 

Prospecting for Gas 144 

Population 145 

Cherryvale 145 

Early Beginnings 145 

Coming of the Railroads 146 

Discovery of Gas and Oil.... 147 
The Edgar Zinc Company.... 147 
Brick Plants and Factories.. 147 

Banks 147 

Schools 148 

Churches and Pastors 148 

Telephone 149 

Water Works 149 

Corbin City 147 

Park and Auditorium 149 

Lodges and Associations 149 

Fairview Cemetery 150 

Fires 150 

Hotels 150 

Municipal Government 150 

Postmasters 151 

Town Building in the Southeast 

Corner of the County 110 

Early Settlers Ill 

Religion 113 

Wedding Bells 113 

First Murder 114 

First Preliminary on the 

Charge of Murder 115 

Bonding the County 116 

Murder and Mob Violence. ... 117 
Rival Towns 121 



PAGE. 

Tally Springs 122- 

Old Coffeyville 122 

Parker 12? 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Medical Profession 151 

The Doctor of 1870 and His Out- 
fit 152 

The Staff of the Independence 

Medical College 153 

Some Early Doctors 153 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Agriculture 154 

Indian Agriculture 154 

The New-Comers 155 

Exposition Prize of 1876 156 

Supremacy of the "Cow Man" 

Over the Farmer 156 

Adaptation of Crops 156-7 

Area of the County in Acres. . . . 156 

Crop Yields and Profits 157 

Products 157 

CHAPTER IX. 
Manufacturing 158 

CHAPTER X. 
History of the Bench and Bar. . . . 159 

General Observations 159 

Status of the Independence 

Town Company 161 

Character of Population In- 
duced Litigation 162 

District Courts 162 

Location of Permanent Capi- 
tal 163 

Wilson County Contest 163 

Appointment of First Judge.. 164 
Eleventh .ludicial District 

Boundaries 164 

Language of the Statute Fix- 
ing Court Terms 165 

First Court House 166- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



837- 



PAGE. 

Judges of the District Court. . . . 167 
Impeachment of Judge H. G. 
Webb 171-2 



PAGE. 

County Attorneys 180 

Attorneys, or Members of the 
Bar 188 



Personal References and Biographies 



PAGE. 

Acers, N. F 66 

Adams, Ben 15 

Adams, John E 56 

Adams, John B 395 

Addington, D. M 611 

Alger, R. A 470 

Allen, E. P.. 20-2,33,64-5,76,100,312 

Allen, Dr 121 

Allen, Richard 32 

Allen, W 56 

Allen, Sidney 56 

Allin, Perry N 660 

Allin, Wm. H 534 

Alexander, D. P 102 

Allison and Bell S8 

Allison, Lucida W 347 

Allison, W. A 58 

Altaffer, John M 72, 422 

American tlag 31 

Anderson, John J 70 

Anderson, J. M 107 

Anderson, M. N 38 

Anderson, T. L 515 

Anderson, Thos. W 348 

Andress, Dr. T. F "8 

Andrews, Lindlay M 189, 193 

Anthony, Geo. T 63, 72 

Arbogast, I. R ^^ 

Argo, Isaac M 304 

Armstrong, Ben. M 62, 189, 193 

Armstrong, Martin 578 

Ashby, Milton 689 

Ashmore, M, L 58 

Atkinson, Rev 89 

Atkinson, John 696 

Austin, William 728 



PAGE. 

Axtell, Alvo J 554 

Ayres, Bert S 35 

Ayres, Thos. G, , 35-7-9,48,66,189,194 

Babb, T. C 35 

Babcock, William 9 

Baden. Henry 75, 105 

Baden, Mrs. Mary 366 

Bailey, W. J 77 

Bailey. T. M 68 

Baker. G. D 43 

Baker. Mrs. Patience 824 

Baker, Roy 77 

Baldwin, J. R 146 

Baldwin, Lucius M 36 

Ball, CM 35 

Banks, Alex R 9 

Banks, Geo. L 468 

Banks, Wm. N 74,189,194,281 

Barbee, Mrs. R. C 22 

Barbour, Lucius T 593 

Barker, Dr 153 

Barker, Wharton 76 

Barlow, John W 638 

Barnes' Garden 49 

Barnes, Rev. M. 822 

Barr, S. H 189, 194, 420 

Barricklow, Joseph 63-5 

Barron and Hedden 123 

Bartles, J. A 139 

Bartlett, W. F 189, 195 

Barwick. J. J 189,194 

Bass, Nathan 58-9, 189, 194 

Bates, John H 501 

Baylies, Wm. C 260 

Beach, C. T 62-3-4-5 

Beard, Geo. S 62 



838 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



PAGE. 

Beard, John 94 

Beardsley, E. M 189, 195 

Beardsley, Seth M 58 

Beatty, Adam 30-2. 70-5 

Beeghly, Jonas 703 

Begun, E. L 189, 194 

Bell, Dr. J. W 137 

Bell, M. S 59 

Bell. W. H 63 

Bellamy, John F 189. 195. 801 

Bellamy. Lura 22 

Benders. The 24-7 

Bender, F. N 605 

Beneftel, F. M 72-3-6 

Bennett. Joseph S 561 

Bennett. M. V. B 43,191,189,196 

Benson. F. D ^^ 

Berentz, Henry 783 

Berry. Joseph 511 

Bertenshaw. Dr. E. J 679 

Bertenshaw. John 189. 196 

Bettis, F. A 56,164 

Bethuran, H. A 

Beyett, Alex 

Biddison. A. J 189.196 

Billings. Lewis ^^ 

Billings, Arthur 189, 196 

Birch, Thomas 102 

Bishop, W. T 82,90 

Black Dog 10 

Black, Geo. A 189, 197 

Blackledge, J. F 297 

Blacklidge, A. N 9 

Blackburn, J. W 189, 197 

Blackwell, J. H 100 

Blackmore, Joseph, Jr 450 

Blaes, Mathias 343 

Blaine. J. G 68 

Blair. A. V 189,197 

Blair, John R 30, 72-3, 035 

Blank, Dr. John T 671 

Blanton,. N. B 122 



55 
9 



PAGE. 

Bloom. C. L 49, 533 

Bloxam. Joseph 94 

Blue, Mrs. Jane 272 

Bolton, Wm. L 736 

Boone, Albert G 9 

Bond, Thos. L 58 

Boniface, Tom 103 

Booth, Thos. J 661 

Boswell, A. P 34, 64-5-7-9 

Bouton, Noah E 70-1-3-4,714 

Bowen, W. P 106-7-9,547 

Bowlby, Samuel 368 

Bowman, Lewis 11, 12 

Boyd, John 61, 

Braden, Jim 117,118,119 

Braden, James 338 

Bradford, W. A 46 

Bradley, Dr. Henry 438 

Bragg. James W 503 

Brewer. W. P ^8 

Brewer. R ^8 

Brewster. F. D 734 

Brewster. H. A. and Co 31 

Brewster, J. H 35, 49 

Brighton, H. E 47,138,443 

Bristol, N. B 189,197,492 

Broadbent. Albert J 80, 587 

Broadhead, J. F 189, 198 

Broadhead. J. T 64 

Broadwell. Dick 34, 36-9 

Brodie, G. H 90 

Brock. Thos. H 59, 62-4, 166 

Brock. J. T 97,136,141 

Brown, Allen 20 

Brown and Risburg 88 

Brown, Charles 36-9 

Brown, C. S 62 

Brown. D. B 189.197 

Brown. Geo, A 79. 85 

Brown. J. A 726 

Brown. Rev. J.J 89 

Brown. Joseph D 189.198 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



839 



PAGE. 

Brown, John W 575 

Brown, Perry F 68G 

Brown, D. B 189, 198 

Brown, Sealy L 582 

Brown, W. E 95 

Brown, W. R 64-5-7-9,70 

Bruner, Daniel 56 

Brunk, P. S 76 

Bninton, Wm. H 309 

Bryan, W. J 76 

Bryant, Elizabeth 298 

Buckley. Joseph A 646 

Budd, James D 709 

Bulger, James 795 

Bundy, Henry N 717 

Bunker, Frank 83-6, 92-3 

Bunker, Fred 85 

Burchard, Geo. W. . 44,62,98,189,198 

Burcharrt, Frank 102 

Burdick, Squire 142 

Burdick. J. A 68 

Burghart. Geo 591 

Burge. J. W 16 

Burke. J. W 16 

Burke, Thos. F 75-6,378 

Burket, David L 546 

Burns. J. S 123 

Burnes. R. E 189,199 

Burnworth. J. D 105 

Burt, John A 653 

Burton, Cyrus M 636 

Busby, Dr. A. J 57-9, 766 

Bushnell, Edwin 576 

Butler, H. J 146 

Caldwell, John T 73, 150 

Caldwell, Mr 25 

Calk, Thomas 62 

Callahan. John 45, 74, 188-9, 299 

Callahan. Thos. F 71.104 

Callahan, Patrick H 392 

Callow and Myers 82 

Campbell. C. E S3 



PAGE. 

Campbell, Dr 153 

Campbell. E. L 189,199 

Campbell. P. P 77 

Camp, Adam 56 

Canada, Green L 112,121 

Canary, Abe 64 

Canfield, Thos. H 43, 89 

Canning. C. W 569 

Cannon. Milton 105 

Captain, Augustus 9 

Carl, Josie 150 

Carl, Frank 603 

Carlton, George 114 

Carlton. Mike 114 

Carpenter and Crawford 87 

Carpenter, C. T 34 

Carson, L. M 280 

Carson, O. P 63, 150, 146 

Cass, Phillip H 189, 199, 632 

Cassidy, M. F 290 

Cathers, D. W 644 

Castillo, John 68, 681 

Castle, P. B 45 

Caton, Alice 46 

Cavert, H. 324 

Cavenaugh. Patrick 189, 200 

Chadburn. Ed 15 

Chambers. Wm 80 

Chandler. Geo 66-9, 

70. 91-7, 101-2, 174, 189, 200, 733 

Chandler. Joseph 96, 106, 733 

Chaney, Dr. G, C 23,103-4-5,107 

Chancy. E. A 31 

Chanute. Octavius 128 

Charlton, J. R.. 47.71,140,188-9,201,465 

Charlton, Wm. J 455 

Chatham. Jim 44 

Chelopa 10, 85 

Chouteau, Ben 122 

Chouteau, Lewis P 9 

Chouteau, Gusso 56 

Clark, A. B 59, 

62-4-6, 71, 128, 179, 187-9, 201 



840 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 



PAGE. 

Clark, A. C 143 

Clark. A. M 45 

Clark, E. B 146 

Clark, Edgar M 189, 202 

Clark, W. G 190, 202 

Clark, O. G. & Co 32 

Clarke, Hon. Sidney 10 

Clarkson, John 122 

Clary, Perry 121 

Clay, John T 350 

Clayton, J. A 758 

Clennon, Patrick C 769 

Clemmer, Geo. W 04 

Cleveland, Grover 70-2 

Clifford, Mary A 725 

Clifford, John B 725 

Clifford. Thos. B 768 

Cline, Daniel 71-2-3, 597 

Cline, David A 28,73-6-7 

Clotfelter & Booth 150 

Clotfelter, C. A 146, 414 

Clover, Ben 71, 173 

Coffey, Col 122 

Cole, B. E 77 

Cole. J. E 63 

Collins, A. J 321 

Coleman, Wm. H 691 

Comer, S 820 

Compton, Wm .j8 

Condon, C. M. and Co 34, 41 

Connelly, Chas. T 38, 10 

Connelly, Chas. A 401 

Conner, Samuel H 782 

Cook, James F 418 

Cook, David S 406 

Conrad, H. W 55, 67-8, 76-8 

Conry, George 127 

Corbin, Jasom O 58 

Corbin, C. J 64 

Cormack, Dr. W. A 579 

Cotton, William 317 

Cotton, W. N 56 



PAGE. 

Cotton, J. S 63-4, 190, 203 

Courtney, John M 77,146-8-9,263 

Courtright, Percy L 190,203 

Coventry, Chas ."iS 

Cowell, Dr. Henry 680 

Cox, Geo. E 731 

Cox, Albert T 45, 190, 202 

Cox, Ira E 190, 203 

Craig, J. B 59,90-2,172, 190,204 

Crane, H. H 257 

Crawford, H. C 55, 121 

Crawford & McCue 88 

Cree, Nathan 190, 204 

Crick, John 300 

Crow, Zachariah 112 

Crouse, J. 1 94 

Cubine. George 36-9, 41 

Cubine, Georgie 32 

Cunningham, B. R 57, (i2 

Currier, Milo D 505 

Curtis, W. A 747 

Cutler. E. R 190,205 

Dalby, Geo. P 613 

Dalby, Dr. Philip H 83, 650 

Dalton, Emmett.. 34-5-6-7-8-9,40-1,104 

Dalton, Grat, Bob 34-5-6-7-8-9, 40-i 

Dalton, Lewis 33 

Dana. J. Howard 77-8, 140, 188, 522 

Daniel, Cyrus F 451 

Danehu, James 113 

Dannettell, U. R 142 

Darnell. D. Y 190, 205 

Darling, Joseph R 741 

Darrow, A. C 580 

Daugherty, Amanda J 389 

Daugherty, William 143 

Daugherty, Mrs. Mary M 773 

Davis, C. M 190.205 

Davis, John M 190, 205 

Davis. D 48 

Davis, Dr. J. T 21-3, 540 

Davis, Mrs. Letitia 500 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



841 



PAGE. 

Davis, Milton 735 

Dawson, William 94 

Debruler. J. N 86, 167 

Debs, Eugene V 76 

DeCourcey, B. W 81 

Deer, Job 407 

Delano, Secretary 25 

DeLong, James 62-4, 

86,93-4-5-6,161,190,206 

Dempsey. T. E 190,208 

DeMott. Richard H 702 

Dennis. Eli 115,116,121 

Dennison, Dr 122 

Devore, B. P 59,63,73,102-3 

Devore, J. F 190, 205 

Dietz. Lewis T 37 

Dickerson, A. J 633 

Dickey, Wm. C 642 

Dixon. S. M 73 

Dobson, R. M 329 

Dodd. H. H 63-4-5,102 

Dollison. J. N 29,32,74-6-7,445 

Dominey. Gilbert 66 

Donlavy. J. E 90-1 

Dooley, H. C 76. 190, 207 

Donaldson, Col. Samuel 190,207 

Duckett, Henry W 608 

Duckworth, Geo. H 598 

Duncan, A. M 121 

Duncan, Harvey 474 

Duncan, John 504 

Dunkin, William 29, 

30-1, 62. 70-5. 91-5-6, 100-2, 190, 207, 250 

Dunlap. G. A 128 

Dunlap, R. W 79 

Duley, A, S 150 

Dunnett. Daniel W 190,208 

Dunwell. Dr 59 

Durand, Napoleon 719 

Dye. F. H 138 

Eaton, John A 70 

Eaton, Ab 14-5 



PACK. 

Earnest, Thos. H 71,363 

Easterly, J. P 46 

Ecret, M. P. T 29,31 

Edgar, S. C 147 

Edwards. D. M 649 

Eldridge, T. B 59, 159 

Ely, Noah & Sons 131 

Elliott, Capt. D. S 37, 

46, 70, 107, 190, 208 

Elliott, S. C 68-9,106.186-8.190 

Ellis, C. W 115, 190. 20s 

Emerson, J. D 90-1,190.209 

Empfield, A. G 335 

Engels, James W 558 

Erdman. John G 434 

Ergenbright. O. P. 70, 188, 190, 210, 674 

Ernest, Ben 7:{ 

Erret, Chas. T H 

Estey, Rev. S. S 32 

Etchen, J. P 74 

Etter, Samuel 826 

Evans, Dr. A. W 153. 427 

Evans, Chas. A 760 

Evans, Elijah 190, 210 

Evans, Geo. H., Jr 71 

Evans, 601 

Evans, S. A 83 

Ewing, C. T 147 

Fadler. John 740 

Fagan. Ed 122 

Fain. William 112, 122 

Fairleigh. H. J 20 

Farlow, N. M 333 

Fay, E. W 58, 190, 210 

Fell. Adam B 590 

Polker. Will 46 

Ferguson, J. 77 

Ferrel, H. D 73-4 

Fields, John C 622 

Fike. Mrs 113 

Finlay, Geo. W 705 

Finley, Dr. M. A 793 



842 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



PAGK. 

Fitzpatrick. G. W 190, 211 

Flannelly, Thos. J 77, 181 

Fleming, John 121 

Flener, J. A 137,458 

Fletcher & Stentz 81 

Fletcher, Chas 190, 210 

Flynn, Peter R 128 

Foote, Miss Laura 112 

Ford, T. O GO-2 

Ford. W. W 118 

Foreman, W. C 72-3 

Forsyth, A. P 69,292 

Foster, Ed. L 66 

Foster, Edwin 56-8, 62, 96, 107 

Foster, Mrs. E. L 22-3 

Foster, Emery 190, 210 

Foster, Goodell 56-7, 

79, 90-1, 163, 182-7, 190 

Foster, George 69 

Foster, Hiram 517 

Foster, Thos 20 

Fowler, I. G 106 

Fox, Peter H 32-3, 77, 498 

Frazier, J. C 59 

Frazier, Dr. T. C 154, 655 

Frantz, Frank J 404 

Freeman, Luther 190, 211 

Fi-ench, John 744 

Fritch. F. J 73,190,211,430 

Frink, Walter 775 

Frost, Wm. H 360 

Fugate, Dr 153 

Fulton, Isaac B 27, 74 

Fulmer, Geo. W 70-1-4 

Gaines, Bernard 190, 211 

Galey, John H HO 

Gamble, J. D 59, 190, 211 

Gamble, O. P 86,371 

Gardner, N. B 190, 211 

Garfield. James G 65 

Garlinghouse, F. W 737 

Garrett, J. S 56 

Garrison, Thos. A 823 



PAGK. 

Gaskill, John 610 

Gibson, A. D 9t 

Gifford, 190,212 

Gilmore, G. E 20,190,212 

Gillula, Paddy 85 

Givens, John 28, 74-6-8, 278 

Glass, John W 72-3 

Glatfelder, Levi 63, 13.8 

Glick, Geo. W 66 

Goodell, E 776 

Gottlieb, G 100-7, 

Grabill, E. D 57 

Graham, J. H., T. C, Allen 112 

Graham, W. W 57-8, 135, 166 

Grant, H. D 58,100,190,213 

Grant, U. S 10 

Grass, Col. Daniel 63,91-6,190,212 

Grass, Dr. John 153 

Graves, James H 704 

Graves, Joseph H 432 

Gray, D. B 95 

Gray, IJon. Alfred 156 

Gray, Jackson 771 

Gray, Joseph D 399 

Gray, Samuel F 413 

Gregory, Milton 11 

Green, Abner 666 

Green, Mr 15 

Greenlee, Mrs. Hattie E 664 

Greer, Mr 13 

Greer, Alex C 346 

Greer, David P 282 

Griffey. Marshall 22 

Griffin, Jefferson 508 

Griffin. Matt 641 

Grubb, Benj 48 

Guernsey, Geo. T 556 

Guifey. Jas, H 50 

Guilkey. J. P 74 

Gump, Chas. T 36 

Haag. Henry 551 

Hack, W. H 31 

Haddox, Mrs. J. W 100 



HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



843 



PAGE. 

Hadley, Ira 722 

Hadley, H. M 29 

Hadsell, Adam U 448 

Hancock, W. S 65 

Handley, J. A 150 

Handley. M. C 73 

Handley, R. B 75 

Hainline, Grant 685 

Hall, Joseph R 624 

Hall, R. T 90 

Hall, S. A 190,214 

Hall. Dr. Wm. C 673 

Hamer, Joseph S 690 

Hamner, Capt 86 

Hamilton, Van C 599 

Hammill, Robert 157 

Hanson, Thos 57 

Harbourt, T. C 75 

Harbert, Wm 15 

Hardrobe 10 

Harden, Joseph E 439 

Hare, H. H 813 

Harper, Albert G 698 

Harper, Frank G 108 

Harper & Wassam 45 

Harris, J. N 58 

Harrison, Benj 70-2 

Harrison, C. N 83 

Harrison, Geo 693 

Harrison, Judge Thos. 66,190,214.274 

Harrison, Thomas 73, 294 

Harrod, Capt. W. J 59, 190, 21 1 

Hart, Harriet A 410 

Harter, W. H 63, 485 

Harley, James W 403 

Harvey, Gov. J. M.. 6,55.110,135,163 

Hasbrook, L. Benj 190, 215 

Haskell, Dudley C 06 

Hastings. Elijah D... 150,191,215,789 

Haverstick, Wm. C 678 

Hawkins, Andrew 588 

Hayden, Thos 29, 30-1-3, 75 

Hays, Will S 66-7, 73, 373 



Hayes, Rutherford B. 

Hay ward, O. T 

Hazen, H. W 

Hazen, Thomas M... 
Heape, Wm. A 



PAGE. 
.. G9 
.. 367 

.. IOC 
.. 400 
.. 288 



Hebrank. Dale 108 

Heckert, Sarah J 581 

Heckman, David 362 

Heddens, J. M G2 

Helphingstine 56-7-9, 62, 191, 215 

Hemphill, J. J 138 

Helms, James 743 

Hendrix, W. R 191,21(5 

Hendrix, William SO 

Henderson, B. F 191, 215 

Henderson, Mrs. Ann R 781 

Henderson. J. S 442 

Henderson, J. T 491 

Henderson, Sophronia 805 

Henry, M. D 92 

Henry, Thos. B 32, 327 

Henry. Rev. Samuel 71,752 

Herring, E 59, 62-3-5, 191, 216 

Heritage, Maurice and George. ... 13 

Hester, John C 70-1 

Hibbard, S. L, 68,70-3-5,570 

Hickey, M. L 89 

Hickman, S. B 122 

Hicks. Chas. M 560 

Higby, A. T 191,216 

Hill, George 77, 107 

Hill, Howard M 788 

Hill, John 1 502 

Hill. Rufus J 166, 191, 216 

Hillis. A. A 57-8 

Hines. O. E 121 

Hinkle. J. D 63-4, 184-7, 191 

Hite, Chas. F 648 

Hobson. Edward 1S3 

Hockett. J. C 146 

Hodges, J. W 62, 137-8 

Hogan, Chas. H 70 

Holdren, J. W 191, 219 



S44 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



PAGE. 

Holland, Frank D 745 

Holliday, Joshua 616 

Hoilingsworth, P. S 138, 490 

Holllngsworth, R. H 518 

Hoilingsworth, C. L 35 

Hoober. J. B 97 

Hook, John 71 

Hooker, F. H 138 

Hooper, C. W 109 

Horner, R. E 224 

Horton, Albert H 63, 117 

Houghton, Wm. S 730 

Howard, N. F 121 

Howard, Fred R 46 

Howard. S. J 707 

Howe. John W 77, 525 

Howell, D. W 83 

Howell, Bin 115 

Hubbard, Jas. P 488 

Hudiburg, Abigail 273 

Hudson. L. T 108 

Hudson, T. J 29 

Hughbanks, Etta 150 

Hull, Chas. A. and Edgar 97 

Hull, Carrie 97 

Hull. Latham 97 

Humphrey, L. U 42, 

59, 63-4,71-2, 102, 174, 191,219 

Humphrey, L. L 676 

Hurst. George 61 

Huston. Wm 62 

Hysung, John 640 

Imel, William A 670 

Independence Gas Co 51 

Ingalls, John J 61 

Ingmire, Elias M 529 

Inscho, Alvin J 306 

Trwin, F. D 86, 90 

Isham Bros, and Mansur. . 34-7-8-9,48 

Ives, Norman H 59, 96, 100 

Jack, John J 91 

Jack, Martha 1 827 

Jack, S. K 138 



PAGE. 

Jackson, Joseph 509 

James. D. S 75-6, 452 

James. Isaac 697 

James. Joseph L 364 

Jasper & Boniface 91 

Jennings, T. B 191, 224 

Jennings. Vick 4j 

Jiencke, Harry 61S 

Jimraerson. H. A 91 

Jocelyn. F. C 96 

John, Jas. M 191, 224 

Johnson, W. A 2G 

Jones, J. A 56 

Jones, J. R 606 

Jones, Miss Mena 31 

Jones. William 31 

Jones, William 706 

Joyce. Charles 711 

Judson & Saylor 91 

Judson. L. C 57,191,224 

Kaiser, Henry 91 

Kalloch. I. S 9 

Keesler. Mary A 322 

Kearns. Alex 127 

Keith. J. H 78,191,224,473 

Keller, Miss Anna 73-4 

Kelley, James 58 

Kelly. Jas. P 141 

Kelley. Jas. E 141 

Kelly. Dr. W. B 154 

Kelso, Marion E 531 

Kendall. Benj. M 815 

Kennedy. Chas. L 677 

Kent, C. W 46 

Kent. E. Y 122 

Kercheval, R. P 18,191,224 

Kerr, Chas. H 426 

Kerr, Mrs. Geo. W 762 

Kerr. John 94 

Kimball, E. C 57 

Kimble, C. L 482 

Kincaid, C. C 146-8, 150, 527 

Kincaid, Jas. E 351 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



845 



PAGE. 

Kincaid, Wilson 33, 67, 76, 103 

King. Joseph F 645 

Kingman, Chief Justice 63 

Kingsley, D. W 69, 70 

Kington, J. H 62 

Kirkpatrick, Charlotte T 441 

Kirkpatrick, S. S 74 

Klappel, John 57 

Klinefelter, Jacob B 352 

Kloehr, John J 38-9, 40, 651 

Kneeland. I. N 128 

Knock. Robert B 614 

Knokle & Debruler 88 

Knotts, A. W 35, 77 

Knowles, L. M G7 

Kopple, John and Samuel 141 

Kountz (Kounce), E. K 55-6. 

112,114, 122 

Kountz. James 191. 224 

Kountz, John C 112 

Kring, John F 658 

Krone, D. C 63, 286 

Krugg, Dr. A. A 478 

Kurtz. Isaac 655 

Lamb, C. W 354 

Lassey, Wm 386 

Lawson. Wm. F 497 

Measure. E. D 77 

Leatherock. Fred 146 

Lee, Henry 127 

Lee. John 58 

Lenhart, Joseph 74, 80 

Lenhart, S. D SO 

Leslie. G. B 65-6-8,148 

Levan, H. M 74 

Lewelling. L. D 72 

Lewis & Mossman 91 

Lewis. B. T 72-7. 790 

Light, M. B 191,225 

Lindley. P. H 83,517,585 

Lindley. Rev. Isaac 585 

I.,ines & Cauffman 82 

Lippy, Geo. W 342 



PAGE. 

Linton. W. H 13 

Little Bear 10 

Little Beaver 10 

Livingston, Wm. P 819 

Locke, Wm. N 191, 225 

Logan, Robert E 669 

Lomax, Sullivan 77,480 

Long, Milo M . . . ; 775. 

Loring, 191,225 

Lotterer, F. G 147 

Lushbaugh, John 112, 121 

Lyon. Maj. E. W 46,405 

Mahaffy , John A 536 

Mapes, W. H 172 

Martin, Maj. H. W 123 

Martin, Gov. John A 68, 130 

Martin, W. C 6S 

Martin, W. N 93,191,225 

Martin, Wm. P 654 

Mason. Edmund 507 

Mason. John 759 

Mason. Capt. L. C 49,99,38? 

Mastin. Bank &9 

Masterman. Dr. B. F 21. 

66, 84, 99, 100, 153, 466 

Matthews, John C 326 

Matthews, E. E 191,225 

Matthews, S. V 66-8.191,226,327 

Matthewson, Mrs. Sarah F 417 

May. Wm. J 59 

Mays, W. T.. S. W 112- 

Maxon. P. B 93 

Meagher. Bridget 596 

Mears. E. T 62-4.94 

Melotumuni (12 o'clock) 10 

Mensch, Jacob E 751 

Merrill. Bishop 95 

Merrill. Wm. A 191, 226, 308 

Merriman, Chas. M 574 

Merritt, Charles 105 

MeWhinney & Fagan 56,121 

Meyer. Frank 102 

Miller, Dr 94 



846 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 



PAGE. 

Miller, J. A 45 

Miller, Jake 117 to 120 

Miller, John W 694 

Miller, Peter 123 

Millis, Mrs. H. T 94 

Mills, Elisha 11 

Mills, J. A 191,226 

Mills, Wm. H 49,50 

Mills, S. W 58 

Mishler, Andrew M 523 

Mitchell, C. A 146-7,150 

Mitchell, Thomas 66 

Moore, Alex 66 

Moore, A. H 97 

Moore, B. F 147 

Moore, C. E 43-6 

Moore, Jake 453 

Moore, J. A 29, 30-1, 75 

Moore, P. S 28, 65, 70-3 

Moore, Vin W 191, 226 

Moon, A. J 191,226 

Moon, Dr 153 

Mooney, Geo. W 443 

Moonlight, Col. Tom 68 

Montgomery, Col. James 55 

Montgomery, Gen. Richard 65 

Morehouse, S. B 55-8, 

119,136,166,191,226 

Moreland, J 04 

Morgan. C. E 713 

Morgan, J. P 142 

Morgan. Charles 79 

Moses, Frank C 72-3, 108 

Morrill, E. N 72 

Morris. J. H 66 

Morris, James J 715 

Morrow. Thos. P 495 

Mounger. Henry 64-6 

Mull, J. J 73 

Munn, C. W 123 

Murphy, Benj 381 

Murphy, James 387 

IMurphy, Thos 9 



PAGE. 

Murphy. W. P 9 

Myrick, W. A 29, 31 

MacDonald, E. S 146, 151 

McBride. A. P 49, 564 

McCabe, "Old Man" 114-15 

McCaleb. John 114 

McCarty. James 13 

McCloud. John E 626 

McClung. Mrs 89 

McClelland, Ge<j. W 191. 227 

McCollum, M. L 76 

McConnell & Mclntyre 43 

McConnell, Wm. F 412 

McCorkle. James F 825 

McCormick. A. H 57, 100 

McCormick. A. G 146.755 

McCoy. Dr. I. H 13. 14 

McCreary, Joseph 67-8, 121, 132 

McCue, Judge J. D 60-2-6-8. 

70-1-3. 91. 102-4-15. 175-8, 186-7, 191 

McCullagh, John 63-5.101 

McCulley. Dr. W. A 21-3, 

45, 6.3-8.94-7-8. 153 

McDonald, John 58 

McDermott. S. F 191. 228 

McDowell. James A 301 

McEniry. Michael 96. 191, 226 

McEwen, Gen 25 

McFeeters. W. S 55,191. 227 

McFarland, Dr 100 

McHargue. Thos 397 

Mclntyre. John 112 

McKinley. Wm 74-6 

McKinney. Wm. W 435 

McMurtry, Samuel 76-7, 304 

McNeal. Joseph 559 

McSweeney. J 49 

McSweeny, Michael 402 

McTaggart, Capt. Daniel 55. 

67-8-9. 70-2-8-9, 102-6-7, 136 

McVean, J. H 191, 227 

McWilliams, W. B 138 

McWright, W 191,228 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



847 



PAGE. 

Nast, Alex 71-2 

National Supply Co 52 

Neal, Charles 100 

Neal, Moses 9 

Nees, S. M 32 

Nettleton, Gen 14:J 

Newkirk, Robert 78G 

New York Oil & Gas Co 52 

Newton. Mrs. Ada 150 

Newton, John 25ft 

Newton, Minnie 14S 

Newton. Revilo 29, 

31-3. 73-5, 146-8, 151, 269 

Nevins, J. M 94 

Nevins. Mrs. J. M. (E. C.) 68, 94 

Nichols, E. S 93 

Nichols. Reuben 191, 228 

Nickerson, J. D 49, 50. 104 

Noble, T. M 56 

Nolte, J. F 67 

Nollsch, J. A 83 

Nopawalla 40 

Norris, Joseph H 71-2-3, 799 

Norton, Henry 77 

Oakes. Gary 63,98 

O'Brien, Fred 116 

O'Brien, John 784 

O'Connor & McCulley 45 

O'Connor. Thomas 462 

O'Connor. W. T, 191. 228 

Oliver. Wm. T 446 

O'Rear, R. F 72 

Orr, John S 589 

Orr, J. A 191.228 

Osborn, E. A 16,18,29.30,67 

Osborn, Roy 191, 228 

Osborn, Gov. T. A 172 

Osborn, William 142 

Overheiser, Homer 812 

Overman. Z. R 56 

Overmyer, David '^2 

Page. Arthur E 687 

Page. John C 318 



PAGE. 

Page, John Q 191, 229 

Painter, Daniel 817 

Palmer, J. A 75-6 

Palmer, F. S 65 

Park, George A 463 

Parker, York & Co 122-3-4-9 

Parker, D. T 123 

Parker. J. W 123 

Parkhurst, R. S 86, 264 

Parks, B. F 191,230 

Parks, Daniel G 756 

Parsons, A. M 47, 191, 229 

Parsons, Wm. B 692 

Patterson. Jas. F 628 

Paul, M. J 100 

Paull. Robert 289 

Paw-ne-no-pashe. Joseph 9 

Paxson. Dr. Cyrus C 765 

Paxson. Chas. M 76 

Peacock & Sons 44 

Peacock. T. W 191. 2.'?0 

Peck. Geo. R 91,149.175,191,230 

Peckham. Col. C. J .59,192,234 

Peffer, Wm. A 46, 65, 174. 192, 234 

Penn, E. B 770 

Perkins. B. W. . . 62-4-8-9.70-1.129,172 

Perkins, Luther 192, 235 

Perkins, Joshua 700 

Perry, E. W 44 

Pershing. Rev. J. E 20 

Peterson. S. S 95,119 

Pettet, Geo. W 829 

Pettibone. S. H 192, 236 

Phalp, A 150 

Picker, Geo. H 661 

Pickering, J. C 604 

Piper. S. H 192,236 

Pitman, Ben 141 

Pittman, Thos. R 63-7, 83, 663 

PoIIey, Frank B 58 

Pomeroy, S. C 24-6. 60. M 

Porter. S. M 139,192,237,428 

Post, Wm. W 569 



848 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



PAGE. 

Powell. Alex. B 542 

Powell. Mrs. B. G 112 

Powers, Bill 34-8-9, 40 

Prather. Wm. L 684 

Pratt, W. R 803 

Pratt. Sidney A 749 

Prentis, Chas. W 92 

Prentis & Warner 90 

Preston, H 67 

Price, J. C 57 

Pruitt, Andy 77, 461 

Pugh. J. H 90,175 

Purcell, G. W 192,237 

Purcell, L. 1 46 

Quigg. A. R 537 

Quigley, Geo. W 762 

Rader. Dr. J. A 75-8 

Ralslin & Coventry 87 

Ralstin & Stephenson 87 

Ralstin. C. M. 48,56,91,167,183-7,132 

Ramme! Bros 36 

Randle. Elder John 113 

Rea, E. S 536 

Rea, John B 340 

Reardon, W. J 811 

Reed Bros 36-8 

Reed, Geo. W 20,85.105 

Reed, Shell 86 

Reed, Mrs. Ella 21-2 

Reed. Joel W 419 

Reid, Joseph H 425 

Reeve, Hiram 699 

Reeves. J. W 73 

Remington, Geo. L 21,682 

Rentfro, W. S 59 

Reyburn, J. S 83 

Reynolds. M. W 9,93 

Reynolds. Arthur 37-8 

Reynolds, Cleveland J 45-7,138 

Rice, John E 13 

Richart. R. F 146 

Ringle. John F 753 

Ringle, W. E 32 



PACK. 

Ritchie, J. H ." 45-6 

Ridgely. E. R 74-5 

Riggs, Arley 77 

Ritter, Benj. F 601 

Ritter, John N 70, 178 

Roberts, Joe 112 

Robertson. E. C 121 

Robins. Chandler 100 

Robinson. Charles 9 

Robinson. Beale A 634 

Robinson. W. M 62-4 

Robinson, Rev. J. J 720 

Rogers, Mr 15 

Rogers. Wm 138 

Rork. Curtis 77 1 

Rood, J. P 63-4-5 

Ross, A. L 87 

Ross, Sen. E. G 10, 44 

Ross, J. S 83 

Ross, Marshall M 544 

Ross, William 117-18-19-20 

Rossiter, J. P 192, 237 

Rottler. Casper 454 

Rowley, Capt. J. B 59. 62 

Rucker. Matt M ; 98 

Rudd. I. H 62 

Rundell, Lewis A 716 

Rushmore. W. B 67 

Russel. John 57 

Russum. J. S 62 

Ryan. Dr. James W 477 

Salathiel. Thos. S 192,237,460 

Salter. M. J 63.93 

Savage, A. C 64 

Savage. J. P 112-14, 122 

Schake. Charles 631 

Schierlman. Herman J 639 

Scholl. Father 105 

Scott, A. L 71-2,266 

Scott. Eda 20 

Scott, Frank C ■*'* 

Scott. Capt. H. A.. .77, 107, 192. 238, 267 
Scott, J. L 57,95 



HISTORY 01' MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



849 



PAGE. 
Scott, James H 358 

Soott, Lewis 112-17 

Scudder, John M r,7, 

60,115. 119, 173, 192, 23S 

Seiman, Carey 38-9 

Seltzer, Henry W 672 

Sewe'.l, J. B 73 

Seacat, Dr. Geo. M 150, 700 

Sewell, Frank B 617 

Sewell, Joseph G 330 

Sewell, Wm. C 627 

Selby, Robert N 607 

Shadley, Lafayette 64-6 

Shaffer. R. M 816 

Shank, Daniel 566 

Shannon, Osborn 94, 192, 229 

Share, J. T 82 

Sharpless, John 83 

Shaw Bros 115 

Shaw. G. B 150 

Sheffield, John P 481 

Sheesley, Henry 106 

Shepard, W. H 35-6 

Shewalter, M. C 192, 213 

Shoemaker, Philip 105 

Shoopman, Geo. W 456 

Showalter, John W 192,239 

Shulthis, Albert W 489 

Shumaker, Jacob 777 

Sickafoose, Michael 192. 239 

Sickels. Thos. N 42-5,493 

Sickels. Walter S 45 

Sicks, Jacob 315 

Simpson. James 60 

Simpson, J. W 69,70 

Skidmore, Judge A. R 30, 73-6 

Skinner, E. B 73-5-6,140,708 

Skinner. Fred B 553 

Slater. Isaac 449 

Slaybaugh, Jas. C 584 

Sloan. Wm. H 293 

Slocum. A. R 74 

Slosson's Drug Store 37-9 



PA(;i:. 

Smart. O. P 90.192,240 

Smith, Berrymau 137 

Smith, Chas. K ;;8 

Smith, Geo. B 261 

Smith. Rev. J. A 43 

Smith. J. H 137 

Smith, Jasepr N 137 

Smith, J. Hardy 664 

Smith. IVI. V .332 

Smith. O. M 137-8 

Smith, Wm. N 71-2,572 

Smith, S. A 577 

Smyth, Prentice 627 

Snell. Daniel B 512 

Snelling. G. R 77, 192, 240 

Snow, Geo. C 9 

Snyder. J. K 57 

Soule, Martin B.. 77.150,192,243,486 

Southard, Whig 143 

Sowash, John 119 

Sparks, J. A 20 

Spencer, S. F 192, 240 

Squires, S. B 64. 75-6, 390 

Stahl, M. S 64 

Standard Oil Co 51-3 

Stanford. Thos. H... 73-6.181,192,241 

Stark, Chas. M 479 

Starkey, Daniel 268 

Stephens. M. L 29,31-2,75,370 

Stephenson, L. T 56-7-8, 

86-9.94-6. 104,164-7,192,241 

Stevens, Dr. T. A 140, 629 

Stevenson. Joel A 471 

Stewart. A. A 44, 60, 66-8 

Stewart, Dr 121 

Stewart, James H 320 

Stewart, Joseph 192, 242 

Stewart, J. T 72-3 

Stich, Adolph C 98,104-9,283 

Stich, Carl 105 

St. John, John P 64-6-8 

Stinson, J. E 45 



850 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 



PAGE. 

Stone. Capt. J. E 59, 

G2, 138, 140, 170, 302 

Straub. Thos, J 78, 436 

Strecker, Ignatius 409 

Strike Ax 10 

Stubbleffeld, E. E 779 

Sturgis, Wm 9 

Sliirman. Jolin 117-18-19-'?0 

Sturtevant. Ira J 499 

Sullivan & Levan 45 

Summer, J. A 138 

Surber, Dr. C. C 153, 475 

Surface, F. M 718 

Suydham. Ed 121 

Swallow. Dr S8 

Swarbonrg, John 114 

Swatzell, Philip L 192,243 

Swatzell, J. P 143 

Sweeney, 192, 242 

Sylvester. W. 58,85,192,253 

Tallman, G. J 128 

Tanquarry. Drs 183 

Tasker, Horatio 541 

Taylor, Dr. A. M 137, 415 

Taylor, F. E 75-7, 727 

Taylor. N. C 9 

Taylor. W. F 192.243 

Thomas, John C 484 

Thomas, IMayo 77-8.188,192,243 

Thomas. Seneca E 796 

Thompson. C. C 146. 193, 243 

Thompson, Geo. B 71 

Thompson, Jack 112 

Thompson, J. M 192, 243 

Thorpe. N. B 146.151 

Thrall. Dr 94 

Tibbils. W. H 192,244 

Tillman. S 71 

Todd. Chas 77 

Todd, E. P 520 

Tonkinson, Joseph 102 

Towell, Ira N 695 

Trask, E. R 43,86 



PAGi:. 

Tregemba, T. E 792 

Trible. E. J 345 

Trouvelle. T. P 91-4 

Truby. John 394 

Truby. Marvin L 393 

Truman, T. C 723 

Truskett, H. A 271 

Truskett, T. W 77 

Tuck. George 129 

Tucker, S. H 659 

Tulley, Mark 71 

Turner, Ed. A 832 

Turner. W. F 192, 244 

Turner & Otis 99 

Twiss. John A 112, 117, 118, 119 

Tyler, Wm. W 830 

Uitts, Alfred J 424 

Umbenhauer. Samuel 102 

Underbill. J. B 103-6 

Valiet, Col 143 

Vance. David 471 

Vanderpool. Dr. W. D 764 

Vanderslice. H 91 

VanDyne. Jacob L 800 

VanGundy. Edward . . 45, 65, 185-7, 192 

Vasser, "Old Man" 113 

Vedder, John 46 

Veeder, N. F 72-6-8 

Vore, Lewis H 619 

Wade. R. A 192. 245 

Wade. Samuel H 621 

Waggoner. Geo. W 104.748 

Wagner. John E 625 

Wagner, M. 192, 246 

Wa,gstaff, Thos. E 192, 245 

Waldschmidt, Alex 87 

Wallace, I. B 13,68,70 

Wallace, W. P 729 

Wallick, John 804 

Walker, Rev. F. L 113 

Walker, R. L 55 

Walker. L. A 62.101-2 

Walker. John W 595 



HISTORY OF .MONTGOMK 

PAGE. 

Walker. Miss Mary 88 

Warner, Will H 44 

Warner, Geo. W 192, 246 

Warner. Thos. .J 354 

Wassam, Dan 102 

Waters, L. C 192, 246 

Waters. H. M 93 

Watisanka 10 

Watt. G\iy 1 108 

Watts. .John R 562 

Watkins. W. H 44, 

58,89,92,128,192,246 

Wand, Edward J... 567 

Way, Earnest A 65-6-7 

Way, J. S 67 

Weaver. Gen. J. B 65 

Weaver. P. W 514 

Weaverling. W. G 46 

Webb, H. G 128 

Webb. Wm. C 165-6-7 

Webster. E. B 339 

Weilep, Representative 27 

Wells Bros 37 

West. .Tohn N 58. 137 

Weston, Samuel 192. 246 

Whelan, Thomas 145 

Whelchel, Wm. D 66.S 

Wheeler, C. C SI 

Wheeler, E. M 81. 550 

Wheeler. Geo, R 81 

Wheeler, Peter 122 

Whistler. Thos 380 

Whistler, John O : 77-8, 381 

White. Charles 57-8-9. 167 

White, Eugene B 11 

White Hair 9 

Whitman. Geo. H 357 

Wier. S. A 94 

Wiggins. S. T 192.246 

Wisden. F 658 

Witt. Mr 15 

Willis. A. D 192, 247 

Willis. Frank . . . 58. 60, 170, 184-7. 192 



ItY COIXTY. KANSAS. 85 I 

PAGK. 

Willis, J. W 150 

Wilson, Albert L 146,193,247 

Wilson, E. E 25, 

64-6-7, 83-6-9, 90-1-2-3, 103, 111, 256 

Wilson, James M 745 

Wilcox, J. H 76 

Wilkins, W. J 62 

Williams. Will 108 

Wingard, John E 539 

Wingate, G. W 77 

Winters, L. D 77, 325 

Winters, E, B 608 

Wiltse, D. W 337 

Wiltse, Harry 138 

Witham, Martha 150 

Wine, J. J 757 

Wint. Nathan S 411 

Wise. Charles 88 

Wise. Joseph 145 

Wise. J. F 738 

Wortman. W. E 47,143,79? 

Wortman, J. G 798 

Wood, Millard F 68, 70 

Wood. William B 310 

Woodrow, J. C 89 

Woodring. H 532 

Woodruff. J. C 137 

Woods. Mrs. Eliza 13, 14 

Woodson. Daniel 59 

Wooldridge. Wm. R 720 

Wooley (P. P. Cndt ) 76 

Wright. C. 147 

Wright & Kirby 123 

Wright. Greenberry 193, 247 

Wright. M. D 75. 141-3, 276 

Wright. R. W 83-6-9 

Wright. William 77S 

Wycoff. C. H 57,114,193.247 

Wylie. J. A 66,78 

WyohaUe 10 

Yates, Capt. G. W 9 

Yeager, A. B 715 

York, A. M... 24-6.42.60-3,93,193.247 



852 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY,. KANSAS. 

PAGE. PAGE. 

York, Dr. Wm 24 Zacher, Conratl L 524 

Yoe, Charles 20, 42, 400 Zaugg, B 295 

Yoe, W. T 42,101,311 Zenor, W. S 193,249 

Young, H. W. 27,42-5,74,93,100-1,807 Ziegler, J. B 69,70,180,193,249 

Young, Samuel SO Ziegler, Wm E 72-3, 188, 193, 248 

Younger, Adaline Lee 33 



L3 78 



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